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SciFinder: Use SciFinder and SciFinder-n

Comprehensive chemical information database. Covers scientific journals, patents, conference proceedings, and technical papers. 1907 - present.

About SciFinder and SciFinder-n

SciFinder, produced by Chemical Abstracts Services (CAS), is the most comprehensive discovery tool of chemical information. SciFindern is the new interface for SciFinder. We currently have access to both versions, but the SciFinder classic interface will be retired on December 30, 2022. Share your feedback with MIT librarians using this form.SciFinder n Logo stacked

Scope

Both the classic SciFinder and the new interface SciFindern provide integrated access to the following indexes.

In addition, searchers in SciFinder also retrieves results from the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE (1950 - ) database and the legacy Chemisches Zentralblatt (ChemZent, 1830 -1969) database.

Read more about CAS Content and FAQ.

Searching by

topic, author, substances name or CAS Registry Number, OR use the structure editor to draw chemical structures, substructures, or reactions. 

Core research tool for

chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, nanotechnology, physics, environmental science and other science and engineering disciplines.

Related open tools and platforms

  • CAS Source Index (CASSI) - look up or confirm titles, abbreviations, CODEN, ISBN, and ISSN of publications indexed by CAS since 1907
  • CAS Common Chemistry - open community resource for ~500,000 chemical substances from CAS REGISTRY®. API access available.
  • Pistoia Chemical Safety Library (CSL) - open platform with crowd sourced data collection with hazardous reactions. Can be used to alert scientists to potential dangerous experiment.

Learning Resources

Learning SciFindern

Learning SciFinder

SciFinder and SciFinder-n

If you are using Saved Answer Sets and Keep Me Posted alerts in SciFinder classic and would like to migrate them to SciFindern, see Migrate Saved CAS SciFinder Answer Sets and Alerts for how to migrate and what can or cannot be migrated. 

Comparison of Platforms: SciFinder classic and SciFinder-n
  ScFinder (retiring on Dec 30, 2022) SciFindern
Coverage 1830 - present, see About SciFinder above for details Same; with some irregular additions only available in SciFindern, e.g., Wiley Spectra (NMR, RAMAN and IR, Mass Spectra ) added between March to June 2020.
Searching
  • Reference, structure, and reaction can only be searched separately
  • Topic search mainly based on indexed terms
  • No autosuggest of search terms
  • Only one search session per user at a given time
  • Can combine keyword and structure searching
  • Can search across the substance, reaction, and references simultaneously
  • Can search with boolean operators, truncation/wildcards, parentheses, e.g. (machine learning OR AI) AND catal*
  • Can search Exact, Substructure and Similar Structures in one search
  • Topic search based on indexed terms along with title, abstracts, keywords
  • Provide AutoSuggest of search terms
  • Allow concurrent search sessions in multiple browser tabs
  • Allow biosequence search
Results
  • Can be sorted by date, CAS accession number, author name, number of citations, title, and publication year
  • Narrow down results using Analysis or Categorize tools depending on the size of the search results
  • Grouped by relevancy (Best, Good, Fair) that is determined using the combination of hits in indexed terms as well as title, abstract, and keywords. 
  • Reaction results grouped by scheme
  • Can assemble highlighted Markush structures
  • Allowed fast retrieval of large sets
  • Narrow down results using Concepts; Concepts not hirearchically mapped but can be searched
  • Fulltext link clearly labeled, now with "GetThis@MIT" included
Search history and alerts
  • Search history not kept
  • Can save answer sets and set Keep Me Alerted
  • Live search history kept for each user account in a calendar and can be rerun
  • Can create an optional alert for saved searches with the ability to tag documents
  • Saved answer sets can be shared with other users
Drawing tools
  • CAS Draw
  • Integration with ChemOffice/ChemDraw
  • CAS Draw and ChemDoodle (Touch screen enabled)
  • Integration with ChemOffice/ChemDraw
Additional Modules Additional cost for MethodsNow and PatentPak. Retrosynthesis planning not available.