SciFinder Scholar

Introduction

SciFinder Scholar is a client-server program used to access selected Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) databases plus Medline. If you are in a campus library, access it through E-Resources/Article Databases link on www.library.wisc.edu. See Client - Remote Access and Client Distribution for information about installing the client on your personal computer.

License: 7 simultaneous users. Please log off when you complete your work.

System availability (U.S. Central Time): Sunday 00:00 until Saturday 21:00. On the first Saturday of each month, SciFinder Scholar will only be available until 16:00 and will not be accessible again until 00:00 the following day (Sunday). http://www.cas.org/support/academic/sf/newhours.html

New Features with Scifinder Scholar 2007:

  • Categorize references—sort and evaluate information in your answer sets.
  • Save answers—save answer lists of references, substances, or reactions and re-use them later in other SciFinder Scholar sessions.
  • Combine answer sets—combine an active answer set with a previously saved set.
  • Export commercial chemicals records from CHEMCATS into Excel.
  • Explore from substance displays—launch a new search or refine a previous one from a substance record display.
  • Print structures in grid format—print multiple chemical structures side by side in a grid arrangement.

Databases and Full-Text Links

CAPlus - updated weekly

  • 1907-present plus >110, 000 pre-1907 journal and patent references (JACS 1879+, J. Phys. Chem. 1896+, J. Chem. Soc. 1878+ , & landmark papers 1900-1912). Preparation role (PREP) assigned 1907+. All other "roles" assigned 1967+.
  • Comprehensive – all areas of chemistry and chemical engineering – (analytical, applied chemistry, biochemistry, chemical engineering, macromolecular, organic, and  physical)
  • International coverage
  • Document types:  journals, patents, reports, conference proceedings, books, dissertations
  • Bibliographic information + abstracts (most records) + indexing

CAS Registry - updated daily

  • Chemical structure and dictionary
  • Mostly covers substances identified from the scientific literature from 1957 to the present with some classes (fluorine- and silicon-containing compounds) going back to the early 1900s.
  • >33,000,000 organic and inorganic substances, and >59,000,000  sequences. http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/registry/index.html (accessed 7/5/07).

CAS Reacts - updated weekly

CAS Reacts contains chemical reaction information derived from documents covered in the Organic Chemistry Sections of Chemical Abstracts. The database indexes synthesized reactions from the examples contined in the articles, i.e., reactions which have experimental procedures and products with some kind of data (yield, m.p., etc.) Compounds mentioned in the examples which have no data of any kind are not indexed in CAS REACT.
  • >14 million single- and multi-step reactions
  • Journals covered for CA Organic Chemistry Sections from 1985 to the present
  • Patents covered for CA from January 1991 to the present
  • The reaction collection jointly built by the All-Union Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (VINITI) and the German Zentrale Informationsverarbeitung Chemie, Berlin (ZIC) and supplied by the German software company, InfoChem (journals 1974-1991, patents 1982-1991)
  • Rxn: Core Reactions database from the French organization, INPI (Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle) (1840-1985)
  • Biotransformations database compiled during the years 1971-1997 under the direction of Professor Doctor Klaus Kieslich
    http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/casreact.html (accessed 1/7/08), CAS Reacts User Guide (accessed 1/7/08), and CAS Customer Service.

CHEMCATS - updated when new or revised information is available

  • Catalogs and chemical libraries, 1995 to the present
  • >16 million commercially available chemicals (11/07)
  • >900 suppliers (11/07)
  • >1000 catalogs (11/07)
    http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/chemcats.html (accessed 1/7/08 ).
  • Record contains catalog information for the substance e.g., chemical and trade names, the company names and addresses, and supplier information

CHEMLIST - updated weekly

  • Domestic and international regulatory information from America, Asia, and Europe.
  • Over 246,000  chemical substances on national and international chemical inventories and regulatory lists. (10/07)
  • Records contain substance identity information, inventory status, source of information, and summaries of regulatory activity, reports, and other compliance information.
    http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/regulated/index.html

Medline (1950 – date)

Full-Text Links - ChemPort Connection

  • Links to full-text electronic journals: http://www.chemport.org.
  • ChemPort may take you directly the article or open an intervening browser window.
  • Not all electronic journals are identified with the ChemPort icon button.
  • Always check Find It or MadCat for the most accurate electronic journal information.

Scifinder Scholar Chem Port icon

Searching

SciFinder Scholar Explore functions

The EXPLORE function you choose determines the database you search.

  • Explore Literature searches CAPlus and Medline. Substance registry numbers in the records link to CASRegistry.
  • Explore Substances searches CASRegistry. CASRegistry records link to records in CAPlus, Medline, ChemCats, CASReacts and ChemList
  • Explore Reactions searches CASReacts. CAS Reacts records link to records in CAPlus and substances records in CASRegistry.

Use LOCATE to search for specific citation inforamtion, patent numbers, chemical names, or CAS registry numbers.

Author

  • Last name required.
  • Use first initial or first name to retrieve list of entires in the databases.
  • Check Look for alternate spelling of the last name.
  • Select author candidates with first initial AND first name. (Chemical Abstracts' policy is to index author's name as it appears in original publication.)

