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CHEM 493: Seminar

updated January 2018

About SciFinder

SciFinder is a research discovery tool that allows you to explore the CAS databases containing literature from many scientific disciplines including biomedical sciences, chemistry, engineering, materials science, agricultural science, and more. It's a different kind of database in the terms it uses and the ways you can search in it.

One of the major features provided by SciFinder is the ability to draw structures. Watch the video below to review the process of searching this way.

If you don't have an account, you can create one at New User Registration.

If you have already created an account on SciFinder you may start from SciFinder Sign In page.


Drawing structures to search SciFinder Scholar


Combine Answer Sets

To combine saved answer sets:

  1. Access the Saved Answer Sets Page.
  2. Select the tab of the answer set type you want to combine answer sets for (References, Substances, or Reactions).
  3. From the list of answer sets, select two or more saved answer sets that you want to combine.
  4. To the right of the Saved Answer Sets title, click Combine Answer Sets. The Combine Answer Sets dialog box displays.
  5. Select one of these combine options:
    • Combine ( )—performs a logical OR combination, placing all answers from the selected answer sets into the combined set.
    • Intersect ( )—performs a logical AND combination, placing only matching answers from the selected answer sets into the combined set.
    • Exclude ( - B from A)—performs a logical NOT combination, placing into the combined set only the answers in answer set A that are not in answer set B.
    • Exclude ( - A from B)—performs a logical NOT combination, placing into the combined set only the answers in answer set B that are not in answer set A.
  6. Click Combine Answer Sets. The combined answer set displays as the current answer set in Main view. Any related errors (for example, an empty combined answer set, or combined answer set that exceeds 20,000-maximum limit) generate appropriate error messages.
  7. On the Main view, Remove Duplicates from your answer set.

Keep Me Posted (KMP)

SciFinder®allows you to create a Keep Me Posted (KMP) profile based on a previously executed search query. You can create a KMP profile for an answer set resulting from:

  • An initial Explore task for references or substances
  • A subsequent task performed on the initial answer set (for example, Refine Substances, or Get Citing References)

The profile (and the query it contains) is run weekly, to provide new answers that match the search criteria. If found, new answers are saved as Keep Me Posted Results associated with the profile. You receive an e-mail Notification about the results after each weekly run of the KMP profile. You can view the results after you sign in to SciFinder.


  • Your user profile in myCAS must include an e-mail address for you to receive an e-mail notification.
  • Commercial users can create a maximum of 50 profiles. Academic users can create a maximum of 20 profiles.
  • Although you can edit information with a KMP profile, you cannot change its search query after the profile has been created. Instead, you must create a separate profile for each discrete search query. In the Edit information you are able to edit the profile title, description, status, duplicate suppression setting, or expiration date, etc. as needed. You can also delete the results from your KMP files.

You can create a Keep Me Posted (KMP) profile on any type of explore you have done such as by Research Topic, Author, Company name, etc. or on any type of task performance such as Get References, Get Cited, etc. You can also share your results with your colleagues. On your KMP under a specific title, click on LINK, Copy and paste the URL and share it with others.