Viewing Results
How do I view more than the first 25 hits?

Why are there two entries for limestone (for example)?

The structure shown for (some substance with an isocyanate group) is wrong!

Other Data
Why are the values for some properties blank for a specific compound?

The value for some property is blank. Could you tell me what it is?

You don't list the whazzit points for any compounds. Why not?

So you don't have the information I need. Do you know who does?

OK, OK. I understand that you don't have the data I'm looking for. But I *need* it. Help!

Wait a minute. So you're saying that your database is not complete?

Where can I purchase this compound? How can I synthesize this compound?

Why don't you list the density of compounds?

Why don't you list the refractive index of compounds?

How accurate is your data? Same as those in the CRC Handbook or Aldrich Catalog?

Why can't I open the chemical structure with my CS software?

Administrative
How often do you update your data?

Why do I have to register?

What is going to happen to the information I give when I register?

I just registered and it immediately asked me to register again!

I registered yesterday/last week/last month and it asked me to register again today!

Can we link to your site from ours?

Can we link to individual chemical graphics?

How can we link to a specific chemical page?

Can we create a local copy of your search form on our site?

Can we create a local copy specific chemical pages?

Can we create a local copy specific chemical graphics?

How can we create our own ChemFinder?

Searching

I want to find information on (some compound name).
You can search for a compound by name by typing the name into the first box on the search form and leaving all other boxes empty. See below for suggestions of what to do if ChemFinder returns no hits.

Help! ChemFinder returned no hits.
One of the most common reasons ChemFinder would return no hits is because it has no information about the compound in question. If you think ChemFinder should have information about your compound, there are several things to look at:

• Name searches
• Check your spelling.
• Make sure that you have entered an English name.
• Make sure you have entered the name of a chemical ('saltpeter', 'glucosamine') not a consumer product ('firecrackers', 'chicken', 'milk').
• Don't add any adjectives to the chemical name. 'Hydrobromic acid' will work, but '10% hydrobromic acid solution' will not.
• Enter your search string exactly as you expect it to appear. For example, do not put the name in quote marks unless you feel that the quote marks are an integral part of the name.
• Always enter double-prime marks with two single quotes, not one double quote mark.
• Don't enter formulas as chemical names. Use a formula search instead.
• Don't search for classes of compounds ('protein' or 'aldehyde')
• Check your spelling!
• Molecular Weight searches
• Don't enter more significant figures than you are sure about.
• Structure searches
• Check that you have entered a valid SMILES string (unless you are using the ChemDraw Plugin). If you have not created your SMILES string using a chemical drawing package such as ChemDraw, it is probably not valid.
• If you are not using the ChemDraw Plugin, you should. It makes structure searching much easier.
• Combined searches
• Don't enter more data than is necessary to identify a compound. For example, if you are sure about a compound's name but unsure of its formula, leave the Formula field empty. ChemFinder does a boolean AND over all search terms, so an incorrect formula will cause an otherwise-valid name search to fail.

It says my CAS number is invalid!
This is one case where ChemFinder is unquestionably correct. All CAS numbers have a built-in checksum. If the checksum check fails, the CAS number is impossible, and cannot refer to any compound. You will only get a message about an 'invalid' CAS number if its checksum fails.

I know my CAS number is correct, but it still returns no hits.
Quite possible. The Chemical Abstracts Service has indexed (and assigned CAS numbers to) over 17 million compounds. On the other hand, there are only about 75,000 compounds listed in ChemFinder. With luck, the compounds that are listed in ChemFinder are the 'important' or 'common' ones, but on a strictly statistical sense, there is a greater than 99% chance that a given CAS number will not be listed.

Why doesn't it start the search when I hit Enter or Return?
Because you are using Netscape, and you are not using the simple search form. Netscape does not allow Enter or Return to submit a form that contains more than a single text field. We cannot control Netscape's behavior. If you want Enter or Return to submit a form, you should talk to Netscape about it. Or, you could use Internet Explorer instead, assuming you don't mind its unique "features."

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Viewing Results

How do I view more than the first 25 hits?
There are currently only three ways to view more than the first 25 hits of a search:

• Reformulate your query to be more restrictive, so that it returns fewer than 25 hits (but possibly ones later in the list)
• Purchase ChemINDEX, and get all available hits for your search, not just the first 25.

• Purchase your own local copy of ChemOffice Ultra for Windows, which does not have this limitation (and will be quite a bit faster overall).

In some cases it might not be clear from the entries at ChemFinder what the exact differences are between two similarly-named entries with different CAS Numbers. For more information about specific CAS Numbers, you will have to purchase an account at CAS.

Similar apparent duplicates can show up in other cases, particularly related to chiral, racemic, and unspecified forms.

The structure shown for (some substance with an isocyanate group) is wrong!
Traditionally, carbon atoms are displayed without any atom labels, so the isocyanate group (N=C=O) might look like a nitroso group (N=O) with a very long double bond. If you are using the ChemDraw Plug-In to view your results, you can confirm this by moving the mouse over the center of the bond, where you will see the additional carbon atom highlight.

We realize that this convention can be confusing, and we are looking at ways to improve the display.

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Other Data

Why are the values for some properties blank for a specific compound?
In short, 'because'. As we identify new sources for data -- and we receive permission to use those sources -- we will fill in whatever holes we can.

The value for some property is blank. Could you tell me what it is?
See previous question. We are not hiding any information from you. If we knew the value for that property, it wouldn't be blank in the first place.

You don't list the whazzit points for any compounds. Why not?
Basically, because we had to draw the line somewhere. You should look at the related sites for the compound in question, since they will often have more information than we chose to index.

