This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Chemical class is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
Chemical classification systems attempt to classify elements or compounds according to certain chemical functional or structural properties. Whereas the structural properties are largely intrinsic, functional properties and the derived classifications depend to a certain degree on the type of chemical interaction partners on which the function is exerted. Sometimes other criteria like purely physical ones (e.g. molecular weight) or - on the other hand - functional properties above the chemical level are also used for building chemical taxonomies.
Some systems mix the various levels, resulting in hierarchies where the domains are slightly confused, for example having structural and functional aspects end up on the same level. Whereas chemical function is closely dependent on chemical structure, the situation becomes more involved when e.g. pharmacological function is integrated, because the QSAR can usually not be directly computed from structural qualities.
Contents |
Physico-chemical classification
- by molecular weight
- by electrical charge: uncharged, positively, negatively, partially charged
- solubility
- pH value
Structural classification
Usually binary classifications and combinations thereof:
- radicals, non-radicals
- cyclic vs. linear
- type of major bond: ionic (salts) vs. covalent, metallic
- organic vs. inorganic compounds (depends on whether carbon is the main constituent or not)
- (in organic chemistry)
Functional classification
Chemical function
Pharmacological/Biological function
Mostly appropriate only for large biological molecules (as at least one interacting partner), in particular enzymes, depends on chemical functions of their constituent amino acids.
See also: biological activity
Mixed systems
Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System Gene Ontology
See also
External links
- http://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/ Chemical Entities of Biological Interest
|
|||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 15 August 2008, at 21:52.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Chemical class".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
