Spectral Moments of the Edge Adjacency Matrix in Molecular Graphs. 1. Definition and Applications to the Prediction of Physical Properties of Alkanes

A novel graph theoretical invariant based on the spectral moments of the edge adjacency matrix ( E ) is proposed. Spectral moments of the E matrix are used to describe seven physical properties of alkanes. All the regression models found are very significant from the statistical point of view. The spectral moments are expressed as linear combinations of the different structural fragments of the molecular graph. The use of the substructural approach for the description of seven physical properties of alkanes is also proved. The results obtained are interpreted in term of structural features of molecules.