Database to aid chemical identification.Analytical chemists trying to discover the chemical makeup makeup In the performing arts, material used by actors for cosmetic purposes and to help create the characters they play. Not needed in Greek and Roman theatre because of the use of masks, makeup was used in the religious plays of medieval Europe, in which the angels' faces of mysterious substances cna now match their data with 8,200 new "fingerprints Impressions or reproductions of the distinctive pattern of lines and grooves on the skin of human fingertips. Fingerprints are reproduced by pressing a person's fingertips into ink and then onto a piece of paper. " of chemical compounds. Those fingerprints are mass spectra, graphs whose peaks show the relative distribution of molecules of different weights in a sample. Scientists often pinpoint the identity of new substances by causing them to break down and then using mass spectrometry mass spectrometry or mass spectroscopy Analytic technique by which chemical substances are identified by sorting gaseous ions by mass using electric and magnetic fields. to analyze the molecular weights of the resulting pieces. The chemical makeup of a substance determines the sizes and relative amounts of these pieces. The new fingerprints belong to the recently updated NIST/EPA/NIH Mass Spectral Databse, which now contains spectra of 62,235 chemicals relevant to environmental, medical and chemical studies, says Stephen E. Stein, manager of the Mass Spectrometry Data Center at the National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of "working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards" in the national interest. (NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. ) in Gaithersburg, Md. NIST made the updated databse available this month on magnetic tapes and diskettes for personal computers. The last update occurred in 1990. |
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