The computer recognizes chemical structures
The Fraunhofer Institute SCAI and InfoChem cooperate in developing a new software tool for the automatic recognition of images representing chemical structures
Computerized indexing of chemical structure images is one of the biggest challenges in chemical and pharmaceutical research. Publications and patents contain structures mainly as pictures. This is no problem for chemical scientists: a quick look usually enables them to classify the chemical structure. However, for a computer, such pictures are nothing else but an accumulation of pixels.
Pictures representing chemical structures can be found in large repositories of scientific publications and in millions of patents. With the chemoCR software it is now possible, for the first time, to transform this graphically encoded chemical information into the formats used for "live" chemical structures. This enables computers to retrieve information contained in chemical-pharmaceutical patents, by performing structure searches.
"With our software, for the first time, millions of patents can be searched using the chemical information contained in the pictures. This opens new possibilities for the investigation of patent claims on compounds and synthesis procedures; chemoCR addresses one of the most common challenges of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry", explains Prof. Dr. Martin Hofmann-Apitius, Director of the Bioinformatics Department at Fraunhofer Institute SCAI.
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Topic world Synthesis
Chemical synthesis is at the heart of modern chemistry and enables the targeted production of molecules with specific properties. By combining starting materials in defined reaction conditions, chemists can create a wide range of compounds, from simple molecules to complex active ingredients.
Topic world Synthesis
Chemical synthesis is at the heart of modern chemistry and enables the targeted production of molecules with specific properties. By combining starting materials in defined reaction conditions, chemists can create a wide range of compounds, from simple molecules to complex active ingredients.