Internal representation SMILES

This chapter focused primarily on SMILES and canonical SMILES. It is feasible and common to use SMILES as the internal representation of molecular structure. Using the SQL functions described in this chapter,... 

Another choice for the internal representation of molecular structure is a molfile. It would be possible to construct SQL functions like those described in this chapter that would operate on this type of data. One disadvantage of molfiles is their greater size compared with SMILES. One advantage is that it is possible to store atomic coordinates, which is not possible with SMILES. There are other molecular file formats, but these are substantially the same as a molfile, except perhaps for specific atom types that may be of use in some database applications. 

The external representation of molecular structure is a less rigorous definition. For example, there are many programs available that can convert to and from SMILES and molfiles. These can be used when a molfile (the external representation) needs to be imported as a SMILES (the internal representation) into the database. Similarly, a SMILES can be easily exported as a SMILES or converted to a molfile or other file format. It is useful to have these conversion functions as SQL extensions. 

A special extension of SMILES is USMILES (sometimes described as Broad SMILES) [23-25]. This Unique SMILES of Daylight is a canonical representation of a structure. This means that the coding is independent of the internal atomic numbering and results always in the same canonical, unambiguous, and unique description of the compound, granted by an algorithm (see Section 2.5.2). 

Recently, a universal string representation method was proposed and published. The International Chemical Identifier,17 or InChl , is a definition and set of methods maintained by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. It promises to provide a truly universal character string representation of molecular structure. Whether it will replace the widely used SMILES is yet to be seen. 

Standardisation of representations has not had a happy history, partly as a result of the differing requirements of different groups of users. Though the InChl does seem to be establishing itself in some quarters as a widely used standard, under international control, different flavours of and extensions to established formats (such as SMILES) continue to appear. 

For many computer tasks and for the transfer of structiural information from one computer program to another, a linear representation of the chemical structure may be more suitable. " A popular linear representation is the SMILES notation. Part of its appeal is that for acyclic structures the SMILES is similar to the traditional linear diagram. For example, ethane is denoted by CC and ethylene C=C. Examples of additional SMILES are given in Figure 4. SMILES is the basis of a chemical information system, and this notation provides a convenient framework for more sophisticated computer coding of chemistry described below. For some internal computer functions, structures encoded in a linear notation may be converted to connection tables. 

A notation similar to SMILES is Sybyl Line Notation. It provides atom and bond attributes for tetrahedral and cis/trans stereogenic units. Internally, the system uses parities but it can automatically convert CIP (or Fischer) labels to this representation. 

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