Chemical structure identification

Abstract

A method for generating a numeric or alpha-numeric identifier representative of a chemical structure having at least two atoms connected by a bond includes the step of assigning a numerical value to each atom and a numerical bond value to each bond. The method updates the numerical values for each atom based on the current values assigned to each atom and the numerical bond value. After the numerical values for each atom have been updated, the method calculates a numeric or alpha-numeric identifier for the chemical structure.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of generating an identifier representative of a chemical structure having a first atom, a second atom and a bond connecting the first atom and the second atom, the method comprising the steps of: 
 representing the first atom with a first numerical value;    representing the second atom with a second numerical value;    representing the bond with a numerical bond value;    calculating an updated first numerical value based on the first numerical value, the second numerical value and the numerical bond value;    calculating an updated second numerical value based on the second numerical value, the first numerical value and the numerical bond value; and    calculating the identifier based on the updated first numerical value and the updated second numerical value.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of repeating the steps of calculating the updated first and second numerical values.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first atom is of a first type and the second atom is of a second type and wherein the steps of representing the first and second atoms with first and second numerical values comprise the step of representing the first and second atoms with different numerical values if the first and second atom types are not similar.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first atom is of a first type and the second atom is of a second type and wherein the steps of representing the first and second atoms with first and second numerical values comprise the step of representing the first and second atoms with identical numerical values if the first and second atom types are similar.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bond connecting the first atom and the second atom has a bond type and wherein the step of representing the bond with a numerical bond value comprises representing the bond with a numerical bond value that is related to the bond type.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the bond type comprises a single bond and the step of representing the bond with a numerical bond value comprises the step of making the numerical bond value equal to one.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the bond type comprises a double bond and the step of representing the bond with a numerical bond value comprises the step of making the numerical bond value equal to two.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the bond type comprises a triple bond and the step of representing the bond with a numerical bond value comprises the step of making the numerical bond value equal to three.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the bond type comprises an aromatic bond and the step of representing the bond with a numerical bond value comprises the step of making the numerical bond value equal to four.  
     
     
         10 . For operation on a processor, a system for generating an identifier representative of a chemical structure having a first atom, a second atom and a bond connecting the first atom and the second atom, the system comprising: 
 a computer readable medium;    a first portion of software stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed on the processor to represent the first atom with a first numerical value and to represent the second atom with a second numerical value    a second portion of software stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed on the processor to represent the bond with a numerical bond value;    a third portion of software stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed on the processor to calculate an updated first numerical value based on the first numerical value, the second numerical value and the numerical bond value    a fourth portion of software stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed on the processor to calculate an updated second numerical value based on the second numerical value, the first numerical value and the numerical bond value; and    a fifth portion of software stored on the computer readable medium and adapted to be executed on the processor to calculate the identifier based on the updated first numerical value and the updated second numerical value.    
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first atom is of a first type and the second atom is of a second type and wherein the first portion of software, when executed on the processor, causes the processor to represent the first and second atoms with different numerical values if the first and second atom types are not similar.  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the first atom is of a first type and the second atom is of a second type and wherein the first portion of software, when executed on the processor, causes the processor to represent the first and second atoms with first and second numerical values comprise the step of representing the first and second atoms with identical numerical values if the first and second atom types are similar.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the bond connecting the first atom and the second atom has a bond type and wherein the second portion of software, when executed on the processor, causes the processor to represent the bond with a numerical bond value that is related to the bond type.  
     
     
         14 . A method of compiling a library for drug research, the library including a plurality of identifiers representative of a plurality of chemical structures, the method comprising the steps of: 
 selecting a chemical structure from the plurality of chemical structures, the selected chemical structure having a first atom, a second atom and a bond connecting the first atom and the second atom;    representing the first atom with a first numerical value;    representing the second atom with a second numerical value;    representing the bond with a numerical bond value;    calculating an updated first numerical value based on the first numerical value, the second numerical value and the numerical bond value;    calculating an updated second numerical value based on the second numerical value, the first numerical value and the numerical bond value;    calculating the identifier based on the updated first numerical value and the updated second numerical value; and    storing the identifier in a memory.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the method is repeated for each chemical structure in the plurality of chemical structures, thereby storing the plurality of identifiers in the memory.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising the steps of searching the memory for chemical structures having a desired attribute and outputting a list of chemical structures having the desired attribute.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising the step of using the list of chemical structures having the desired attribute to select a compound for medical treatment.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising the steps of sorting the plurality of identifiers in the memory according to a desired attribute and outputting a sorted list of chemical structures sorted according to the desired attribute.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising the step of using the sorted list of chemical structures to select a compound for medical treatment.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the library is a first library, the plurality of identifiers is a first plurality of identifiers and the plurality of chemical structures is a first plurality of chemical structures, the method further comprising the step of compiling a second library including a second plurality of identifiers representative of a second plurality of chemical structures.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising the step of comparing the first plurality of identifiers with the second plurality of identifiers.