Ten physicochemical variables have been calculated for each of 100 different aromatic rings. These variables were selected because of their potential involvement in the molecular recognition of drug-receptor binding interactions, and they include size, lipophilicity, dipole magnitude and orientation, HOMO and LUMO energies, and electronic point charges. A total of 59 different aromatic ring systems were studied including monocyclics and [5.5]-, [6.5]- and [6.6]-fused bicyclics. A principal components analysis of b1ese results generated four principal components which account for 84% of the total variance in the data. These principal components provide a quantitative measure of molecular diversity, and their relevance for structure-activity relationships is discussed. The principal components correlate with the in vitro biological activity of heterocyclic aromatic fragments within a series of previously reported HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors.