There are several tools to enter a reaction search. These include the structure drawing tools and four unique tools for reactions. These unique tools are; Structure templates(the green box), Lasso (the gray circle) , Lock ringfusion or formation (the blue key), and Lock atoms (the red key).
Structure templates = Searchable templates of all major chemical structures
Lasso = Used to select and drag objects
Lock ring fusion or formation = Used to block a ring from further ring fusion or prevent a chain from ring formation
Lock atoms = Used to block atomic substitution
It is possible to assign roles to any specific structure search using tool.
The options for roles are;
product
reactant
reagent
reactant/reagent
If this tool is not used the search will run with all structures as "Any Role"
Reading the Results
There are up to three parts to any of the results, the steps, the overview, and sometimes the experimental procedure.
Steps
Break down the chemical reaction step by step with a structure drawing for each change in the process.
It is possible to view a details associated with each step including; viewing substance detail, searching explore by structure, synthesizing the molecule, finding reaction where the product plays a specific role, getting commercial sources, or regulatory information or references.
If you performed a substructure reaction search, the substructure will be highlighted in red.
Overview
A step by step process without the structures
Notes on the reactants,regents, solvents, and stages
References to any papers written about the reaction
Experimental Procedure
The specific techniques used to create a particular reaction
This is not available for every possible reaction in Scifinder
Click Get References to be taken to a list of the articles in which these reactions appeared.
Use Analyze tool to the left of your reaction, you can analyze the reaction using the drop down menu. The categories you can analyze by are: Authors name, Catalyst, Company/Organization, Document Type, Journal Name, Language, MethodsNow, Number of Steps, Product Yield, Publication Year, Reactant, and Solvent.
Once you have chosen the category and you are interested in click on show more to choose more than one possible option or simply click on the option you are interest in.
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Refining the results
Just like with the research topic search you can also further refine your reaction search by the following categories:
Reaction Structure - allows the user the draw a structure in the structure editor
Product Yield - upper and lower limit percents
Number of Steps - self explanatory
Reaction Classification or Excluding Reaction Classification- (Bio-transformation, Catalyzed, Chemo-selective, Combinatorial, Electrochemical, Gas-phase, Non-catalyzed, Photochemical, Radiochemical, Regio-selective, Stereo-selective)
Nonparticipating functional groups - by classes, rings, or all 217 options
Screen shots throughout this guide are taken from SciFinder and are used with permission from CAS. Copyright 2020 American Chemical Society, all rights reserved.