“An interconnected landscape”: how SciWalker collates information to support chemical innovation

Summarized from the article authored by Hélène Draux, Mihai Gherghe, and Juergen Wastl.

The shift towards sustainable chemistry has highlighted the relevance of ionic liquids (ILs) as an area of interest. These non-flammable, low-volatility solvents allow precise property optimization to enhance reactions and enable recycling while reducing waste. However, identifying the optimal ion combination involves consolidating knowledge fragments from across multiple documents and fields. This is where a powerful specialist tool such as SciWalker, part of OntoChem’s suite of chemical and life science tools, can help.

SciWalker combs Dimensions, the largest linked database of over 140 million annotated scientific publications and 150 million patents, to unite fragmented insights. By revealing hidden connections, for example, between IL pairs, as well as their properties and applications, users are guided towards the most effective solvent formulation. Annotations leverage extensively developed ontology cartridges covering chemical, biological, pharmacological and other concepts. Ontologies hierarchically organize terms, flexibly recognizing concepts via attributes like structures, names, identifiers, and properties for chemical compounds.

Users can discover new compounds starting from a basic structure and investigate how additional chemical fragments influence their utility. Co-occurrence mappings expose relationships with other relevant concepts such as applications or processing methods. This system-level visibility gives a holistic overview and supports the search for more sustainable chemical processes.

A more detailed explanation about how SciWalker can be used to streamline an exploration of IL mixtures, including visualizing the properties of two specific ions and identifying mentions of each combination across numerous patents and publications, has been provided in the blog SciWalker – bringing together fragmented literature.

To learn how SciWalker can enable targeted innovation by uniting knowledge fragments into one interconnected landscape and support users through the complex challenges of chemical research, read more on the OntoChem website or reach out to the OntoChem team.