Updated information and screen shots of this page created by Matthew Murray.
Databases Covered
SciFinder-n Databases Overview
SciFinder-n has multiple search options one can choose from. According to what search option one chooses, one can search different sets of databases through SciFinder-n.
The information on this page is organized by which databases will be searched depending on which setting you select, between References, Substances, Reactions, and Suppliers.
In the case that you select "All" as your search option in SciFinder-n, the search engine will search all of the following databases listed on this page.
References Databases
CAplus - contains records for documents indexed in Chemical Abstracts.
The original Chemical Abstracts publication began in 1907 and continues to the present.
When the CAS Reactions (see Reactions databases, below) database was expanded, CAplus was also expanded to include articles in which the indexed reactions appear; therefore, you will find some articles that date back as far as 1840.
CAplus records include title, author, and source information, an abstract, a set of CA Index Terms or Concepts that describe the article, and the CAS Registry Numbers of all important substances appearing in the paper.
CAplus contains more than more than 59 million records from international journals, patents, patent families, technical reports, books, conference proceedings, and dissertations from various scientific fields, dating from 1907 to the present.
In addition, over 180,000 records for pre-1907 patent and journal references are available. Electronic-only journals and Web preprints are also covered.
MEDLINE - a database that covers the literature of clinical medicine from 1947-present.
Please note: SciFinder will only retrieve MEDLINE records from 1985 forward.
Created and updated by the National Library of Medicine.
Like CAplus, MEDLINE records include a set of index terms used to describe the article, which are known as the Medical Subject Headings, or MeSH. MEDLINE indexes only articles that appear in journals.
ChemZent - includes articles indexed in the publication Chemisches Zentralblatt, which published between 1830 and 1969. This publication, similar to Chemical Abstracts, was published in German, and the records are machine translations of the original German abstracts.
Substances Databases
CAS Registry - a listing of all substances that have been indexed in documents covered by Chemical Abstracts. Registry records include substance identification information (name, formula, CAS Registry Number, synonyms, Canonical SMILES), a series of experimental and predicted properties and spectra, regulatory information, and document types in which the substance appears.
Contains 219 million organic substances, alloys, coordination compounds, minerals, mixtures, polymers, and salts disclosed in publications since the early 1800s.
Contains about 75 million protein and nucleic acid sequences.
Enriched with around 8 billion experimental and predicted property data points and spectra.
Updated daily.
Chemlist - a database that provides limited regulatory information for some of SciFinder-n's substance records, covering over 400,000 compounds and pulling from over 100 lists.
Reactions Databases
CAS Reactions - links to the CAPlus and ChemZent databases of references and the Chemical Abstracts Registry listing of substances.
More than 150 million single- and multi-step reactions published since 1840.
Scientist-curated and enhanced with yield data, detailed reaction conditions, defined substance roles, and experimental procedures.
Suppliers Databases
CHEMCATS - a catalog file containing information about millions of commercially available chemicals and their worldwide suppliers.
Contains information for the substance provided by the supplier, e.g., the catalog name, chemical and trade names, grade information, CAS Registry Number, structure diagram, and properties.
Contains company names and addresses, as well as supplier information, e.g., pricing terms, and products and services.
Millions of commercially available products.
CAS Analytical Methods
CAS Analytical Methods - a separate CAS search resource that allows users to search for step-by-step methods for development and research from peer-reviewed journals.
To access this resource, you can click on the three dots, which will open a sidebar where you can select "CAS Analytical Methods." This will lead you to a new window.
