ChemNews.Com VOL 6 NO 3

Katherine Porter is the chemistry librarian at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. She is a seasoned reviewer of chemical software and a new fan of ChemInfo.

As a chemistry librarian, I am always looking for compound information as are many of my library users. ChemInfo is a tremendous resource for this purpose. CS Catalyst calls it "your personal desktop chemical information source." With ChemInfo you get a variety of databases organized into four categories: compound reference data in ChemINDEX, reaction reference data in ChemRXN, supplier data in ChemACX, and material safety data sheets in ChemMSDS.

The chemist looking for a compound containing a particular substructure as a starting material can sit down with ChemACX and search a wide variety of supplier catalogs for a particular substructure. This kind of search is very difficult to do using a print catalog or even a Web catalog that is based on print. The undergraduate looking for physical properties will find ChemACX and ChemINDEX very useful. A grad student looking for a preparation or reaction will like ChemRXN.

Beginning a Search

ChemFinder is the engine that drives ChemInfo. You begin your search by launching ChemFinder and opening a database. Once opened, a database can be searched by almost any of its fields including structure or substructure, alphanumeric fields such as molecular formula or chemical name, or reaction information and references. You can combine structure and alphanumeric searching to give very exact results.

Structure Searching

The fact that ChemInfo is an integrated package of chemical software familiar to many chemists gives it a distinct advantage over some of the other database programs. To do a structure search of a database, simply choose Enter Query from the menu or click the Enter Query box on the toolbar. You will see a blank form. Click the right mouse button in the Structure box. From the Context menu that opens, choose Edit structure.

This opens a ChemDraw window and you can create your structure using all the features of that program. A click on the ChemFinder window will take you back to the form instantly, putting your structure in the window. Decide if you want an exact substructure or similarity search by clicking on the options in the Search menu. Then choose Find and the search will run.

Utilizing Results

Once you have results, they can be saved as text or molecular structures. Subsequent search results can be integrated with the saved lists by using the Restore List option. These integrated results can then be used to do very specific additional searches. Results can also be exported into other applications such as Microsoft Excel or Access, or into a database you create yourself using ChemFinder. This ability to design your own databases makes ChemInfo much more than a lookup tool. It becomes a way to create your own personal information resource containing information important to your research or study.

ChemDraw and Chem3D have been staples of a chemist's toolkit for many years. With ChemInfo and ChemFinder, the ChemOffice suite has become an important tool for chemical information specialists as well.