URL for this document:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~atbrooks/prep40.htm
Searching for Compound Preparations using Beilstein CrossFire Reaction Searching
Contents of this document:
A brief description of the Beilstein database and the CrossFire search
interface can be found in a companion guide to this document:
Getting
Started with Beilstein CrossFire -- Fact Searching
Use the mouse to point to the Commander icon 
on the screen and double
click the mouse. The Commander main search screen will display, Use
the mouse to point to the CrossFire button 
and click to connect to the CrossFire database (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Beilstein Commander Main Screen
To begin a structure query, pull down the Task
menu and select Structure Editor, click the Structure Editor button, or double click in the Structure Query box. The Structure Editor screen will appear.
This is a very brief introduction to structure drawing.
For more detailed instructions, visit the Beilstein Structure Searching
web guide.
The Structure Editor allows use of the keyboard and mouse to
draw a molecular structure query to search the Beilstein database.
The Structure Editor screen (Figure 2) appears below. Use the tools to draw the structure of
interest, specifying free sites, bond orders, etc.
Figure 2. Structure Editor
All structure query building to this point has been in structure query mode. It is now time to change to reaction query mode.
To change to reaction query mode, choose Editmode to be Reaction> from the top menu bar (see Figure 3). Three new buttons will appear near the upper left corner of the screen, Product, Reactant, and Ungroup. To define a preparation query, use the Select tool to highlight the target structure, then click on the Product button to assign the reaction role.
Figure 3. Reaction Mode and Assigning Reaction Roles
Now, send the query back to the Commander Main Screen by clicking on the BC button 
. The reaction query will appear in the right hand box. Be sure that Display As is selected as Reactions (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Searching Reactions in Commander
Once the search is complete, click on the Display button on the Search Results screen. The hitset will displayed as a series of reaction records with hyperlinks to substance records for products and reactants (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Displaying Reaction Results
Reactions records are not generally very long, so it is recommended that the user choose to display all fields in the reaction record.
Choose
Print from the File mneu and specify the records to be
printed. A single record, or a range of results my be printed.
Printouts may be customized to some degree (see Figure 6).
Figure 6. Printing Records
Consult
the online Help for detailed guidance in using the various
print options. The Export option under the File menu supports only extremely limited exporting of substance identification and reaction data (i.e., no references, physical data or other fields) and resulting files are only easily viewed after importing into Excel or some other application that formats delimited text. It is possible, however, to use standard copy and paste functions to transfer data displayed on screen into word processing or email applications for later viewing and printing. Results vary depending on the application, so this approach may be of limited value to some users.
Exit the Beilstein Commander system by choosing File, then
Exit from the Commander Search Screen. Answer "No" when prompted to save session or results, if
you are using a library workstation.
The structure searching capabilities of CrossFire and Commander are
impressive and complex. The instructions given here are for basic
preparation searching. For other types of reaction searching
(including atom and bond mapping, functional group transformations,
and specifying particular reaction conditions please consult the
manuals
produced by Beilstein and the Help menus. There are also a
number of brief guides available on the web as
Tips for Advanced Structure Searching and Tips for Reaction Searching that offer
suggested techniques for fine tuning a query. Often it
takes a good deal of trial and error to develop an effective structure
search or reaction query. Queries may be saved to a diskette for
future use. (Please don't save them to the hard disk in library
workstations). Other web guides are accessible from the main
University of Chicago
Beilstein
page. If you are not successful in your search, or
wish to consult on any aspect of the Beilstein CrossFire system,
please contact the Chemistry
Librarian.
Andrea Twiss-Brooks
Bibliographer for Chemical and Geophysical Sciences
The University of Chicago Library
atbrooks@midway.uchicago.edu
773-702-8777
May 10, 1999
The Beilstein Database and
CrossFire