Accessing knowledge about chemical synthesis by computer

Knowledge-based expert systems are used to store knowledge, just as database systems store data. They provide tools for searching among knowledge and apply the knowledge to novel problems in pseudo-intelligent ways. The technologies they use have been under development for over twenty years and one of the earliest projects in the field, the LHASA project, was aimed at using computer- methods to design organic chemical synthesis routes. The results of that project, which still continues, are now in routine use, and extend beyond synthesis planning to cover for example, prediction of toxicity.