ChemSpider
There is a new kid on the cheminformatics block.
ChemSpider Beta went live on Saturday March 24, 2007 with over 10 million compounds. Anyone using other free online molecular databases (like eMolecules or Chemistry Search Lookup Service) should definitely give this one a spin.
At this time, it is possible to use the system not only to find molecules in databases but also to predict molecular properties (like density and boiling point), which can come very handy.
But the best reason for keeping an eye on this one is that it is led by Tony Williams. I have known Tony since my graduate student days at the University of Ottawa, where he was running our NMRs. Lets just say he's a little obsessive about the projects he takes on and likes to push the envelope. That usually makes things very interesting.
ChemSpider is still under construction and new features are getting added daily. Make sure to provide some feedback on the site for new features that you would like to see added. Projects such as these are exactly what we need to lubricate free and open science.
Also make sure to subscribe to the accompanying Spinneret Chemistry Webzine written by David Bradley.
I am on the advisory board representing the academic side.
posted by Jean-Claude Bradley @ Friday, March 30, 2007
7 comments
7 Comments:
Thanks for giving Spinneret a mention in your ChemSpider announcement. It's only a wee web at the moment but growing by the day.
Tony's team has just enabled synonym searching on ChemSpider itself, which will make it an incredibly powerful search site.
db
Dave - I was glad to see that you were involved and I look forward to seeing everything evolve.
I appreciate you putting ChemSpider on your blog. I hope your readers find it of interest. The site is moving very quickly and new features are going on every few days. The page to watch is http://www.chemspider.com/NewFeatures.aspx.
I am interested to hear whether your readers support our concept of building a chemical community on ChemSpider? The intention is to wiki enable the structure database so that chemists can add content to the structure content already in the database. I welcome feedback and comments.
Indeed the ChemSpider wiki concept has a lot of potential. Lets play with it and see what works!
Tony tells me there is now a ChemSpider addin for the Firefox search engine extension. If you visit www.chemspider.com and then left click the SE menu icon you should see "Add Chemspider". This will give you instant access to the database via synonyms, inchis, smiles etc.
I just this minute added it myself and did a search for epinephrine for today' Spinneret update.
db
Hello from Chemical Portal,
ChemSpider looks quite interesting,
particularly properties prediction!
Is Chem Zoo a new startup or is it sponsored by ACD?
Good luck with the project!
ChemSpider is a personal project. It's set up under a company ChemZoo, specifically because we live in a litigious society and the efforts of ChemSpider might not be popular with everyone.
Sponsorship for ChemSpider comes in many ways - the donation of hardware, software, resources and cash. ACD/Labs provides some software tools to support the efforts.
The press release at http://www.acdlabs.com/clients/2007_04_chemspider.html describes the relationship with ACD/Labs and it has a specific disclaimer "Disclaimer:
ChemZoo, Inc., is founded by Dr. Antony Williams, who is also serving as VP and Chief Science Officer for ACD/Labs. ChemZoo and ChemSpider services are not affiliated with Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) and are developed independently of ACD/Labs initiatives."
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