Predicate Functors

A functor (function object) is simply any object that can be called as if it is a function i.e. an object of a class that overload operator() the function call operator. A functor can be considered as a C++ equivalent of function pointers in C. However, functors can also maintain state, be copied, created and destroyed.

Functors that return bool are an important special case. A unary function whose return type is bool is called a predicate.

In OEChem TK, these functors are often passed into another function. The functors are then called from inside the second function. This is the concept of a callback, because the second function provides the argument and ‘call’s back’ to the functor which was passed into the function. Generator method such as OEMolBase::GetAtoms can take a functor as an argument and use the callback mechanism to iterate over atoms that satisfy the functor passed to it. See example in Atom or Bond Subset Iteration section.

In the example below, the function CountAtoms loops over the atoms and performs a call-back to the predicate functor pred for each atom. If the predicate returns true, a counter is incremented. The main function passes OEIsOxygen predefined atom predicates to the CountAtoms function that counts the number of oxygen atoms in the molecule. (Please note that this function is already implemented in OEChem TK and called OECount.)

Listing 1: Using functor callbacks

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

unsigned int CountAtoms(const OEMolBase& mol, const OEUnaryPredicate<OEAtomBase>& pred)
{
  unsigned int counts = 0u;
  for (OEIter<const OEAtomBase> atom = mol.GetAtoms(); atom; ++atom)
  {
     if (pred(atom))
       counts += 1;
  }

  return counts;
}

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");

  cout << "Number of oxygen atoms = " << CountAtoms(mol, OEIsOxygen()) << endl;
}

Built-in Functors

There are many useful functors already defined in OEChem TK. These can be used by programmers with little or no understanding of the details of how functors work. A programmer can simply pass them to one of the many OEChem TK functions and methods which take predicates as arguments.

Atom Functors

Access	Functor Name
ring atoms	OEAtomIsInRing
chain atoms	OEAtomIsInChain
atom with specified atom index	OEHasAtomIdx
atom with selected atom index	OEAtomIdxSelected
atom with specified atom name	OEHasAtomName
atoms with specified atom stereo	OEHasAtomStereoSpecified
atoms with specified formal charge	OEHasFormalCharge
atoms with specified number of heavy atom neighbors	OEHasHvyDegree
aromatic atoms	OEIsAromaticAtom
atoms with specific hybridization	OEIsAtomHybridization
chiral atoms	OEIsChiralAtom
atoms with anisotropic B-factor parameters	OEHasAnisou
atoms with specified map index	OEHasMapIdx
atoms representing R-Groups	OEIsRGroup
valid atoms (by OpenEye valence conventions)	OEIsValidAtomValence
valid atoms (by MDL valence conventions)	OEIsValidMDLAtomValence
\(n^{th}\) atom	OENthAtom
atoms that are both terminal and heavy	OEIsTermHeavyAtom
atom membership in a set of atoms	OEIsAtomMember

Listing 2: Using predefined atom functors

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");

  cout << "Number of heavy atoms = " << OECount(mol, OEIsHeavy()) << endl;
  cout << "Number of ring atoms  = " << OECount(mol, OEAtomIsInRing()) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of heavy atoms = 12
Number of ring atoms  = 11

Atomic Number Functors

Access	Functor Name
atoms with specified atomic number	OEHasAtomicNum
carbon atoms	OEIsCarbon
halogen atoms	OEIsHalogen
heavy atoms	OEIsHeavy
hetero atoms	OEIsHetero
explicit hydrogen atoms	OEIsHydrogen
metal atoms	OEIsMetal
nitrogen atoms	OEIsNitrogen
oxygen atoms	OEIsOxygen
sulfur atoms	OEIsSulfur
phosphorus atoms	OEIsPhosphorus
non-carbon atoms	OEIsPolar
polar hydrogen atoms	OEIsPolarHydrogen

Please note that the following two lines produce the same result.

  cout << "Number of oxygen atoms = " << OECount(mol, OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::O)) << endl;;
  cout << "Number of oxygen atoms = " << OECount(mol, OEIsOxygen()) << endl;

