Proceedings Article | 7 March 2019
Yaxue Guo, Zhen Xu, Ann Elizabeth Norcross, Masahiko Taniguchi, Jonathan Lindsey
KEYWORDS: Databases, Visualization, Photochemistry, Absorption, Luminescence, Chemistry, Photomedicine, Data archive systems, Internet, Web services
A new website, centered on absorption and fluorescence spectra, has been designed for the broad community of members in the photosciences. Spectral data lie at the heart of the vast field of the photosciences, yet collections of such data are sparse, scattered and often in print rather than digital form. Because many if not most searches for photochemical data begin with individual spectra, the website should constitute a photosciences nexus. The database of <500 spectra can be accessed via text or by viewing molecular structures. The spectral data on the website are identical with those in the database associated with the software program PhotochemCAD, but only the latter contains the rich trove of companion references to the originating scientific literature. PhotochemCAD, which contains modules for diverse calculations germane to the photosciences, can be freely downloaded from the new website. To develop a community of users in the photosciences, a curated and validated set of email addresses of photoscientists has been generated from the primary photochemistry literature since 2004. The literature surveyed (19 journals, <45,000 articles) encompasses the flagship publications of 15 scholarly societies. The present work represents a step toward fulfilling the long-term ambition of assembling all known spectral data worldwide, from print and digital sources, in one carefully curated collection of digital data in a readily accessible site. The advances should broaden awareness and increase availability of spectra for diverse studies in the field of photosciences, which encompasses art, astrobiology, biology, chemistry, ecology, engineering, medicine, physics, textiles, and zoochromy.
