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IntelliChem Identifier

An Intelligent Search Engine at Your Fingertips for the Identification of Unknown Organic Compounds

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Abstract

Qualitative organic analysis (QOA) has long been an integral part of the undergraduate and postgraduate organic chemistry curriculum. QOA sessions typically involve dealing with a lot of information that includes experimental procedures, derivatization methods and a tedious, time-consuming literature survey. Finding a single source of all these data can often prove challenging. In this article, we describe an Android-based smartphone application named ‘IntelliChem Identifier’ (CI) that can act as a virtual assistant and consultant for students providing on-the-fly access to all the relevant information required in an ongoing QOA assignment. Along with the detailed descriptions of the chemical tests and derivatization techniques, this app provides a digital database enlisting numerous organic compounds and their characteristic response to the series of experiments routinely carried out in QOA. CI also features a quiz section with separate problem sets and answer keys that can act as a self-assessment guide to the students. Presently, when e-learning resources are in high demand, CI can make the lab work more engaging and exciting to students, as evident from the users-feedback and rating of the app.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Pallab Das and Sudip Saha for their technical support in building this application. We express our sincere thanks to Dr Gautam Chattopadhyay (Ex-reader, Presidency College (Formerly), Kolkata), for his valuable suggestions and insightful discussions. We are also thankful to Dr Samir Kanti Dutta (Vice Principal, Science) of the Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata, for his continuous encouragement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chemistry, The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata, India

    Suchandra Chakraborty

  2. Dept. of Chemistry, St. Pauls’ Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata, India

    Kaushik Basu

  3. Dept. of Computer Science, The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata, India

    Sanjib Halder

  4. Dept. of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata, India

    Chandan Saha

Authors
  1. Suchandra Chakraborty
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  2. Kaushik Basu
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  3. Sanjib Halder
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  4. Chandan Saha
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Suchandra Chakraborty, Kaushik Basu, Sanjib Halder or Chandan Saha.

Additional information

Suchandra Chakraborty is Assistant Professor of Chemistry at BESC, Kolkata. Interest: Synthesis of heterocyclic compounds.

Kaushik Basu is Assistant Professor of Chemistry at St. Pauls’ Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata. Interest: Synthetic methodology.

Sanjib Halder is Associate Professor of Comp. Science at BESC, Kolkata. Interest: Mobile computing and system security.

Chandan Saha is Rtd. Professor of Chemistry, CSTM, Kolkata. Interest: Synthetic organic chemistry.

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Chakraborty, S., Basu, K., Halder, S. et al. IntelliChem Identifier. Reson 26, 685–703 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-021-1169-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-021-1169-1

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