Obtaining a LHASA (DEREK, LCOLI) distribution

Q. How do I obtain the program distribution?

A. Once a licensing contract has been executed (see licensing information), all the LHASA software can be obtained via FTP or on a CD-ROM.

Platform requirements for LHASA software

Q. What are the hardware and operating system requirements for installing LHASA?

A. The following platforms are currently supported:

- IRIX 6.3 or later
- Linux/Intel (tested for RedHat 7.3)
- Solaris/Intel (tested for Solaris/Intel 8)
- Solaris/Sparc (tested for Solaris/Sparc 2.6)

If your hardware requirements are not listed above, it may be possible to create a custom distribution tailored to your needs (contact LHASA technical support for further details).

Q. What is the minimum requirement on the disk space and memory?

A. LHASA requires less than 50 Mb of disk space. It runs best on the system that has at least 128 Mb of RAM. Similar requirements are true for DEREK and LCOLI server component. DEREK and LCOLI Java client run on any modern Java-enabled platform except Macintosh and does not consume much memory or disk space.

Q. How do I obtain a copy of a User Manual?

A. Users running our programs in house may download manuals in PDF format directly from this website.

Q. How often is the software updated?

A. We do not have a set policy for product updates. However, we try to make updates available on a regular basis. Typically, a major release of the new version of LHASA is done in the beginning of the year and an intemediate update is released in the middle of the year.

Q. What is the difference between the "classical" and "web" versions of the program?

A. Major difference is in the program interface. The "classical" versions of LHASA and DEREK are based on the X-windows graphical interface, whereas the "web" version has a client/server architecture with the Java client interface. This approach allowed the program to become multi-user and be available on any system with a modern web browser.

Q. How do I print my results in "classical" LHASA?

A. Pressing the "P" button in the bottom right corner of the screen will create a screen dump into a file. Also the offline treeplot utility can be used to print the retrosynthetic tree and its sequences, including reaction conditions.

Q. What can I do with the DEREK output?

A. DEREK output can be read using any program capable of reading Molfiles, for example ISIS.

Q. Does LHASA use SMILES?

A. No. LHASA can read files in Molfile or proprietary LHASA format.

Q. I cannot enter or process my structure. The program returns an error message referring to the 256-atom limit. What does this mean?

A. Historically, LHASA was designed to process structures with up to 64 atoms in them. Recently the program was expanded to allow structures containing as many as 256 atoms and bonds.

Q. I cannot enter the isotopes of hydrogen (Deuterium and Tritium). Is DEREK capable of recognizing these isotopes?

A. Currently, no. However, we are planning on implementing this feature in the future.

Q. Is it possible to specify a generic, or Markush, structure (containing one or more R groups)?

A. Not yet. This limitation also applies to generic halogen atoms (X). Once again, this is one of the updates planned for the future.

Q. Can I write my own transform/rule?

A. Yes. Both DEREK and LHASA come with the CHMTRN compiler, which is used to create a binary knowledge-base file.

Q. Is the knowledge base source available?

A. Yes, by special arrangement.

Q. What is a typical number of compounds DEREK can process per minute?

A. It is obviously platform-dependent. On an Intel Pentium II at 400 Mhz running Red Hat Linux 6.1, the number is over 10,000.