Bond Functors

Access	Functor Name
ring bonds	OEBondIsInRing
chain bonds	OEBondIsInChain
bond with specified bond index	OEHasBondIdx
bond with selected bond index	OEBondIdxSelected
bonds with specified bond order	OEHasOrder
rotatable bonds	OEIsRotor
chiral bonds	OEIsChiralBond
bonds with specific bond stereo	OEHasBondStereoSpecified
aromatic bonds	OEIsAromaticBond
bond membership in a set of bonds	OEIsBondMember

Listing 3: Using predefined bond functors

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "CC(=O)Nc1c[nH]cc1");

  cout << "Number of ring bonds  = " << OECount(mol, OEBondIsInRing()) << endl;
  cout << "Number of rotor bonds = " << OECount(mol, OEIsRotor()) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of ring bonds  = 5
Number of rotor bonds = 2

Group Functors

Access	Functor Name
groups with a specific atom	OEHasAtomInGroup
groups with a specific bond	OEHasBondInGroup
groups with a specific type	OEHasGroupType
groups that store MDL stereo information	OEIsMDLStereoGroup

Reaction Component Functors

Access	Functor Name
atoms of the catalysts or solvents of a reaction	OEAtomIsInAgent
atoms of the product molecule(s)	OEAtomIsInProduct
atoms of the reactant molecule(s)	OEAtomIsInReactant

Conformer Functors

Access	Functor Name
conformer with specified index	OEHasConfIdx
conformer with selected index	OEConfIdxSelected

Residue Data Functors

Access	Functor Name
atoms with specified residue properties	OEAtomMatchResidue
atoms with specified chain id	OEHasChainID
atoms with specified residue number	OEHasResidueNumber
atoms with an alternate location	OEHasAlternateLocation
atoms with specified fragment number	OEHasFragmentNumber
atoms with specified PDB index	OEHasPDBAtomIndex
alpha carbon	OEIsCAlpha
backbone atom	OEIsBackboneAtom
water	OEIsWater
nucleic acid base	OEIsNucleicAcidBase
nucleic acid sugar	OEIsNucleicAcidSugar
nucleic acid phosphate	OEIsNucleicAcidPhosphate

Composite Functors

Occasionally, one may want to use a logical operator to join two or more functors. The following table shows the composite functors defined in OEChem TK.

Composite Functors

Composite Functor	Description	Example atom composite functor
OENot	logical not	OENot<OEAtomBase>
OEOr	logical or	OEOr<OEAtomBase>
OEAnd	logical and	OEAnd<OEAtomBase>

Each composite functor takes the appropriate number of predicates as arguments and generates a single unary predicate. The following example demonstrates how to use composite functors to build expressions from OEChem TK’s predefined atom predicates.

Listing 4: Combining predefined atom predicates

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;


int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cnc(O)cc1CCCBr");

  cout << "Number of chain atoms = " <<
          OECount(mol, OENot<OEAtomBase>(OEAtomIsInRing())) << endl;

  cout << "Number of aromatic nitrogens = " <<
          OECount(mol, OEAnd<OEAtomBase>(OEIsNitrogen(), OEIsAromaticAtom())) << endl;

  cout << "Number of non-carbons = " <<
          OECount(mol, OENot<OEAtomBase>(OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::C))) << endl;

  cout << "Number of nitrogen and oxygen atoms = " <<
          OECount(mol, OEOr<OEAtomBase>(OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::N),
                                       OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::O))) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The OECount function returns the number or objects (in this case atoms) matching the given predicate argument.

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of chain atoms = 5
Number of aromatic nitrogens = 1
Number of non-carbons = 3
Number of nitrogen and oxygen atoms = 2

Though the explicit template type instantiation isn’t strictly necessary, in practice it is required to help several parsers make it through the expression. As a convenience to programmers, three related template free functions have been defined. These are operator &&, operator ||, and operator !, which take one or more OEUnaryPredicates as arguments and return the appropriate composite predicate. Not only do these make code much easier to read, but in our experience, they also make the code easier for C++ parsers to parse. The following example is identical to the previous composite listing except that the composite predicates have been replaced by the operator free-functions.

  cout << "Number of chain atoms = " <<
          OECount(mol, !OEAtomIsInRing()) << endl;

  cout << "Number of aromatic nitrogens = " <<
          OECount(mol, OEIsNitrogen() && OEIsAromaticAtom()) << endl;

  cout << "Number of non-carbons = " <<
          OECount(mol, !OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::C)) << endl;

  cout << "Number of nitrogen and oxygen atoms = " <<
          OECount(mol, OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::N) || OEHasAtomicNum(OEElemNo::O)) << endl;

Composite functors can be used similarly to combine predefined bond predicates.

