Problems in the application of artificial intelligence in analytical chemistry

Chemistry in Times of Artificial Intelligence

Chemists have to a large extent gained their knowledge by doing experiments and thus gather data. By putting various data together and then analyzing them, chemists have fostered their understanding of chemistry. Since the 1960s, computer methods have been developed to perform this process from data to information to knowledge. Simultaneously, methods were developed for assisting chemists in solving their fundamental questions such as the prediction of chemical, physical, or biological properties, the design of organic syntheses, and the elucidation of the structure of molecules. This eventually led to a discipline of its own: chemoinformatics. Chemoinformatics has found important applications in the fields of drug discovery, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, agrichemical research, food science, regulatory science, material science, and process control. From its inception, chemoinformatics has utilized methods from artificial intelligence, an approach that has recently gained more momentum.

Feasibility study concerning the use of expert systems for the development of procedures in pharmaceutical analysis

The feasibility of using expert systems for the development of analytical procedures is investigated. A system for the computer generation of procedures to determine active drug substances in commercial formulations is proposed. It is shown that in nearly 85% of the cases investigated the present system immediately yields a correct procedure or conclusion. It is concluded that selecting methods and developing procedures with the use of expert systems is difficult but feasible.