AUTONOM — A Chemist’s Dream: System for (Micro)Computer Generation of IUPAC-Compatible Names from Structural Input

This paper describes the general design and state-of-the-art of AUTONOM, a computer expert system for unambiguous automatic translation of structural diagrams of organic compounds into chemical names. The algorithm designed for AUTONOM operates on structure diagrams entered via a structure drawing package and generates names exclusively on the basis of the connection tables of the input structures. The IUPAC rules have been adopted as the basis of naming rationales, however, some ‘respectable’ nomenclature practices, which lead to succinct and intelligible names but have not yet been sanctioned or codified by IUPAC are also followed. It is expected that the system, when fully implemented will provide the chemical community with a valuable tool.