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To

From

SusJect:

MAY 6 1974

Date: May 2, 1974

Potential Stanford University Collaborators with the DENDRAL Project

Carl Djerassi, Professor of Chemistry

Availability of Facilities

During the preparation (December, 1973) of our grant application entitled
"Resource Related Research: Computers in Chemistry" your research group
expressed interest in utilizing our facilities (see below) for assistance in solving
structure elucidation problems related to health sciences. | now wish to

notify you, in my role as P. |. for this grant, that it was funded as of May 1,
1974, for a three year period, substantially as requested.

| want to make a few general comments before describing the facilities which will
become available during the course of this grant. Our primary goals, as spelled
out in our grant application, deal with bringing state-of-the-art techniques in mass
spectrometry and computer science to bear on solving problems of molecular
structure. We are not funded to act as a general service facility; we have
neither the time nor the personnel to function in this manner. We hope to
operate in a collaborative manner with each of you to help decide questions
conceming the specific instrumental and computer techniques which can be brought
to bear on your problems.

Facilities

A) Mass Spectrometry. Our primary goal is to provide the capability
for routine gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry. We will
shortly receive a PDP 11/45 computer system for the laboratory which will be
programmed to carry out this task. At the present time we can provide gas
chromatography/low resolution mass spectrometry and severely restricted (without charge)
access to high resolution mass spectra of single compounds as our budget provides
only minimal funds for supporting this work pending the completion of the 11/45
data system. These facilities are available at no cost to the user.

B) Computer-Assisted Structure Elucidation. We have available a
number of programs designed for automatic analysis of mass spectral data and
also for isomer generation and manipulation and display of chemical structures.
We are designing and programming interactive systems which will allow users to
answer problems concerning the identity of molecular structures based on a
variety of spectroscopic data. These interactive systems are under development,
but are always available in their present state for tolerant users. These programs
run on the SUMEX (Prof. Lederberg, P. 1.) PDP-10 at the Medical School.
Details of local user access are being worked out, but a significant amount of
computer time will be available free of charge for users of these programs.

STANFORU UNIVERSITY @ OFFICE MEMORKRANUUM © STANFORD UNIVERSITY © OFFICE MEMOKANDUM

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To Potential Stanford University Collaborators with the DENDRAL Project 5/2/74
Page 2

For the present time, those of you who are interested in making use of these
facilities should contact (Med. School) Dr. Alan Duffield (Ext. 7-5788 (temporary,
soon to be 7-6389) or (Chemistry Dept.) Dr. Dennis Smith (Ext. 7-3144). If
serious bottlenecks occur, either with respect to the mass spectrometry laboratory
or SUMEX, | intend to make use of an advisory committee described in our grant
application to help rectify the problem. It is my hope that judicious selection of
problems along the lines of the collaboration | outlined above will not make this
necessary.

CD:ab

cc: Prof. J. Lederberg, Genetics
Prof. E. Feigenbaum, Computer Science