http://bioitalliance.org/blogs/iupac/atom.aspxCommunity Server2007-10-03T09:26:00Zhttp://bioitalliance.org/blogs/iupac/archive/2007/10/03/222.aspx2007-10-03T13:26:00Z2007-10-03T13:26:00Z<SPAN> <P><SPAN>In collaboration with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, IUPAC has previously developed the machine-readable International Chemical Identifier (InChI), an open-source identifier for molecular structures algorithmically generated from a two-dimensional graphical structure (see <A href="http://iupac.org/inchi"><SPAN>http://iupac.org/inchi</SPAN></A>). This contains full structural information and can be converted back into the original structure.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN>IUPAC has now launched the beta-version of software to generate a new fixed-length (25-character) identifier, derived algorithmically from InChI and known as InChIKey (see <A href="http://www.iupac.org/inchi/release102.html"><SPAN>http://www.iupac.org/inchi/release102.html</SPAN></A>). Although this version of the identifier does not itself contain information about chemical structure, it will</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>* facilitate web searching</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>* allow development of a web-based InChI lookup service</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>* permit an InChI representation to be stored in fixed length fields</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>* make chemical structure database indexing easier</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>* allow verification of InChI character strings after network transmission.</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN>The attached Press Release was issued on September 20th 2007</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN></SPAN></SPAN>&nbsp;</P><img src="http://bioitalliance.org/aggbug.aspx?PostID=222" width="1" height="1">IUPAChttp://bioitalliance.org/members/IUPAC.aspx