A substructure isomorphism matrix n x p contains binary elements describing
which of the given p query structures (substructures) are part of the give
n n target structures (molecular structures). Such a matrix can be used to
investigate the diversity of the target structures and allows the character
ization and comparison of structural libraries. A quadratic substructure is
omorphism matrix n x n is obtained if the same structures are used as molec
ular structures and as substructures; this matrix contains full information
about the topological hierarchy of the n structures. A hierarchical arrang
ement of chemical structures is useful for the evaluation of results obtain
ed from searches in structure databases.