A technique for determining the symmetry properties of molecular graphs
Michael Ian Davis, M. L. Ellzey · Journal of Computational Chemistry · 1983
Abstract A procedure has been devised to determine the automorphism partition and the automorphism group for nondirected graphs. The general approach is to reveal the permutational symmetry by means of its systematic destruction. Symmetry decomposition pathways are created by numerically weighting specific series of vertices. Each pathway leads to a discrete ordered vector. Each pair of pathways that match reveals an element of the automorphism group. Results are presented for two molecular graphs. Further potential applications of this approach to problems of isomorphism, canonical labeling, and structural indexing are discussed.