Salicylic acids as anti-inflammatory agents were analyzed by ab initio, quantum chemical methods to study the possible modes of binding to the receptor. As the result of multiple regression analysis of reactivity indices and interpretation of normalized frontier orbital charges of drugs, potency seems to be related to energy of HOMO and LUMO at the 5 position of benzene ring, and in the 5-phenyl substituted case, the para position of substituting ring is important. The binding occurs first at the positive site of its receptor. The charge density exhibited by the frontier orbitals suggests that charge moves from receptor site to carboxyl group. The electrostatic orientation effect makes an important contribution to the binding of the active molecules to their receptors. Also the electrostatic potential model may be able to rationalize the source of activity or inactivity of the drugs under investigation.