Chemical database processing using parallel computer hardware

Research activities in the fine chemicals industry involve the generation and analysis of huge amounts of chemical and biological data, and this has led to the development of highly sophisticated, computer-based, chemical information systems to support the research [ 11. Most chemical databases contain two-dimensional structural data, i.e. planar chemical structure diagrams, but there is also increasing interest in the processing of three-dimensional structural data, e.g. from X-ray crystallography and molecular mechanics studies. In this paper, we summarize work in our laboratory over the last 3 years which seeks to determine the utility of parallel hardware for the efficient processing of the structural data that are contained in chemical information systems. Two of the very many different types of parallel computer [2] are discussed, these being the ICL Distributed Array Processor and the INMOS transputer.