Cambridge Structural Database

This guide aims at helping students use the CSD and navigate common issues.

Simple Search Tutorial (PDF Handout)

How to Perform a Simple Search in Cambridge Structural Database (CSD)
View this PDF to learn how to:
- Search for compounds in CSD
- Identify Refcodes (database identifiers)
- Find references & citations
- Search for publications by a certain author

How to Look Up Refcodes

Part of your assignment is to look up compounds by their CSD Refcodes. To do this within WebCSD, you need to use the Simple Search tab and the Identifiers box.

Your results should look like this:

See below the structure for the data citation. Beneath the data citation you will find the article for the structure under Associated Publication. It may be easiest to copy and paste the title into the Library Quick Search if you want full access to the article rather than clicking the doi link.