M/s submitted to Chemistry in Britain.

Please address all correspondence to:

Prof Mark J Winter
Department of Chemistry
The University of Sheffield
Sheffield S3 7HF, UK.

Modification Date: Wednesday, March 29, 1995

Chemistry and the WWW

Henry S Rzepa, Benjamin J Whitaker, and Mark J Winter

Department of Chemistry, Imperial college, London, SW7 2AY, UK
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Department of Chemistry, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK

Box3: Hyperactive Molecules

A two-dimensional structure diagram is not always appropriate in conveying subtle three dimensional information. Here, one really wants the reader to be able to rotate the molecule freely, as if they were holding a physical model of the molecule in their hands. This can be readily implemented by storing the molecular coordinates on the World-Wide Web server in a standard format such as "pdb" and activating them by a hyperlink using a mechanism known as chemical MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension).[4] When the hyperlink is activated, the coordinates are transmitted to a local viewing program selected by the user, where they can be manipulated by the reader. The diagram in Box 2 contains such a hyperlink to the final three dimensional coordinates of papuamine. By clicking in this region, the user can verify for themselves the stereochemical features of this natural product. Another example of a "hyperactive" molecule might be associated with the pages of an electronic journal;

Chemistry and the WWW

Henry S Rzepa, Benjamin J Whitaker, and Mark J Winter

Department of Chemistry, Imperial college, London, SW7 2AY, UK School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Department of Chemistry, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK

Box3: Hyperactive Molecules

References

Department of Chemistry, Imperial college, London, SW7 2AY, UK
School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Department of Chemistry, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK