Section 22.4.2.1. Statistical inferences

With a current total of 200 000 structures and a doubling period of seven years (Fig. 22.4.2.1a), we may expect at least half a million small-molecule crystal structures to be in the CSD by the year 2010. The Protein Data Bank (PDB) (Abola et al., 1997; Berman et al., 2000), which began operations in the mid-1970s, and the Nucleic Acid Database (NDB) (Berman et al., 1992) are the international repositories for macromolecular structure information. Input to the PDB was initially slow but is now showing a rapid growth rate reminiscent of the CSD of the 1970s (Fig. 22.4.2.1b). The PDB archive has a current total of ca 8500 structures (mid-1999) and a doubling period of close to two years. As with the CSD, this early high rate of growth will almost certainly decrease, thus increasing the doubling period. Nevertheless, by the year 2010, we might expect the PDB to contain more than 100 000 structures.

Figure 22.4.2.1| top | pdf | (a) Growth rate of the CSD and (b) growth rate of the PDB, in terms of the numbers of structures published per annum for the period 1970–1995.