“Clustering,” also called “grouping,” is a process in which scientists organize chemicals into structurally similar groups. Think of how we organize our geopolitical world. First, we organize land masses into distinct areas called “continents.” We then break down those areas into smaller regions defined by more specific features, such as nations and states, down to a single city block populated by similarly designed homes.

This zooming in from a high-level, broad perspective, down to where we can see the individual and comparable features of homes clustered together is similar to how a specific cluster of chemicals is defined by their chemical functionalities in increasing specificity.

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