So you don't have the information I need. Do you know who does?
Another site on the Internet? No, not really. If we knew about it, we would probably have indexed it already. For this reason, you should certainly check out any sites listed in the 'More information about this compound is available from:' section of the compound record, but if they don't help, we really can't suggest anyone else.

Beyond the Internet, there are lots of chemical information sources. The sci.chem FAQ provides a good overview of this sort of information.

OK, OK. I understand that you don't have the data I'm looking for. But I *need* it. Help!
Custom research and development is handled through our consulting department. This is not a free service. Alternatively, you might consider purchasing a copy of CS ChemOffice Ultra for Windows, which contains a lot more information than ChemFinder. Everything we are prepared to offer at no charge is already available at the ChemFinder. We're not hiding any information. Honest.

Wait a minute. So you're saying that your database is not complete?
Yes, that is exactly what we're saying. First of all, it is physically impossible to have a 'complete' chemical database, because the number of possible compounds is infinite. It is also impossible to have a database of all known compounds, since any such database will be out of data the instant it is created. That said, there are several databases that are more complete than ChemFinder. These are discussed in earlier questions on this page.

Where can I purchase this compound? How can I synthesize this compound?
If none of the links point to a supplier or synthesis route, we don't know. The sci.chem FAQ mentioned above might provide pointers to some additional information sources.

Why don't you list densities?
We do. Sort of. Please review the glossary for a definition of specific gravity.

Why don't you list refractive indexes?
See previous questions. Refractive indexes for many common compounds are provided with CS ChemOffice Ultra for Windows.

How accurate is your data? Same as those in the CRC Handbook or Aldrich Catalog?
The data at ChemFinder is an index of information that is available elsewhere on the WWW. Where information varied between different sources, we used a variety of methods to attempt to arbitrate between those differences, including referring to the CRC Handbook and to the Aldrich catalog.

Because all sources report (theoretically uniform) physical properties, ChemFinder should substantially agree with values provided by the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, by Aldrich, and by others. However, since both of the latter sources are copyrighted, ChemFinder has used neither of them as a direct source in determining its own data.

Why can't I open the chemical structure with my CS Software?
The chemical structures at ChemFinder are provided in CDX format. This format can be read by ChemDraw 4.0 or later, which was first available in November, 1996. If you are using a version of ChemDraw earlier than 4.0, you will not be able to open these structures. You must update your software to the current version -- updating information is available from the CambridgeSoft Home Page. If you wish only to view -- and not modify -- the structures, you can download a free copy of CS ChemOffice Net.

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Administrative

How often do you update your data?
We are continually updating the data in ChemFinder, but we generally try to 'save up' the changes to minimize downtime. On average, the public server gets updated in some fashion about once a week. Of course, not all data is changed during an update. Most often, additional sites are indexed during an update.

Why do I have to register?
We ask that you register your use of ChemFinder so that we can accurately gauge who is using it. We intend to keep the server a free service to the chemical community, and knowing who uses it is a key factor in knowing how we should improve it. We also view the registration information as a sign of good faith, and reserve the right to deny access to anyone who provides false information.

What is going to happen to the information I give when I register?
Your registration information is used for internal demographic purposes only. We do not sell or give information to other companies for any reason.

I just registered and it immediately asked me to register again!
You probably didn't complete the form. Make sure all of the required fields (they're labeled as required) are filled out.

I registered yesterday/last week/last month and it asked me to register again today!
Your registration information (or rather, the fact that you have registered) is stored on your computer in the Cookie file for your browser. If you move to another computer, or you delete your Cookie file, you will need to re-register. These are the only ways your registration information could be lost.

Can we link to your site from ours?
Absolutely!

Can we link to individual chemical graphics?
No, you may not. The individual graphic files are deleted regularly and are not guaranteed to exist. The only pages guaranteed to exist are the full chemical pages. Each of the specific chemical pages will contain an appropriate graphic, so if you want for people to see a picture of a substance, you should link them to the specific chemical page.

How can we link to a specific chemical page?
You should use a URL like:

• http://www.chemfinder.com/result.asp?mol_rel_id=50-00-0

Can we create a local copy of your search form on our site?
If you give us proper credit, sure. We're not really sure what you would gain from this -- it won't make your searches any faster, for example, and you won't be able to take advantage of any enhancements we make at our site -- but you can do it if you give us credit. The following is a suggested credit line:

ChemFinder is a service of CambridgeSoft Corporation.

Please note that while this precise wording is not required, some sort of identification and back-link is necessary. It is NOT sufficient to simply mention the ChemFinder name without giving your users a chance to find out what ChemFinder is. Please contact us if you want to discuss alternate wordings.

Can we create a local copy of specific chemical pages?
Absolutely not. Please link to specific pages as described above, but do NOT create copies of the individual pages.

Can we create a local copy of specific chemical graphics?
Absolutely not. The chemical structure files provided on this site -- just as are any graphic files found anywhere on the Internet -- are copyrighted. Making copies of these files is a violation of international law. This does not mean that we are copyrighting the content of these files. We cannot claim the fact that benzene has six carbon atoms. However, the physical graphic files themselves -- the precise collection of bits, producing an image exactly this big with lines just so wide -- is our own creation. You are of course welcome to take the information in these files and redrawn your own versions, but you cannot take the original graphic files themselves.

How can we create our own ChemFinder?
ChemFinder can be set up on any site, allowing access to all sorts of chemical databases over the Internet and/or over an Intranet. Purchasing information is available from CambridgeSoft Corporation.