Graph neural networks (GNNs) are emerging in chemical engineering for the end-to-end learning of physicochemical properties based on molecular graphs. A key element of GNNs is the pooling function which combines atom feature vectors into molecular fingerprints. Most previous works use a standard pooling function to predict a variety of properties. However, unsuitable pooling functions can lead to unphysical GNNs that poorly generalize. We compare and select meaningful GNN pooling methods based on physical knowledge about the learned properties. The impact of physical pooling functions is demonstrated with molecular properties calculated from quantum mechanical computations. We also compare our results to the recent set2set pooling approach. We recommend using sum pooling for the prediction of properties that depend on molecular size and compare pooling functions for properties that are molecular size-independent. Overall, we show that the use of physical pooling functions significantly enhances generalization.

Fuels with high-knock resistance enable modern spark-ignition engines to achieve high efficiency and thus low CO₂ emissions. Identification of molecules with desired autoignition properties indicated by a high research octane number and a high octane sensitivity is therefore of great practical relevance and can be supported by computer-aided molecular design (CAMD). Recent developments in the field of graph machine learning (graph-ML) provide novel, promising tools for CAMD. We propose a modular graph-ML CAMD framework that integrates generative graph-ML models with graph neural networks and optimization, enabling the design of molecules with desired ignition properties in a continuous molecular space. In particular, we explore the potential of Bayesian optimization and genetic algorithms in combination with generative graph-ML models. The graph-ML CAMD framework successfully identifies well-established high-octane components. It also suggests new candidates, one of which we experimentally investigate and use to illustrate the need for further autoignition training data.

Prediction of combustion-related properties of (oxygenated) hydrocarbons is an important and challenging task for which quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models are frequently employed. Recently, a machine learning method, graph neural networks (GNNs), has shown promising results for the prediction of structure-property relationships. GNNs utilize a graph representation of molecules, where atoms correspond to nodes and bonds to edges containing information about the molecular structure. More specifically, GNNs learn physicochemical properties as a function of the molecular graph in a supervised learning setup using a backpropagation algorithm. This end-to-end learning approach eliminates the need for selection of molecular descriptors or structural groups, as it learns optimal fingerprints through graph convolutions and maps the fingerprints to the physicochemical properties by deep learning. We develop GNN models for predicting three fuel ignition quality indicators, i.e., the derived cetane number (DCN), the research octane number (RON), and the motor octane number (MON), of oxygenated and nonoxygenated hydrocarbons. In light of limited experimental data in the order of hundreds, we propose a combination of multitask learning, transfer learning, and ensemble learning. The results show competitive performance of the proposed GNN approach compared to state-of-the-art QSPR models, making it a promising field for future research. The prediction tool is available via a web front-end at www.avt.rwth-aachen.de/gnn.