Hidden descriptors: Using statistical treatments to generate better descriptor sets

The application of artificial intelligence to chemistry usually focuses on the identification of good correlations between descriptors and a given property of interest. The descriptors often come from arbitrary sets, with the implicit assumption that the evaluation of a sufficiently wide range of descriptors will lead to a satisfactory choice. Recent work in our group has focused on applying statistical analysis to large amounts of DFT results with the goal of finding optimal descriptor sets for a given property, which we label as hidden descriptors. This article briefly discusses this treatment and the chemical knowledge that has been gained through its application in two different domains: metal-ligand bond strength in transition metal complexes, and energy barriers in bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reactions.