IUPAC International Chemical Identifier InChl

McNaught, A. The IUPAC International Chemical Identifier InChl a new standard for molecular informatics, Chem. Int. 28(6) 12-14. 

Project Prospect endeavors to use and build acceptance of standards for chemical information by using the International Chemical Identifiers (InChls) created by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as a way to provide a nonproprietary way to make chemical information more machine-readable. To illustrate the potential of this in the simplest way, an InChl for benzene (i.e., InChI=l/ C6H6/cl-2-4-6-5-3-l/hl-6H) was pasted into a Google search bar (www.google. com), this resulted in 37 hits in the fall of 2007 and over 1,000 hits 6 months later in the spring of 2008. The top hits were directed at the IUPAC Gold Book as shown in Figure 1.1. 

InChl (pronounced In-chee called IChl until 2004) stands for lUPAC International Chemical Identifier, and was developed to enable the easy linking of diverse data compilations, whether print or electronic. The name InChF is protected, but use and development of InChl identifiers is free access, and the source code and associated documentation can be downloaded for free from www. iupac.org/inchi. Source codes can be modified under the terms of a public licence, and lUPAC welcomes proposals for enhancements. Following beta-testing, the current version (1.02) is full release (January 2009). 

Recently, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (lUPAC) has recognized the need for a canonization procedure available to every chemist and is investing a major effort into the corresponding identifier and supporting software, the lUPAC Chemical Identifier (InChl) [121]. The latest software as well as publications may be downloaded from http //www.iupac.org/inchi/. 

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