Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
A chemical graph with Mostar index 5 The Mostar index of a connected graph is the sum over its edges uv of |n_u - n_v|, where n_u counts the vertices closer to u than to v. A chemical graph is a connected graph with maximum degree at most 4. Alizadeh, Bašić, Damnjanović, Došlić, Pisanski, Stevanović and Xu (Solving the Mostar index inverse problem, J. Math. Chem. 62(5) (2024) 1079-1093; arXiv:2312.13083) report that every graph they found with Mostar index 5 has maximum degree 5, write that a chemical realisation of 5 seems unlikely, and ask in Problem 9 whether 5 is the only integer greater than one that no chemical graph realises. This record gives two non-isomorphic connected graphs on 13 vertices and 22 edges, with degrees 3^8 4^5, whose Mostar index is 5 (graph6: L?Oc]?PMAHAKk@ and LEHA?oBi@Gdc_a). The paper shows that every integer other than 1, 3 and 5 is the Mostar index of a chemical graph, and that 3 is too. With these graphs, every nonnegative integer other than 1 is the Mostar index of a chemical graph, which answers Problem 9. Contents: the graphs (graph6 and edge lists), a standard-library Python verifier with controls and a planted-error test and its output, a second checker written from the definitions and its output, a results table, and a README with the quoted statements, method, prior-work search and limits. Whether a 12-vertex example exists is open. Searches and verification were carried out with Claude (Anthropic) under the direction of Kerem Özdemir.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Kerem Özdemir (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: