Author Archives: pm286

What's in a name? hexanoic acid still smells of goats

Posted on September 25, 2007 by pm286

In a recent post I said – rather crudely – that there was no absolute way of understanding chemical names. I have been (rightly) taken to task for imprecision: ChemSpiderMan Says: September 25th, 2007 at 5:04 am e I’m not … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, open issues | 5 Comments

Structures that InChI and SMILES can't represent

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

Even in organic chemistry there are lots of strucures that cannot be represented by InChIs and currently cannot be communicated without structure diagrams. I’ve gone randomly to Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry (as it’s Open Access) and found three consecutive … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, open issues | 1 Comment

Grazie!

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

I made the sweeping assertion at Berlin5 that no-one other than me was blogging (I asked for a show of hands), and am delighted to be proved wrong: Paolo Gardois Says: September 24th, 2007 at 3:30 pm e Firstly, compliments … Continue reading →

Posted in berlin5 | 1 Comment

Truth or beauty, continued

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

Continuing our discussion on whether a chemical strucure diagram is copyrightable. Steven Bachrach Says: September 24th, 2007 at 9:27 pm ePeter, I have to take exception to some of your claims. The chemical formula drawing is not the only way … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, open issues | 1 Comment

Semantic web : the scream!

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

I have just blogged Paul Miller’s Talis Community Licence and realised that – I think – I used to get a feed from his/Talis blog. So I put it in the Feedreader and found a whole lot of posts on … Continue reading →

Posted in "virtual communities", semanticWeb | 1 Comment

Diazonamide : The Blue CrystalEye Greasemonkey lends a hand

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

There is some doubt about what the structure of diazonamide A is. Because there is no absolute way of assigning names to structures. We only agree what aspirin is because everyone has been assigning the same structure to it for … Continue reading →

Posted in blueobelisk, chemistry, data | 4 Comments

Beauty is truth, truth beauty – and copyrightable?

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

In (Finding chemical structures – InChIs et al., an amusement) I explored the varied approaches to drawing structures and the problems of representing them. I commented that Totally Synthetic’s diagrams were not only the most unambiguous but also the most … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, open issues | 2 Comments

Talis licence for Open Data

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

I used to think Open Data was simple – “facts are not copyrightable” and everything follows. No I am wiser and realise that data are complex and need a lot of attention – fast. So it’s very valuable to see … Continue reading →

Posted in open issues, www2007 | 1 Comment

CDK's Diazonamide and general thoughts on Openness

Posted on September 24, 2007 by pm286

Noel O’Blog has suggested that I should use Rajarshi Guha’s CDK service to layout the Diazonamide structure (see my post Finding chemical structures – InChIs et al., an amusement) baoilleach Says: September 24th, 2007 at 7:59 am eFor the record, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Finding chemical structures – InChIs et al., an amusement

Posted on September 23, 2007 by pm286

Totally Synthetic, Chemspider and I have been discussing the value of InChIs in blogs. TS’s blog is, of course Openly available under CC licence, and he is widely revered in the community for the beauty and acuuracy of his structural … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, open issues | 5 Comments