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Chemical Abstracts Service Upgrades SciFinder

Scientists can now group reactions in answer sets according to more than 500 commonly known reaction types, e.g., reduction of nitro compounds to amines. This feature will help in quickly examining the diversity of a large set of reactions.

CAS also introduced a sharing feature for SciPlanner, the interactive workspace in SciFinder that enables scientists to more quickly identify synthesis options. New SciPlanner import/export options make collaboration easier by letting scientists share their workspaces with other SciFinder users.

This update follows the progression of enhancements to SciFinder. In December 2011, CAS added substance relevance ranking and bioactivity and target indicator features to help chemists and biologists quickly access the information they need most. In February 2012, one-click access to commercial chemical source pricing and availability information enabled scientists to go directly from a substance search to a purchasing decision at the supplier’s site. Just 2 months later, SciFinder debuted features that included searching of substance properties, converting CAS Registry Numbers to structures, and previewing substance and reference answer sets with the in-context Quick View window.

CAS also announced that SciFinder will be updated with nearly 200,000 additional experimental NMR spectra. These experimental data will help scientists better characterize and identify substances.

Source: Chemical Abstracts Service