WWW (World Wide Web) Communication and Publishing of Structural Formulas by XyMML (XyM Markup Language)

Abstract

A tool for displaying and communicating chemical structural formulas has been developed on the basis of XyMML (XyM Markup Language), where a XyMML document according to the XML (Extensible Markup Language) specification has been transformed into an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) document by means of a translator program due to XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations). During this process, XyMML data written in such a XyMML document have been converted into XyM notations embedded in such an HTML document, which is browsed by virtue of a World Wide Web (WWW) browser including the XyMJava system. Another tool for printing chemical structural formulas has been developed so that the same XyMML document has been transformed into a XyMTeX document by means of XSLT. The resulting XyMTeX document has been used to print a document containing structural formulas through the TeX/LaTeX typesetting system. Thereby, the XyMML and the related techniques have been shown to have the potentiality of serving as a kernel for integrating WWW communication, electronic publishing, and conventional publishing in chemistry.