Cartesian stochastic search

Conformational isomers represent minima on an energy surface, and all structures and the corresponding strain energies can be obtained by a careful analysis. This can be performed manually (such as in Sections 17.3 and 17.4) or automatically. An automatic procedure may involve a systematic search (grid search methods), a stochastic search (e.g., torsional Monte Carlo or cartesian stochastic, i.e., the random kick method) or molecular dynamics (see Chapter 5 and Section 16.5). Implemented in MOMEC is a random kick stochastic search module, and this has been shown to lead to excellent results, not only for conformational equilibria, but also for distributions of configurational isomers[37]. 

Ferguson and Raber s RIPS (Random Incremental Pulse Search) program also performs its stochastic search in Cartesian coordinate space. Two modes of operation are possible, the first to locate just the global minimum energy conformation and the second to perform a complete search of the conformational space. In the hunt for the global energy minimum, the lowest energy structure found to... 

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