THE USE OF MULTIPLE DATABASES IN PRACTICAL MATERIALS IDENTIFICATION PROBLEMS. James A. Kaduk, Amoco Corporation, P.O. Box 3011 MC F-9, Naperville IL 60566

The seven widely-available databases which contain crystallographic information - the Cambridge Structural Database, the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database, the Metals Data File, the Protein Data Bank, the Nucleic Acid Database, the Crystal Data Identification File, and the Powder Diffraction File - are powerful and cost-effective tools for solving materials identification problems. Just as no one analytical technique solves all problems, no one database yields all the desired answers. It is often necessary to use these databases in combination to solve a particular problem.

Examples of the combined use of the CSD, ICSD, CDIF, and PDF in solving practical problems will be discussed. The structures of several compounds - cobalt pyromellitate, magnesium ethoxide, the new borates K₂Al₂B₂O₇ and SrAl₂B₂O₇, Cu₂Al₆B₄O₁₇, a-PdCl₂, and a-VO(PO₃)₂ - will be described. To understand the true nature of each of these compounds, the use of multiple databases was required. The power of relational database technology applied to crystallographic databases will be illustrated briefly.