The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre has released three powerful new software suites to mark the 50th anniversary of the centre's opening.
The release of the new software complements the launch of the 2016 versions of the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and the CSD-System. The CSD is used by researchers around the world and provides the most complete crystal structure database for chemists working with organic and metal-organic compounds.
The tools being released by the CDCC are: ‘CSD-Discovery’ to support the discovery of new molecules; ‘CSD-Materials’ for the study of crystalline materials; and ‘CSD-Enterprise’, the complete set of the CCDC's applications incorporating CSD-Discovery and CSD-Materials.
‘This release marks the biggest change in the software delivered by the CCDC to the research communities,’ commented Colin Groom, executive director of the CCDC. ‘Our new software suites enable users to access all the data in the CSD with all the applications they need to advance their research. I'm particularly proud that we could mark the 50th anniversary of the CSD with the launch of CSD-Enterprise, delivering to all academic CSD users a free upgrade to the complete CCDC software collection, including all the functionality of CSD-System, CSD-Discovery and CSD-Materials.’
This new set of releases represents a significant change in the way the CCDC provides the CSD and its application software. These new software suites mean that scientists across more research disciplines can gain value from all the crystal structure data in the CSD. In particular, CSD-Enterprise, the new solution for universities, enables all academic researchers, educators and students to use the CSD-System and as many CCDC-released software products as they want.
The Cambridge Structural Database is the world's comprehensive and up-to-date database of crystal structures, fully validated and ready to use. The 2016 release provides access to over 800,000 entries, and marks the biggest annual size increase to date and contains many important and unique structures that are not available in any other database.
The CSD-System offers essential crystallographic and structural chemistry capabilities to deliver knowledge from the CSD: 2D/3D search, extensive geometry analysis tools, inter- and intra-molecular interaction analysis, high impact graphics, and the new CSD Python API connectivity for the creation of custom CSD-driven analyses and workflows.
CSD-Discovery provides research organisations with all the software tools for discovering new molecules: extended CSD API components, new CSD-driven Conformer Generator and Ligand Overlay capabilities for understanding and optimising molecular geometry, and GOLD and Relibase for ligand-receptor docking and analysis.
CSD-Materials comprises CSD-driven tools for organisations exploring new materials and formulations. By analysing intra-and intermolecular interactions within the crystal lattice, scientists can understand the underlying structure of their materials and refine their properties.
The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre is dedicated to the advancement of chemistry and crystallography for the public benefit. It supports structural chemistry worldwide through collaborative research studies and by developing the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), the world's only comprehensive, up-to-date, and fully-curated knowledge base of small molecule crystal structures.
Originating in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, the CCDC is now a UK Research Council Independent Research Organisation and a University of Cambridge Partner Institute, constituted as a registered charity. It has operations in Cambridge and New Jersey. With 50 years of scientific expertise, the CCDC has demonstrated its strong track record in basic research through more than 750 peer-reviewed publications.
The CCDC aims to enhance its value to research scientists by providing state-of-the-art structural analysis software and expert research services for understanding structural chemistry, discovering new molecules and engineering new materials. All entries in the CSD are available online and the entire database and associated software services are delivered to around 1,400 research sites worldwide, including academic institutions in 80 countries and all of the world's top pharmaceutical and chemical companies.