Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry Specification/Talk

To be honest, I'm a SMILES novice, though I've known of its existence for years.

An unambiguous depiction of the atomic structure of molecules is crucial to successfully depicting and communicating about chemistry. Images are often indispensible to such depiction. However, there are a number of issues surrounding the generation and inclusion of images in the Wikipedia (transcluded links hosted offsite aren't part of the central encyclopedia corpus, easy software support of image loading isn't available or if available brings concern of abuse, images seem to generate more copyright concern [whether justified or not] than words contributed, etc.)

It seems that SMILES strings can serve as a very compact adjunct for depicting some molecular structures.

I encourage my fellow Wikipedian science authors to consider the use of SMILES strings in their work.

--JoeAnderson