Remarks on the maximum atom-bond connectivity index of graphs with given parameters

Abstract

The atom-bond connectivity (ABC) index is a degree-based molecular structure descriptor that can be used for modelling thermodynamic properties of organic chemical compounds. Motivated by its applicable potential, a series of investigations have been carried out in the past several years. In this note we first consider graphs with given edge-connectivity that attain the maximum ABC index. In particular, we give an affirmative answer to the conjecture about the structure of graphs with edge-connectivity equal to one that maximize the ABC index, which was recently raised by Zhang, Yang, Wang and Zhang~\cite{zywz mabciggp-2016}. In addition, we provide supporting evidence for another conjecture posed by the same authors which concerns graphs that maximize the ABC index among all graphs with chromatic number equal to some fixed $\chi \geq 3$. Specifically, we confirm this conjecture in the case where the order of the graph is divisible by $\chi$.