Professional paper
40th Anniversary of The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre Dedicated to Deposition of Data Related to Crystal and Molecular Structures, "Cambridge Structural Database"
B. Kojić-Prodić
K. Molčanov
Abstract
The article is dedicated to 40th anniversary of The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC), the world-known centre (http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk) responsible for deposition and control of crystallographic data, including atomic coordinates that define the three-dimensional structures of organic molecules and metal complexes containing organic ligands. Cambride Structural Database (CSD), one among the first established electronic databases, nowadays is the most significant crystallographic database in the world. CSD has about 400,000 deposited structures. The use of the extensive database, which is growing rapidly, needs support of efficient and sophisticated software for searching, analysing and visualising structural data. The seminal role of CSD in the research related to crystallography, chemistry, material sciences, solid state physics and chemistry, life sciences, pharmacology, and in particular in drug design, has been documented in more than 1300 scientific papers. The important issues of CCDC are the accuracy of deposited data and development of software that enables a wide variety of applications. Such demanding project requires higly competent team of experts; thus the article brings into focus the scientific approach of the team based on the long tradition in crystallography, modelling and informatics. The article is not dedicated to 40th anniversary of the centre only, but it also reveals how Cambridge Structural Database can be used in the research and teaching. The use of electronic media and computer graphics makes data mining" very efficient and useful but also esthetically appealing due to the molecular architecture.
At the Rudjer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia there is The National Affiliated Centre of Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre responsible for communication and dissemination of CSD in Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia.
Keywords
crystallographic databases; CCDC; CSD; crystall structure; moleculare structure
Hrčak ID:
3772
URI
Publication date:
12.6.2006.
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