Abstract: Provided is a computer-based method of aligning a plurality of molecules including: (i) providing one or more conformers for each molecule; (ii) identifying triplets for each conformer; (iii) determining a triplet type for each triplet; (iv) identifying a base triplet type; (v) rotating and translating the conformers having the base triplet type to overlay the conformers so that the triplets providing the base triplet type are superposed in the same orientation; (vi) for each overlayed conformer, determining a respective bit string fingerprint which encodes the 3D positions of the conformer's fitting points and their respective pharmacophore features relative to the triplet providing the base triplet type; and (vii) aligning the molecules by searching the bit string fingerprints for combinations of overlayed conformers, each from a different molecule, which have high concordance in terms of pharmacophore points.