Listing 5: Combining predefined bond predicates

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "N#CCC1CCNC=C1");

  cout << "Number of non-rotatable bonds = "
       << OECount(mol, OENot<OEBondBase>(OEIsRotor())) << endl;

  cout << "Number of ring double bonds = "
       << OECount(mol, OEAnd<OEBondBase>(OEBondIsInRing(), OEHasOrder(2u))) << endl;

  cout << "Number of double or triple bonds = "
       << OECount(mol, OEOr<OEBondBase>(OEHasOrder(2u), OEHasOrder(3u))) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of non-rotatable bonds = 8
Number of ring double bonds = 1
Number of double or triple bonds = 2

User Defined Functors

While many predefined functors exist in OEChem TK, it is not difficult to find a situation which calls for a new user-defined functor.

User-defined functor can be written by deriving from the OEUnaryPredicate base template class.

The following example shows a user defined atom functor which returns true for aliphatic nitrogens.

Listing 6: User defined atom predicate

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

class PredAliphaticNitrogen : public OEUnaryPredicate<OEAtomBase>
{
public:
  PredAliphaticNitrogen() = default;
  PredAliphaticNitrogen(const PredAliphaticNitrogen &) = default;
  PredAliphaticNitrogen& operator=(const PredAliphaticNitrogen &) = default;
  ~PredAliphaticNitrogen() = default;

  bool operator()(const OEAtomBase &atom) const
  {
    return atom.IsNitrogen() && !atom.IsAromatic();
  }
  OEUnaryFunction<OEAtomBase,bool> *CreateCopy() const
  {
    return new PredAliphaticNitrogen;
   }
};

int main()
{
   OEGraphMol mol;
   OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");
   cout << "Number of aliphatic N atoms = " << OECount(mol, PredAliphaticNitrogen()) << endl;

   return 0;
}

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of aliphatic N atoms = 1

A bond predicate can be similarly defined by deriving from the OEUnaryBondPred class.

Listing 7: User defined bond predicate

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;


class PredHasDoubleBondO : public OEUnaryPredicate<OEAtomBase>
{
public:
  PredHasDoubleBondO() = default;
  PredHasDoubleBondO(const PredHasDoubleBondO &) = default;
  PredHasDoubleBondO& operator=(const PredHasDoubleBondO &) = default;
  ~PredHasDoubleBondO() = default;

  bool operator()(const OEAtomBase& atom) const
  {
    for (OEIter<const OEBondBase> bond = atom.GetBonds(); bond; ++bond)
    {
      if (bond->GetOrder() == 2 && bond->GetNbr(&atom)->IsOxygen())
        return true;
    }
    return false;
  }
  OEUnaryFunction<OEAtomBase,bool> *CreateCopy() const
  {
    return new PredHasDoubleBondO;
  }
};

class PredAmideBond : public OEUnaryPredicate<OEBondBase>
{
public:
  PredAmideBond() = default;
  PredAmideBond(const PredAmideBond &) = default;
  PredAmideBond& operator=(const PredAmideBond &) = default;
  ~PredAmideBond() = default;

  bool operator()(const OEBondBase& bond) const
  {
    if (bond.GetOrder() != 1u)
      return false;
    const OEAtomBase* atomB = bond.GetBgn();
    const OEAtomBase* atomE = bond.GetEnd();
    PredHasDoubleBondO pred;
    if (atomB->IsCarbon() && atomE->IsNitrogen() && pred(*atomB))
      return true;
    if (atomB->IsNitrogen() && atomE->IsCarbon() && pred(*atomE))
      return true;
    return false;
  }
  OEUnaryFunction<OEBondBase,bool> *CreateCopy() const
  {
    return new PredAmideBond;
  }
};

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "CC(=O)Nc1c[nH]cc1");
  cout << "Number of amide bonds = " << OECount(mol, PredAmideBond()) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The output of the preceding program is the following:

Number of amide bonds = 1

One advantage of functors over function pointers is that they can hold state. Since this state is held by the instance of the object it can be thread safe (unlike static-variables inside functions used with function pointers). The state of a functor can be initialized at construction. For instance, OEHasAtomicNum functor takes an argument on construction which defines which atomic number is required for the functor to return true.

