Abstract: A quantitative structure-activity relationship study on 6-aryl-pyrazolo (3,4-b) pyridines was performed to gain structural insight into the binding mode of the molecules to the glycogen synthase kinase -3α, an enzyme phosphorylate and inhibit Glycogen Synthase (GS) which is the rate limiting enzyme in the glycogen biosynthesis. The molecular modeling studies were performed using CS Chem. Office 2001 molecular modeling software version 6.0. Allinger`s MM2 force field by fixing Root Mean Square Gradient (RMS) to 0.1 Kcal mol-1 and semiemperical AM1 Hamiltonian method (MOPAC module) were used to minimize the energy and calculate descriptors. The thermodynamic and steric features of 6-aryl-pyrazolo (3,4-b) pyridines are highly correlated with GSK-3α inhibitory activity. The results of the study suggests that introduction of bulky groups at C-5 position of the pyrazolopyridine ring will increase the GSK-3α inhibitory potency as it may involve in hydrophobic interaction with the ATP binding site of the enzyme. The results of the study reveal that the conformational rigidity and orientation of molecule play significant role in the GSK-3α inhibitory activity. Additionally, electronic interactions between molecule and enzyme were found to be crucial for GSK-3α inhibitory activity.