An approach to automated partial structure expansion

An algorithm (ASSEMBLE) to construct all structures consistent with the structural implications of the chemical and spectroscopic properties of an unknown molecule is described. The design of ASSEMBLE takes cognizance of the need to supply some nonoverlapping substructure information in addition to the molecular formula, and the use of structural constraints that cannot be directly expressed as non-overlapping fragments. ASSEMBLE employs several heuristics (rules) intended to avoid the assembly of identical (isomorphic) graphs. To provide a non-redundant list of structures, duplicate structures are recognized and removed by a naming algorithm. ASSEMBLE also perceives different π-resonance forms as identical structures even when they are topologically non-equivalent.