QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY-RELATIONSHIPS (QSAR) STUDY OF A SERIES OF DISPERSE HETEROCYCLIC AZO DYES - A CHEMOMETRIC APPROACH

The fastness properties of a series of thiadiazolyl azo dyes, to be us ed as disperse dyes for polyester fibres, have been explored by a chem ometric approach. Experimental Design techniques were used to select a minimum number of representative compounds to be synthesized. The wet and light fastness properties of this small ''training set'' were mea sured and analyzed as a function of structure by the Partial Least Squ ares (PLS) method. The established QSAR model allowed the prediction o f the properties of new dyes, which, after synthesis and measurement, confirmed the predictions. Some dyes with outstanding properties were identified.