SciFinder Scholar – Practice Examples – Substances & Reactions
Substances
cyclohexanol
1. Use the “Locate” feature to the substance called “cyclohexanol.”
Number of substances = _________
Look at what the record for this substance contains:
CAS Registry Number
Synonyms (i.e., Naxol, Anol, etc.)
Experimental properties
Predicted properties
Number of references to this substance
STN Files (other databases with data on this substance)
Get References  References associated with …
Preparation (all years)
Spectral properties (all years)
Properties (1996 forward)
Note: Properties and all other options only go back to 1966!!!
O
2. Search for substances that have the exact structure for cyclohexanol as
drawn on the left.
Number of substances = _________
Why so many substances?
Repeat the exact structure search, but put a check by the box for
“Only return substances that are single components.”
Number of substances = _________
Why so many substances?
Find references for all 18O isotope-containing isomers.
Select substances  Tools  Keep substances = _________
3. (a) Draw the substance shown on the left. Search for substances that:
Number of substances = _________
3. (b) Search for this substance using the MF = C11H18
Number of substances = _________ [Yikes!]
Substructure Searching
4. (a) Draw the substance shown on the left. Search for substances that:
have this “substructure”
“ … that are single components”
S
Number of substances = _________
Cl
4. (b) Repeat the search but modify the structure by:
“Locking out” the sulfur atom from further bonds
Drawing a hydrogen atom as shown.
H
S
Number of substances = _________
Cl
Cl
Cl
O
5. Draw the substance shown on the left. Search for substances that:
have this “substructure”
“ … that are single components”
Why are aromatic moieties found?
 Perform “Analyze by Precision”. Look at …
“Conventional Substructure”
versus
“Closely Associated Tautomers and Zwitterions”
 Perform “Analyze by Ring skeletons”
Choose “Ring skeletons with atoms”
Cl
6. Do a substructure search chlorobenzene.
What does SciFinder Scholar force you to do?
Organometallic Substances – Analyze by Precision
1.
2.
3.
4.
Draw the desired structure or substructure
Run the search.
Analyze results by Precision.
Choose “Conventional structures” or “Conventional substructures”.
You may widen your search to include tautomers or zwitterions, but often you do not need to.
For example, draw two thioacetates attached to an iron atom, and do a substructure search on a more
complex substance.
S
S
Fe
S
S
Do a substructure search and limit to substances that are single components.
Number of structures = __________
Analyze by Precision gives: “Conventional substructures” = ___________
“Closely associated tautomers and zwitterions” = __________
Look at the kind of structures that are described by these two terms:
“Conventional substructures” (best for most purposes)
“Closely associated tautomers and zwitterions”
“Loosely associated tautomers and zwitterions”
Analyze by Real-atom attachments
Analyze the above structure (limited to “conventional substructures) … by Real-atom attachments.
You can limit by atoms or by groups such as: A – any (not H)
Q – any (not C, H)
Cb – any carbocycle
Cy – any cycle
Ak – any alkyl chain
X – any halogen
M – any metal
Click on the methyl group to see what substances have nitrogen attached at that carbon.
Reaction Searching
Get reactions where the structures are “variable only at the specified positions.”
N
S
S
N
S
S
Product
Note that the earliest reaction that is found is from 1985. But this is “Antabuse” – a drug that is used
to treat people who want to quit drinking (it makes you feel nauseous if you ingest alcohol. It has
been used for many years before 1985.
Click on the drawn substance Antabuse in one of the reactions.
Choose References  References associated with “Preparation”.
Number of references = __________
Year of earliest preparation = __________
Get reactions where the structures are “substructures of more complex structures.”
N
S
S
N
S
S
Product
Number of reactions = __________
More Reaction Searching & Substructure Searching
Draw bipyridine. Label it as a product. To do an exact search for reactions in which this is a
product, click on get reactions where this structure is “substructure of more complex structures”.
N
N
product
Number of reactions = ____________
Repeat the search, but limit to those in which the bond between the rings is formed.
N
N
product
Number of reactions = ____________
Refine these reactions to just those that involve tin by:
1. Select “Refine by Reaction structure”
2. Draw the following pyridine / tin substructure and label as “reactant or reagent”
N
Sn
Reactant/Reagent
3. Get reactions where the structures are substructures of more complex structures
It is not necessary to have the bipyridine structure in the “Refine by Reaction structure”
search. However, a substructure search is necessary to find substances which contain Sn.
Number of reactions = _____________
Analyze these reactions “by catalyst”. What catalysts are used most often? _______________________