ADVANCED VRML BASED CHEMISTRY APPLICATIONS - A 3D MOLECULAR HYPERGLOSSARY

A test bed for what we have termed a ''3D molecular hyperglossary'' ha s been developed. This is illustrated with the results of a three-dime nsional search of the Cambridge Structural Database for intermolecular interactions between chlorinated aryl hydrogen atoms and oxygen centr es. The results have been represented as a scatter diagram of points a bout a well defined molecular centre, and encoded in Virtual Reality M odelling Language (VRML) to enable the user to interrogate what amount s to a three-dimensional hyperglossary index using a VRML browser. Ind ividual regions of the molecular hyperglossary can be inspected by act ivating hyperlinks contained within the VRML descriptors. These hyperl inks point to three-dimensional VRML encoded diagrams that were automa tically generated from the original crystallographic coordinates. The individual molecular diagrams can in turn contain hyperlinks to other relevant information about the molecule, such as links to electronic j ournal articles or conferences, and other electronic documentation. Th e implications for use in electronic journals and conferences are disc ussed.