Dr. Shu-Kun Lin

Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
Saengergasse 25, CH-4054 Basel, Switzerland
Phone +41 79 322 3379; Fax +41 61 302 8918, e-mail [email protected]
http://www.mdpi.org/lin.htm

Chemists contribute not only new knowledge but also new substances. However, more than 95% of compounds recorded in literature exist only on paper; they were discarded. With the development of high throughput screening technology in recent years, the acquisition of chemical samples by collection and combinatorial synthesis now become the bottleneck in the process of new drug discovery. I know this because I worked on several drug discovery projects at Ciba-Geigy Ltd. (E.g., ref. [1]). The high quality of a chemical species library relies on the distinct differences of both the structures and properties of the collected compounds [2]. These compounds in isolated form are traditionally and still routinely prepared in the laboratories and isolated from natural sources.

We aalso publish the first journal of organic chemistry and natural product chemistry Molecules that encourages authors to deposit their compound samples at MDPI center in Switzerland and distribute at reasonable prices worldwide. The idea of this program is to supply both chemical information as well as the chemical substances themselves. Contributions of papers only and compounds only are also welcomed. Even though there are several urgent legal issues in this unprecedented project which need to be carefully considered, we suggest that those MDPI-registered samples requested and used should be treated by the users as if the samples were obtained according to published literature, specifically Molecules or therein relevant cited reference(s), including patents [3]. MDPI coordinates world-wide collection, storage and exchange of synthetic and natural compounds. We ask retiring professors or chemists who have just completed a research project do not throw away their compounds. When they synthesize a target product, they may keep any by-products and small amounts of intermediates. The amounts of the compound samples (100 mg-100 g each, smaller amounts also acceptable) are flexible. Alternatively, if they have a large number of compounds, MDPI may register them into MDPI databases of available compounds and provides distribution services. The contributors' names were released in the database, because they are responsible for the quality of the samples. The unit prices for sample services were also published in the database so that the amount of the reward to the sample contributors are easily and fairly estimated. Thus, learning from biodiversity preservation experiences [4], these actions have been taken to preserve molecular diversity worldwide. The progresses and the remaining problems will be discussed.

References

[1]. Lin, S. -K.; Rasetti, V. Synthesis of Benzospiro[5,6]undecane Derivatives as Inhibitors of Steroid 5-a-Reductase, Helvetica Chimica Acta, 1995, 78, 857-865.

[2] Lin, S. -K. Correlation of entropy with similarity and symmetry, J. Chem. Inf. Comp. Sci. 1996, 36, 367-376. Lin, S. -K. Molecular Diversity Assessment: Logarithmic Relations of Information and Species Diversity and Logarithmic Relations of Entropy and Indistinguishability after Rejection of Gibbs Paradox of Entropy of Mixing, Molecules (Springer), 1996, 1, 57-67. Lin, S. -K. Gibbs paradox of entropy of mixing: Experimental facts, its rejection, and the theoretical consequences, Journal of Theoretical Chemistry (Wiley), 1996, 1, 135-150.

[3] Lin, S. -K. Guide to the Deposit of and Exchange of Compound Samples, acs 212th National Meeting, Orlando, Florida, August 25-29, 1996.

[4] World Intellectual Property Organization, Guide to the Deposit of Microorganisms under the Budapest Treaty, WIPO Publication No. 661 (E), Geneva: WIPO, Reprinted 1994.