Atom-Based Machine Learning Model for Quantitative Property–Structure Relationship of Electronic Properties of Fusenes and Substituted Fusenes

[Image: see text] This study presents the development of machine-learning-based quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR) models for predicting electron affinity, ionization potential, and band gap of fusenes from different chemical classes. Three variants of the atom-based Weisfeiler–Lehman (WL) graph kernel method and the machine learning model Gaussian process regressor (GPR) were used. The data pool comprises polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), thienoacenes, cyano-substituted PAHs, and nitro-substituted PAHs computed with density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP-D3/6-31+G(d) level of theory. The results demonstrate that the GPR/WL kernel methods can accurately predict the electronic properties of PAHs and their derivatives with root-mean-square deviations of 0.15 eV. Additionally, we also demonstrate the effectiveness of the active learning protocol for the GPR/WL kernel methods pipeline, particularly for data sets with greater diversity. The interpretation of the model for contributions of individual atoms to the predicted electronic properties provides reasons for the success of our previous degree of π-orbital overlap model.