New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

New Computer Program Promises To Be 'Rosetta Stone' For Chemical Names

Date:
May 11, 2009
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
In an advance that will help speed global development of new drugs and patenting of new commercial and industrial products, a scientist in New Mexico is reporting development of the first computer program that can quickly and accurately translate complex chemical names from one language into another. 
Share:
FULL STORY

In an advance that will help speed global development of new drugs and patenting of new commercial and industrial products, a scientist in New Mexico is reporting development of the first computer program that can quickly and accurately translate complex chemical names from one language into another. 

Roger Sayle notes that a universal system for naming chemicals does exist. However, translating chemical names from one language into another can be a complex task due to differences in spacing, capitalization, spelling, and other factors. Proper translation from English to Chinese, for example, often requires the use of specially trained chemists who are fluent in both languages. Although scientists have tried for decades to create computer software for quickly translating chemical names into other languages, there's been limited progress in this area until now, Sayle notes.

Sayle reports development of a new version of a powerful computer program called Lexichem that can perform those translations. The study describes how that program translated a group of more than 250,000 chemical names from English to seven other languages (and back) with a 98 percent accuracy rate.


Story Source:

Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sayle et al. Foreign Language Translation of Chemical Nomenclature by Computer. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2009; 49 (3): 519 DOI: 10.1021/ci800243w

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society. "New Computer Program Promises To Be 'Rosetta Stone' For Chemical Names." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 May 2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090504165712.htm>.
American Chemical Society. (2009, May 11). New Computer Program Promises To Be 'Rosetta Stone' For Chemical Names. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 14, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090504165712.htm
American Chemical Society. "New Computer Program Promises To Be 'Rosetta Stone' For Chemical Names." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090504165712.htm (accessed December 14, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES