The past, present and future of Scientific discourse

Development of a web-based platform for studying lithiation reactions in silico

A novel integrated web-based system has been developed to rationalise and predict lithiation reactions in silico.

From data to analysis: linking NWChem and Avogadro with the syntax and semantics of Chemical Markup Language

BACKGROUND

Multidisciplinary integrated research requires the ability to couple the diverse sets of data obtained from a range of complex experiments and computer simulations. Integrating data requires semantically rich information. In this paper an end-to-end use of semantically rich data in computational chemistry is demonstrated utilizing the Chemical Markup Language (CML) framework. Semantically rich data is generated by the NWChem computational chemistry software with the FoX library and utilized by the Avogadro molecular editor for analysis and visualization.

RESULTS

The NWChem computational chemistry software has been modified and coupled to the FoX library to write CML compliant XML data files. The FoX library was expanded to represent the lexical input files and molecular orbitals used by the computational chemistry software. Draft dictionary entries and a format for molecular orbitals within CML CompChem were developed. The Avogadro application was extended to read in CML data, and display molecular geometry and electronic structure in the GUI allowing for an end-to-end solution where Avogadro can create input structures, generate input files, NWChem can run the calculation and Avogadro can then read in and analyse the CML output produced. The developments outlined in this paper will be made available in future releases of NWChem, FoX, and Avogadro.

CONCLUSIONS

The production of CML compliant XML files for computational chemistry software such as NWChem can be accomplished relatively easily using the FoX library. The CML data can be read in by a newly developed reader in Avogadro and analysed or visualized in various ways. A community-based effort is needed to further develop the CML CompChem convention and dictionary. This will enable the long-term goal of allowing a researcher to run simple "Google-style" searches of chemistry and physics and have the results of computational calculations returned in a comprehensible form alongside articles from the published literature.

Chemical datuments as scientific enablers

This article is an attempt to construct a chemical datument as a means of presenting insights into chemical phenomena in a scientific journal. An exploration of the interactions present in a small fragment of duplex Z-DNA and the nature of the catalytic centre of a carbon-dioxide/alkene epoxide alternating co-polymerisation is presented in this datument, with examples of the use of three software tools, one based on Java, the other two using Javascript and HTML5 technologies. The implications for the evolution of scientific journals are discussed.

Semantic physical science

The articles in this special issue arise from a workshop and symposium held in January 2012 (Semantic Physical Science'). We invited people who shared our vision for the potential of the web to support chemical and related subjects. Other than the initial invitations, we have not exercised any control over the content of the contributed articles.

Mining chemical information from open patents

Linked Open Data presents an opportunity to vastly improve the quality of science in all fields by increasing the availability and usability of the data upon which it is based. In the chemical field, there is a huge amount of information available in the published literature, the vast majority of which is not available in machine-understandable formats. PatentEye, a prototype system for the extraction and semantification of chemical reactions from the patent literature has been implemented and is discussed. A total of 4444 reactions were extracted from 667 patent documents that comprised 10 weeks' worth of publications from the European Patent Office (EPO), with a precision of 78% and recall of 64% with regards to determining the identity and amount of reactants employed and an accuracy of 92% with regards to product identification. NMR spectra reported as product characterisation data are additionally captured.

Semantic science and its communication - a personal view

The articles in this special issue represent the culmination of about 15 years working with the potential of the web to support chemical and related subjects. The selection of papers arises from a symposium held in January 2011 ('Visions of a Semantic Molecular Future') which gave me an opportunity to invite many people who shared the same vision. I have asked them to contribute their papers and most have been able to do so. They cover a wide range of content, approaches and styles and apart from the selection of the speakers (and hence the authors) I have not exercised any control over the content.