Subject: WebMolecules Update - Feb 2000

From: James Givens <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2000 13:42:33 -0800

The February update of WebMolecules.com is now online at:
http://www.webmolecules.com

New Features:
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- Another 25,000 CAS-indexed molecular models have been added.
  We now have over 150,000 molecular models on-site.
  Search for these by CAS number or exact formula.
  http://www.webmolecules.com/search.shtml

- The upgrade of the WebMolecules server/network was completed
  on January 20th. You should notice a 20% performance boost (avg.)
  Any access problems that occurred over the December holidays are
  now behind us. Our apologies for any problems you may have seen.

  For those of you who are interested, we are currently running
  on a Dual-550 Mhz Pentium III, Red Hat Linux, and Apache 1.3.4
  From there it's 100baseT > Cisco router > DS3 connection.

- Search now uses exact formula matching to search the entire database
  and it also uses partial formula matching to look into the Top 2000.
  Search coverage/reach of the WebMolecules database:
  - Formula: 100%
  - CAS RN:  ~99%
  - Name:     ~2% (only used to search the Top 2000)

Molecule for February 2000
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Diborane
http://www.webmolecules.com/cgi-bin/webmolpage.cgi?b2h6.m3d

Formula: B2H6       Weight: 27.670(5) g/mol

Also known as boroethane and diboron hexahydride.
Commonly formed from the reduction of boron halides.
Exists as a colorless, flammable gas with a repulsively sweet odor.

Each boron has a tetrahedron (approx) of hydrogen atoms about it.
The bridging hydrogens are somewhat farther from the boron centers
than the terminal hydrogens. 
Considered the simplest of the boron cage compounds.

Used as a reducing agent, rubber vulcanizer, an olefin polymerization
catalyst and in rocket propellants.

Suggestion Box
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Have an idea for a new feature you would like to see at WebMolecules?
Let us know at: 
     [email-masked]

Recent Upgrades and New Features
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- You can search the entire WebMolecules Library by formula.
- SEARCH can now accept formula strings in any order.
- Email Models to Friends. Use the Email-a-Model link.
- 100's of large macro-structures have been added.
- New Visitor Uploads are available in Category 28.0
- Support for both Chime and VRML plug-ins
- For performance reasons, large molecules (>150 atoms)
  are available for the Chime viewer only.
- Mirror sites for the VRML plug-ins have been added. See:
  http://www.webmolecules.com/vrmlint.shtml
- Mirror sites for the Chime plug-in has been added. See:
  http://www.webmolecules.com/chimeint.shtml
- Resizable viewing window
- Support for uploads and model requests
- Improved support for bookmarks
- 3D coordinate downloads (M3D, MOL, PDB)

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WebMolecules.com is a FREE, sponsor-supported site.
Designed for the 3D visualization of molecules,
it contains over 150,000 molecular structures in 3D.

Thousands of common molecules are organized into 30+ categories.
Our TOP 2000 includes molecules of commercial value, educational 
importance, and of topical interest. It is indexed by formula 
and category and is also fully searchable.

Our TOP 2000 molecules include:
- Top 100 pollutants
- Top 100 commercial chemicals
- Top 200 pharmaceuticals
- Common valence geometries
- Common orbital configurations
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Enjoy,
-- 
James Givens
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