Carnegie Mellon University chooses ACD/Labs Online

Carnegie Mellon University chooses ACD/Labs Online

Toronto, Canada, and Pittsburgh, USA (February 28, 2006)—Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) today announced that Carnegie Mellon University has purchased a site license subscription to ACD/Labs Online.

ACD/Labs Online is ACD/Labs’ Internet-based portal that allows anyone with an Internet connection and either ACD/ChemSketch (freeware or commercial) or MS Internet Explorer access to all ACD/Labs one-dimensional NMR prediction software and databases (¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁹F, and ³¹P), chemical structure naming software, and physicochemical property prediction software and databases (pK_a, logP, logD, aqueous solubility, boiling point, etc.).

The original interest in this campus wide deployment of ACD/Labs’ tools was headed by Dr. Roberto Gil of CMU’s Department of Chemistry. Dr. Gil had originally seen the power of ACD/Labs’ NMR prediction tools at the Experimental NMR Conference and instantly thought that they could be used as an invaluable tool for both pedagogical and research efforts at the Carnegie Mellon campus. The one drawback he could foresee was that to truly apply ACD/Labs’ NMR prediction software in a useful manner, they would need to purchase dozens of desktop licenses to accommodate all of the students, staff, and faculty who wanted to access the software. The solution to get around this potential IT licensing headache was to purchase an annual subscription to ACD/Labs Online (http://ilab.acdlabs.com) through the library as an electronic service. Through ACD/Labs Online, Dr. Gil and the students at CMU were able to effortlessly access the same professional NMR prediction algorithms, found in the locally installed desktop version of ACD/Labs’ NMR software, but without having to install any additional software on local PCs.

Obtaining accurately-predicted NMR spectra became simply a manner of navigating to the ACD/Labs Online Web site, drawing the structure of interest in the JAVA structure drawing applet, and then choosing the nuclei that they wanted to receive the predicted spectrum in. The same procedure can be repeated for generating IUPAC and Index names for drawn structures or obtaining physicochemical property values. No logins or passwords to remember—just direct access from any PC connected to the Internet through CMU’s Web and proxy servers set up by ACD/Labs. Roberto is excited at the potential the service has in enriching the education of their students, reducing instructor’s burden, and providing Carnegie Mellon’s research community with access to industry standard prediction tools for aiding their research efforts.

For more information on ACD/Labs Online, please visit http://www.acdlabs.com/ilab.

About Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc.

Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc., (ACD/Labs) is a chemistry software company offering solutions that truly integrate chemical structures with analytical chemistry information to produce ChemAnalytics^®. ACD/Labs creates innovative software packages that aid chemical research scientists worldwide with spectroscopic validation of structures, elucidation of unknown substances, chromatographic separation, medicinal chemistry, preformulation of novel drug agents, systematic nomenclature generation, and chemical patenting and publication. Combined, ACD/Labs' solutions create an analytical informatics system that provides dramatic feed-forward effects on the chemical and pharmaceutical research process. Founded in 1993, and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, ACD/Labs employs a team of over 100 dedicated individuals whose continual efforts carry ACD/Labs' innovative technologies into pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical, and materials companies throughout the world. Information about Advanced Chemistry Development and its products can be found at www.acdlabs.com.

About Carnegie Mellon University and the Department of Chemistry

The only Top 25 university founded in the 20th century, Carnegie Mellon has rapidly evolved into an internationally recognized institution with a distinctive mix of world-class educational and research programs in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts, and the humanities.

More than 8000 undergraduate and graduate students at Carnegie Mellon receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors.

The Department of Chemistry has excellent programs in polymer science, bioorganic, organic, and materials chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, green chemistry, biophysical chemistry, spectroscopy, nuclear chemistry, and theoretical and computational chemistry. The department also participates in Carnegie Mellon initiatives in biotechnology, environmental science, information technology, and materials.