A Beginner's Guide to SciFinder

An introduction into what content is available in SciFinder and how to go about finding the information you need.

Structure Editor Tools

The structure editor by default draws single carbon bonds. If you click in the editor, it'll place a C, if you drag, it'll place a bond. Clicking on a drawn bond will add another bond (click twice for triple bond). Clicking on a node will add another bond off of that node.

You'll know if you're clicking on a node or a bond because a node will highlight with a red circle, while a bond will highlight the red line/bond:

 Node                               Bond

Two menus are available to you with tools to assist in drawing substances. These menus can be dragged around, but their positions do not save. 

Last updated 9/5/2025

Right Menu:

Atoms found in the right hand menu in the structure editor: C, H, O, S, N, P, Cl, and Si. H has a arrow in which you can expand to select H, D, or T. Cl has an arrow in which you can expand to select Cl, F, Br, or I.  

Commonly used elements you can select. Both the H and Cl expand to include additional elements(H: H, D, T Cl: Cl, F, Br, I).

Left Menu:

Periodic table symbol in SciFinder structure editor menu, it's a multicolored representation of the periodic table. Periodic Table: You can select any element on the periodic table, as well as Deuterium or Tritium.

Shortcuts menu icon in the SciFinder structure editor, it is Et in red text. Shortcuts: Insert different functional groups using the Shortcuts button (i.e. Ph, SO2H, OBu-t, and many more)

Variables icon in the SciFinder structure editor, it is a red X. Variables: Allow some variability in your structure with the following variables:

Variables list as follows: X- Any Halogen, M- Any Metal, A- Any atom except H, Q- Any atom except C or H, Ak- Any carbon chain, Cy- Any cycle, Cb- Any carbocycle, Hy- Any heterocycle

Last updated 9/10/2025

Bond options, with two menus expanded.

 

The above shows all of the bond options available, two of those are expanded to show additional options.

I always recommend drawing the structure flat (no stereochemistry) so you're presented with all isomers that may be of interest. Adding stereochemistry can be really restricting and can potentially miss substances of interest.

Last 8/12/2025

The following are used insert rings of various sizes:

6 ring icons screenshotted from the right hand structure editor menu.

The bottom right ring with the n in it allows you to specify how many sides you want a carbon ring to have, you can specify between 3 and 15.

Last updated 8/12/2025

Lasso (top left): Draw around a certain part or parts of a structure in order to select and drag around the canvas. I only use this tool when I want to delete a certain part of a structure. Once you've drawn around it, you can simply click DEL on your keyboard and it'll be erased.

Marquee (top right): Double click on a structure to highlight in its entirety, you can then move around the canvas or delete.

You can CTRL+ C and CTRL+V to copy and paste structures within the structure editor. Using the Lasso or Marquee is very helpful if you're trying to copy parts of a structure or the entire thing.

Pencil (bottom left): Draw atoms, if this is selected then you're able to place atoms on the canvas

Eraser (bottom right): Use to erase bonds and/or nodes

 

Last updated 9/11/2025

Keyboard Shortcuts for Structure Editor

Menu showing all of the keyboard shortcuts available in the structure editor