Usage and applications of Semantic Web techniques and technologies to support chemistry research

BACKGROUND: The drug discovery process is now highly dependent on the management, curation and integration of large amounts of potentially useful data. Semantics are necessary in order to interpret the information and derive knowledge. Advances in recent years have mitigated concerns that the lack of robust, usable tools has inhibited the adoption of methodologies based on semantics. RESULTS: This paper presents three examples of how Semantic Web techniques and technologies can be used in order to support chemistry research: a controlled vocabulary for quantities, units and symbols in physical chemistry; a controlled vocabulary for the classification and labelling of chemical substances and mixtures; and, a database of chemical identifiers. This paper also presents a Web-based service that uses the datasets in order to assist with the completion of risk assessment forms, along with a discussion of the legal implications and value-proposition for the use of such a service. CONCLUSIONS: We have introduced the Semantic Web concepts, technologies, and methodologies that can be used to support chemistry research, and have demonstrated the application of those techniques in three areas very relevant to modern chemistry research, generating three new datasets that we offer as exemplars of an extensible portfolio of advanced data integration facilities. We have thereby established the importance of Semantic Web techniques and technologies for meeting Wild’s fourth “grand challenge”.