An InChI Resolver, a unique free service for scientists to share chemical structures and data, has been developed and launched by a collaboration between ChemZoo Inc., host of ChemSpider, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Resolver was launched at the ACS Spring 2009 meeting in Salt Lake City 

Using the InChI - an IUPAC standard identifier for compounds - scientists can share and contribute their own molecular data and search millions of others from many web sources. The RSC/ChemSpider InChI Resolver gives researchers the tools to create standard InChI data for their own compounds, create and use search engine-friendly InChIKeys to search for compounds, and deposit their data for others to use in the future. 

The future of publishing

'The wider adoption and unambiguous use of the InChI standard will be an important development in the way chemistry is published in the future, and the further development of the semantic web,' comments Robert Parker, Managing Director of RSC Publishing. 

The InChI Resolver will be based on ChemSpider's existing database of over 21 million chemical compounds and will provide the first stable environment to promote the use and sharing of compound data. 'ChemSpider hosts the largest and most diverse online database of chemical structures sourced from over 150 different data sources' adds Antony Williams of ChemSpider, 'We have embraced the InChI identifier as a key component of our platform and the basis of our structure searches and integration path to a number of other resources. We have delivered a number of InChI-based web services and, with the introduction of the InChI Resolver, we hope to continue to expand the utility and value of both InChI and the ChemSpider service.' 

Society support

'As a learned society publisher it is important that RSC provide support for the standard and contribute to the development of the resolver, which promises to be a valuable service for the chemical science community.' continues Parker, 'our collaboration with ChemSpider on this project will enable this to be delivered quickly and sustainably.' 

The imminent adoption of the InChI generation protocol will be a welcome and necessary step to the wider adoption of the InChI standard.