HQSAR Study and Molecular Design of Benzimidazole Derivatives as Corrosion Inhibitors

Hologram quantitative structure-activity relationship (HQSAR) analysis was conducted on a series of benzimidazole compounds to build the HQSAR model between corrosion inhibition properties and molecular structures in acid environment. The optimal HQSAR model was determined by investigating the influence of different fragment distinction and fragment size on the models, and the models stability and predictive ability were evaluated. The results show that the optimal HQSAR model was generated using atoms(A), bonds(B), connectivity(C), hydrogen(H), chirality(Ch), donor and acceptor(DA) as fragment distinction and fragment size of 1-3. The model had a non-cross validated coefficient (r 2 ) value of 0.996, a cross-validated (q 2 ) value of 0.960, and a cross-validated standard error (SE cv ) value of 3.709, which indicates good statistics stability and predictive power. On the basis of the maps derived from the optimal HQSAR model, 38 new benzimidazole derivatives were designed and screened using the optimal HQSAR model, giving potential candidates with high predictive inhibition efficiency. This work provides valuable information for further research and design of more promising corrosion inhibitors in the oil and gas field.