This analysis reveals limitations in existing chemical identifiers and suggests a new system, addressing chemical safety and coverage.
IUPAC chemical names, SMILES and InChIs are too long. InChIKeys are not unique enough because of safety reasons (you have a 1 in 10 billion chance of blowing up your building; well, odds are actually much, much lower than getting hit by Osama or friends, let alone a car). Wikipedia URIs do not cover enough chemical space.
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Egon Willighagen (2008) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: