Can InChI represent an alpha particle?
This may be represented in InChI as a doubly ionized atom of a chemical element – helium – present in the Periodic Table: InChI=1/He/q+2/i1+0 Chemical elements in InChI Q: There is an element symbol in the InChI code consisting of “” (an empty string). Is this trapped by the InChI software as not being an element? A: A non-empty element name string that matches one of 104 predefined element names is interpreted as an element. All other element names are not elements and produce errors. An element symbol “” in the code is used for the sole purpose of detecting the end of the element list. It may be considered as a programming trick. The description of the 104 valid elements in the previous e-mail needs a footnote: Element name “D” is equivalent to element=”H”, isotope 2. Element name “T” is equivalent to element=”H”, isotope 3. Any isotopic attributes of “D” or “T” provided in the structure are ignored.
