At the 46th ENC (Providence, RI, April 2005) I had the opportunity of learning about the capabilities of ACD/Labs Online. Once back in Carnegie Mellon, I requested the library to subscribe to the service and the funds were approved in September 2005. Since then, our students (undergraduate and graduate), visiting scholars and faculty used ACD/Labs not only as a research tool but also as a teaching tool. Chemistry research activities at Carnegie Mellon are very diverse and multidisciplinary. Scientists took advantage of the ACD/Labs capabilities to tackle diverse problems in the fields a 19F-MRI, Nanosciences, Green Chemistry, Natural Products, Atmospheric Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry, and Material Sciences, among other. For example, 1H and 13C NMR chemical shift predictions helped to identify the different type of functional groups in the degradation of product of limonene under the presence of ozone. We were able to map these functional groups using 1H,13C–HSQC spectra of the degradation mixtures in combination with NMR predictions. Scientists at CMU also use NMR predictions in a regular basis in the identification of natural products, characterizations of polymers, and 19F MRI. A series of examples of applications of ACD/Labs Online in these fields of research will be shown.
On the other side, Organic Chemistry I students are encouraged by their teachers to use ChemSketch and ACD/Labs Online as an optional learning tool.
Among several databases that our library system subscribes, ACD/Labs (NMR predictors and databases, naming, physicochemical properties predictions and databases) became a very valuable teaching and research tool.
Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) has joined a growing community of informatics companies working with Elsevier MDL to offer scientists better integrated informatics solutions for managing pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other life sciences research. ACD/Labs, a longtime collaborator with Elsevier MDL, joins the rapidly expanding MDL® Isentris® Alliance as a preferred partner and will provide connections between its products and the new-generation MDL Isentris platform.
Juergen Vogt, who specializes in chemistry information systems at the Universtiy of Ulm, recently reviewed the AutoNom, ChemDraw Ultra, and ACD/Name chemical nomenclature programs in Nachricten aus der Chemie.
ACD/Name was found to support more substance classes than other nomenclature programs when it came to generating systematic names for chemical structures. For example, Juergen specifically referred to the ability of ACD/Labs' software to name radicals and ions, coordination complexes, and polymer structures. He also notes that the last program update came with expanded systematic naming options with respect to natural substances.
Further, the converse ability to generate structures from systematic names was also found to cover more substance classes using ACD/Labs' nomenclature program compared with ChemDraw Ultra.
In his summary, Juergen writes that version 8.0 of ACD/Name stands out from other nomenclature programs, and that it should provide valuable assistance to anybody involved in nomenclature.
