September 12, 2004, ACD/Labs SMASH 2004 Seminar

Where is the Value in Content Databases

Andrew Anderson

Abstract

Laboratories and organizations are beginning to realize the value of databasing their spectra. Sometimes, this process can be confused with archiving, but databasing and archiving are very similar processes with very different results. A database contains information that can be searched for and retrieved easily. If the information is not readily available, scientists stop looking for it and may opt for reproducing a spectrum instead. In any case, the database is now playing a crucial role in the Spectroscopic Laboratory.

This leads to the question, of what use are these databases? The custom databases are of obvious benefit, as they can contain spectra similar to the ones that are being investigated and they offer a storage and retrieval medium for previous work. More ambiguous is the value of a commercial database of spectra. Here we will discuss the databases that are available, what problems they address, and how they address them. Examples of real life problems that have been solved with content databases will be shown.

Download the presentation in MS PowerPoint (1.34 Mb ZIP file) or Adobe Acrobat format (0.99 Mb PDF file).

Relevant Products: HNMR DB, CNMR DB, Aldrich DB Add-on, Polymer DB, 1D NMR Manager