Searching for Small Molecules with an Atomic Sort.

The discovery of biologically active small molecules requires sifting through large amounts of data to identify unique or unusual arrangements of atoms. Here, we develop, test and evaluate an atom-based sort to identify novel features of secondary metabolites and demonstrate its use to evaluate novelty in marine microbial and sponge extracts. This study outlines an important ongoing advance towards the translation of autonomous systems to identify, and ultimately elucidate, atomic novelty within a complex mixture of small molecules.