Example: Publications of Theodore W. Richards

Author candidate names for theodore W. Richards

Structure/Substructure

Search Type Example
Structure
  • Single components filter
  • Me shortcut
Exact structure drawing
Substructure
  • Lock out ring fusion or ring formation.
  • Lock out further substitution at position.
  • Atom Menu Tool – Halogens “X”
  • R Group - R1 defined as C, O, N, S, H
  • ANALYZE by R group or halogen
  • REFINE by property value
Substructure search drawing
Variable Attachment
  • Node or fragment attached to any of several positions on a ring system
  • Some restrictions apply
Varial attachment drawing
Similarity
  • Based on Tanimoto score
  • Locates structures that are similar to your query in descending score
  • Scores computed on several structure descriptors
similarity search drawing
Repeating Group
  • Specify node or group of nodes in a structure to be repeated.
  • Some repetition range restrictions.
 Repeating Group drawing

Variable Attachment Position tool

  • Specify a node or fragment and attach it to any of several positions on a ring system for searching.
  • One or more substituents can be variably attached to the same nodes in the ring system.

Substituent node:

  • Can be single node or a node in a larger fragment
  • Can be (or contain): element, variable, shortcut, R-group (with no additional attachments), repeating group
  • Can be locked to further substitution
  • Cannot be part of repeating group,
  • Substituent for one variable attachment position cannot contain the ring attachment positions for a separate variable attachment position.
  • Cannot have variable attachments to more than one ring system.

Variable Attachment Node:

  • Can be non-metal or X, Q, or A.
  • Can be locked to further substitution.
  • Cannot be a shortcut, a metal atom, M, Ak, Cb, Hy, or Cy
  • Repeating group cannot contain the ring attachment position ofr a separate variable attachment position.

Variable Attachment Bond that attaches substituent to ring:

  • Always a chain bond – cannot be modified.
  • May have any value: single, double, triple, or unspecified.
  • Cannot be a stereo bond.

Repeating Group

The Repeating Group tool allows you to specify that a node or group of nodes in a structure can be repeated.
  1. Click on the node to be repeated and specify repetition range. Some restrictions.

Similarity Searching

  • Based on Tanimoto score.
  • Locates structures that are similar to your query
  • Scores computed based on these kinds of structure descriptors:
    • Atom count
    • Ring count
    • Atom sequence
    • Bond sequence
    • Augmented atoms
    • Degree of connectivity
    • Element composition
    • Type of ring fusion

Note: When searching for clinical drug information, use a combination of text words and MeSH terms in PubMed. Then limit by terms/publication types that bring up more valid clinical studies or systematic reviews. If you are looking for substance information for clinical trials drug development, etc. use PubMed and SciFinder Scholar. Registry Numbers in PubMed/Medline have not been included for the past ten years. They were obtained from CAS prior to that time.

Reaction

  1. Draw reaction query.
  2. Use Reaction Arrow or Reaction Role to assign roles to the reaction participant(s).
  3. (Optional) Apply Reaction Classification filters.

All substances in the reaction results are hyperlinked to other reaction, substance information, and references. Reaction results can be viewed as individual steps in a multi-step reaction or one reaction per reference.

Half-reaction drawing

 

Research Topic

  • Uses "natural language" instead of Boolean operators for searching.
  • Separate concepts by prepositions or stop words.
  • Truncation and nesting is done internally.
  • Impossible to see exact search statement.
  • Displays Topic Candidates, a listing of possible term combinations

Research Topic Search tips:

  • Begin with a simple English phrase.

    Example: biomimetics of the extracellular matrix

  • Specify two or three concepts separated by prepositions such as after, among, at, between, from, in, into, of, on, upon , with , and within . Do not use the Boolean operators AND and OR if a preposition would be more exact.

    Example: treatment of fabric with insect repellant

  • Use quotations to specify phrases.
  • Add synonyms in parenthesis following the related term.

    Example: dyes in "over the counter" (OTC)

  • Distribute modifiers among terms separated by OR.

    Example: solvents for protein folding or protein renaturation

  • If your search is complex with multiple concepts and several synonyms, begin with one or two concepts and their synonyms. Use REFINE by Research Topic to add additional concepts. Other uses of Refine include document type (Patents, Reviews) and Publication Year.
  • Use ANALYZE to identify relevant authors, CA Section Title, Indexing Terms. Note that CA Section Titles are Chemical Abstracts- specific and will eliminate Medline records.

Printing/Saving Records

  1. Click on the selection box next to each reference to select record for later printing or downloading.
  2. Place a check mark in the selection box next to the document, substance, or reaction group references.
  3. Select Print or Save As.
  4. Select the desired record format or file type (see below).
  5. (Optional) If printing, type a Print Header.
  6. Click on OK.

Print formats:

  • Standard = citation
  • Summary =  citation + abstract
  • Full = citation + abstract + Indexing

Save As formats:

  • ASCII
  • Rich Text Format (includes graphics)
  • QUOTED (specify delimiter)
  • TAGGED (use for citation management database – e.g. EndNote and RefWorks)
  • ANSWER KEYS (used for Explore by Document Identifier function)

Installation

See Client - Remote Access.