Guides: Getting the Most Out of SciFinder: Exploring Substances

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Exploring Substances

You can also use SciFinder-n to search specifically for Substances that might be of interest. You can do this by selecting “Substance” above the search bar.
Note: For more on this topic, please see our Text Searching portion of the guide.
However, searching in this manner for certain substances may not be ideal. Fortunately, the Substances setting for the search bar has many different methods to more precisely search for a Substance you may be looking for.

You can search by the molecular formula of a substance in SciFinder-n.
Searching by molecular formula can also be compounded with the name of the Substance to narrow down search results.

SciFinder-n allows for users to search by the structure of a substance, as well. This can be done by selecting the “Draw” button on the search bar.
This Draw button will overlay the CAS Draw window. In this window, you can draw the substance you wish to search for. Note that there is a menu on the left and a menu on the right that can assist you in how you will draw the substance you want to search for. For a more technical breakdown of CAS Draw, please refer to this guide.
Pressing ok will close the window. From here, you can add whatever supplemental search terms you may wish to add and then search.