Knowing when changes are coming in CAS SciFinder is important to you. To help ensure you are prepared to handle questions you may receive from your users when changes occur, we will provide a preview version of the latest release notes below.
Notes will be posted approximately one week prior to each release, which are scheduled every four weeks. Occasionally a change may not be included in this preview or actually be released since they are posted before the release is finalized. As always, final release notes will be added to the What’s New? section in the CAS SciFinder solution in conjunction with the actual release.
Search Enhancement: "Are You Looking for CAS Newton?"
Searching in CAS SciFinder has been enhanced to alert the user when they might get a better result in CAS Newton.
Query Preview for Reactions Advanced Search
Reaction Advanced search now has live query preview. As search fields are added, removed, or edited, the preview updates in real time to show the exact syntax that will run, including field codes, Boolean operators, and a running character count.
A copy option lets users capture the full query text, which can then be pasted directly into the omnibox to run the search. The underlying search logic is visible before the search runs, not just after, and can be reused across sessions.
Retrosynthesis: Functional Group Chemoselectivity Filters
Retrosynthesis now evaluates chemoselectivity for proposed reaction steps — flagging whether functional groups outside the reaction’s core (i.e., not directly involved in the transformation) would be tolerated by the proposed conditions. Users can now filter evidence reactions based on these tolerated functional groups.
Retrosynthesis: PDF Download for Retrosynthesis Plans
Users can now download retrosynthesis plans in PDF format directly from the Plan Viewer's download menu, in addition to the existing RDF option.
CAS Newton
Search Transcript
CAS Newton now shows how it reaches an answer. Each response includes an expandable Search Strategy section that lists the steps CAS Newton took to answer your question. With the full sequence visible, users can verify the reasoning behind a result, catch a misread structure or an unintended filter early, and document how they reached their findings.
