Chemical Informatics Letters

Volume 13, Issue 5; November 2006

Editor: Jonathan M Goodman

The IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, known as the Gold Book is now available on-line.

How to get the most out of PubChem? On-line training is available.

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Comparative Toxicogenomics Database [CTD]

The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), from the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory and funded through the NIH, elucidates molecular mechanisms by which environmental chemicals affect human disease

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PKS

A database of modular polyketide synthases, from the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi.

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Is nanotech dangerous?

Studies of nanotechnology issues from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars discuss the benefits and possible dangers of nanotechnology.

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Money for science

The Higher Education Funding Council for England which supports English universities, has set aside $pound; 75 million over the next three years to support high-cost science subjects, including chemistry.

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How to compare virtual screening methods?

Comparison of different virtual screening methods is hard, partly because there is no agreement on an ideal diverse test set. Cooperation may be the way forward.

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Darwin online

A comprehensive collection of Charles Darwin's work will be available online from the University of Cambridge, complementing the existing online collection of Darwin's correspondence.

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MedPhyt

MEDPHYT is a database for plants of medicinal interest, developed by the Beilstein Institute.

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MSDS

Many databases of Material Safety Data Sheets are available on-line, and some of these are free. Most have disclaimers about the limited liability of the data providers should the information turn out to be inaccurate.

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety lists the types of information that must be included in an MSDS for various countries
Chemexper allows easy searching of a database which has more than one hundred thousand chemicals
Cornell Material Safety Data Sheets
Interactive Learning Paradigms Incorporated provides an index to Material Safety Data Sheets on the internet, and a glossary
A database of International Chemical Safety Cards is available from the International Labour Organisation
Kansas State University
Mallinckrodt Baker provides access to MSDS
MSDS Search provides free access to MSDS and has a range of links to related topics including the history of MSDS and an MSDS glossary
MSDS Solutions has a database of over three and a half million MSDS. Free registration is required for a trial account to search the database
MSDSonline is a subscription service with a database of millions of MSDS
MSDS Xchange is a collection of over a million manufacturer's material safety daa sheets
Oxford university has a small database of MSDS
The Seton Compliance Resource Center offers free access to over a 350 000 MSDS from a broad range of companies and applications Translink - specialist MSDS translation
Vermont Safety Information Resources includes both safety and toxicity data

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Web Science Research Initiative

Sir Tim Berners-Lee defines Web Science as the study of the web.

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Bacteria that live in the dark

Living things nearly always depend, directly or indirectly, on solar energy in order to gain the energy to live. Bacteria have recently been discovered that use energy from radioactive uranium instead.