In its second US acquisition since it went public last summer, Oxford Molecular Group Plc has conditional agreement to buy Beaverton, Oregon-based CAChe Scientific Inc for 8.35m new shares, valuing the target at #5.93m. CAChe does molecular design software, and last autumn launched Mulliken, a quantum chemistry program developed by scientists at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose and designed to enable chemists to solve practical problems involving large, complex molecules with little effort. It is fitted with CAChe’s graphical user interface, which is claimed to make prediction and visualisation of molecular properties simple, even for first-time users. It runs on the IBM RS/6000 and costs $25,000. The latest generation of the company’s WorkSystem molecular modelling and chemical properties prediction software runs on the Apple Computer Inc Power Macintosh, and features stereo three-dimensional display. The company’s software also runs on the 68000 Macs and on Silicon Graphics Inc workstations, and a Windows version has been announced.
