You may enter product name in whole or in part as keywords into the search box. All the following terms are valid for searching for the compound 1-(3-Methoxyphenyl)piperazine dihydrochloride:

     1-(3-Methoxyphenyl)piperazine dihydrochloride
     piperazine dihydrochloride
     Methoxyphenyl
     hydrochloride

The more detailed the search terms are, the easier to find the target product, while a concise and general search word may show a wide range of results for a further selection. To avoid returning too many unrelated results, only the boolean AND is used in multiple keyword searching strings. For instance, when searching methyl alcohol, propyl alcohol or methyl bromide will never be returned. For accurate searching the double quotation mark can be used.

The keywords are not case-sensitive.

You must use valid formats to enter a CAS number or its segments for search. Only numbers and the dash mark are acceptable. The longest complete CAS number has the form of 123456-78-9. The first set of numbers may vary from 1 to 6 digits, while the third and the second sets can only hold 1 and 2 digits, respectively. The following valid search terms provide various results:

     1806-23-1
     6-23-1
     23-1

The acceptable character set for composing search terms by molecular formula includes letters (A-Z, a-z) for element symbols, numbers (0-9) for specifying composition, the period (.) and parentheses as separator, and the comma(,) as the European decimal point. Using any other characters will definitely lead to search failure.

The element symbols are capital-sensitive. Si and SI will be decoded as silicon and the unit of sulphur and iodine, respectively. Blank spaces between element symbols or  numbers are allowed. There is no requirement for sequence of symbols. In most cases a simple summarized form is recommended. For example, the following two search terms are identical and will bring all products in the database whose composition matches the formula or contains it as a fragment:

     C6H6N
     H6 N C6

It should be noted that each symbols should be summarized. For example, the search term C6H5OH for phenol is invalid. The correct search terms are C6H6O or C6H5.OH (see the fragment format below).

For ligand compounds or macro-molecules using the format of fragments is more convenient. You should use the period to separate segments, while each segment can be composed as same as in the case of a simple molecule. In such a way you can decompose a complex molecule into parts for easy understanding:

     C12H21N.HCl
     C23H46N6O13.3(H2SO4)
     H2SO4.(H2O)4

You can specify as many fragments as you like provided that separating them with periods. You may use prefix or suffix to define a multi-ligand unit. It should be noted that the prefix and suffix must be used along with parentheses. Besides, there is only one pair of parentheses allowed within one fragment. The following search terms are invalid:

     C23H46N6O13.3H2SO4
     (C9H10N2O4)(H2O)

The correct forms are C23H46N6O13.3(H2SO4) and (C9H10N2O4).(H2O) (or C9H10N2O4.H2O). However, the nested single pairs of parentheses are needed for searching the following products, which include multiple complex anions:

     (NH4)4.(Fe(CN)6)
     Zn3.(Co(CN)6)2

It is very possible that there are non-integer numbers in a formula. You must use the European decimal point (that is, the comma) along with parentheses instead of a dot. For example:

     C10H13NO4.1,5(H2O)
     (K)0,85.CO4

For searching polymers non-numerical suffix m, n or k are frequently used:

     The term of searching for polyethylene:(CH2)m
     The term of searching for poly(ether sulfone): (C12H8O3S)n

Simply enter the full or a part of the supplier's name or URL to be searched in the search box. The search keywords are not case-sensitive.