Listing 8: User defined atom predicate with state

#include <openeye.h>
#include <vector>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

class PredAtomicNumList : public OEUnaryPredicate<OEAtomBase>
{
public:
  PredAtomicNumList() = default;
  PredAtomicNumList(const PredAtomicNumList &) = default;
  PredAtomicNumList& operator=(const PredAtomicNumList &) = delete;
  ~PredAtomicNumList() = default;

  PredAtomicNumList(const vector<unsigned int>& a) : alist(a)
  {}
  bool operator()(const OEAtomBase &atom) const
  {
    return find(alist.begin(), alist.end(), atom.GetAtomicNum()) != alist.end();
  }
  OEUnaryFunction<OEAtomBase,bool> *CreateCopy() const
  {
    return new PredAtomicNumList(alist);
  }

private:
  vector<unsigned int> alist;
};

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");
  const vector<unsigned int> alist = {OEElemNo::O, OEElemNo::N};
  cout << "Number of oxygen or nitrogen atoms = "
       << OECount(mol, PredAtomicNumList(alist)) << endl;

  return 0;
}

Functor substructure-based matching

The Listing 6 shows an example how to create a user-defined atom predicate. OEChem TK also provides a functor template, called OEMatchFunc, that allows convenient substructure-based atom matching.

In the following example functors are initialized with a SMARTS string. These functors return true only if the atom matches the substructure pattern specified in construction.

Listing 9: Functor substructure-based matching

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "C1(Cl)C(N)C(F)OC1C(=O)NCCCN");

  OEMatchFunc<OEAtomBase> NonAmideNitrogenPred("[N;!$(NC=O)]");
  cout << "Number of non-amide nitrogen = " << OECount(mol, NonAmideNitrogenPred) << endl;

  OEMatchFunc<OEAtomBase> FiveMemberedRingOxygenPred("[O;r5]");
  cout << "Number of 5-membered ring oxygen = " << OECount(mol, FiveMemberedRingOxygenPred) << endl;

  OEMatchFunc<OEAtomBase> CarbonAttachedToHalogenPred("[#6][Cl,Br,F]");
  cout << "Number of carbon attached to halogen = " << OECount(mol, CarbonAttachedToHalogenPred) << endl;

  return 0;
}

The output of Listing 9 is the following:

Number of non-amide nitrogen = 2
Number of 5-membered ring oxygen = 1
Number of carbon attached to halogen = 2

Molecule Partitioning

The OESubsetMol function can take any atom predicate as an argument and generate a subset molecule from only atoms for which the specified predicate returns true. In the following example, ring atoms are extracted from a molecule by using the OEAtomIsInRing atom functor.

Listing 10: Ring system extraction

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
   OEGraphMol mol;
   OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");
   OEGraphMol submol;
   const bool adjustHCount = true;

   OESubsetMol(submol, mol, OEAtomIsInRing(), adjustHCount);
   cout << OEMolToSmiles(submol) << endl;

   return 0;
}

The output of Listing 10 is the following:

c1cc[nH]c1.C1CNCOC1

In the following example, ring systems are extracted from a molecule by using OEPartPred functor.

Listing 11: Ring system extraction

#include <openeye.h>
#include <oesystem.h>
#include <oechem.h>

using namespace std;
using namespace OESystem;
using namespace OEChem;

int main()
{
  OEGraphMol mol;
  OESmilesToMol(mol, "c1cc[nH]c1CC2COCNC2");
  vector<unsigned int> rings(mol.GetMaxAtomIdx(), 0u);
  const auto nrrings = OEDetermineRingSystems(mol, &rings[0]);
  cout << "Number of rings = " << nrrings << endl;

  OEPartPred pred(&rings[0], mol.GetMaxAtomIdx());
  const bool adjustHCount = true;
  for (unsigned int r = 1; r < nrrings + 1; ++r)
  {
    pred.SelectPart(r);
    OEGraphMol ringmol;
    OESubsetMol(ringmol, mol, pred, adjustHCount);
    cout << r << " -> " << OEMolToSmiles(ringmol) << endl;
  }

  return 0;
}

The output of Listing 11 is the following:

Number of rings = 2
1 -> c1cc[nH]c1
2 -> C1CNCOC1