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

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.