Physical Sciences & Engineering Library
CrossFire Chemistry Database
Overview: What Is CrossFire?
The CrossFire search interface provides access to the Beilstein and Gmelin databases.
The Beilstein database contains information on over 8 million compounds and more than 5 million chemical reactions. It provides comprehensive coverage of reactions, structures, and properties in organic chemistry, references to the literature are also given. For each compound, up to 350 chemical and physical data fields of critically evaluated data are available. Coverage: 1771 - present.
The Gmelin database contains information on over 1.4 million compounds, including: coordination compounds, alloys, solid solutions, glasses and ceramics, polymers, and minerals. It provides comprehensive coverage of structures and properties in inorganic and organometallic chemistry, references to the literature and information on reactions (over 900,000) are also included. The database contains all the structural, factual, and bibliographic data cited in the Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry. Coverage: 1772 - present.
UC Davis licenses and provides access to the CrossFire databases through a consortium of all UC campuses.
Access: Where Can I Use CrossFire?
CrossFire is available on all public workstations in the Physical Sciences & Engineering Library. UC Davis faculty, staff, and students may install the program on their own computers, see: On-Campus Installation Instructions or Off-Campus Installation Instructions.
Documentation, User Guides, Training Materials
Several useful guides to CrossFire are available on the web:
- Help for Beilstein & Gmelin Databases Version 6 (University of Wisconsin)
- Includes: Quick Guide, Exporting Records, Fact Searching, Practice Exercises, Reaction Searching, Saving Property Data to a PC, and Structure Searching.
- CrossFire Training Exercises (PDF) (University of Manchester, UK)
- Help for Older Versions of CrossFire (University of Chicago)
- See "User Guides" section for links to Version 2000, 4.0 and 3.2 help files.
- Beilstein & Gmelin User Guide Version 6 (University of Michigan)
Documentation from the company which produces CrossFire (MDL):
- CrossFire Beilstein Data Structure (PDF, 6 pgs) (MDL/Beilstein)
ON-Campus Installation Instructions
CrossFire may be installed only by UCD faculty, students, and staff.
- Go to the Instructions for Installing CrossFire Commander FOR UC DAVIS and follow the Windows or Macintosh instructions for downloading and installing the latest version of CrossFire client software. You will need the TCP/IP Address/Hostname, License Group Name, User ID, and Password listed below to complete the installation.
- During installation process, you will prompted to enter the:
TCP/IP Address/Hostname: crossfire-acad.elsevier.com License Group Name: ucd - When you start the program, you will be asked for the:
User ID/Login: ucd000 Note: three zeros, not the letter O!!! Password: bcd6fd - NOTE: The default installation of CrossFire uses MDL IsisDraw as the default structure editor. You can change to the CrossFire Structure Editor by selecting "Options" then "Structure Editors" from the main toolbar.
Installation problems? For assistance or referral, please contact Cory Craig, cjcraig@ucdavis.edu, or (530) 752-0347.
OFF-Campus Installation Instructions
To use CrossFire from an off-campus computer:
- First, use the On-Campus Installation Instructions to install the program.
- Second, you must connect to the internet using the Campus Modem Pool. You cannot use the proxy server or a private Internet service provider to connect to CrossFire from an off-campus computer.
Phone Numbers for the Campus Modem Pool are listed here.
TroubleShooting
If you have installed the program but are connecting to something other than the CrossFire databases, try the following:
- From the Beilstein Commander "Options" menu, select "Connections".
- Click on "Edit", then click on the "Communications" tab.
- From the "Port" pulldown menu, select "TELNET".
- Click on the "Port" pulldown menu a second time and select "XFIRE".
- Click "OK"
- From the Beilstein Commander "Applications" menu, select "CrossFire" or click the red double arrow button.
Still having trouble? For assistance or referral, please contact Cory Craig, cjcraig@ucdavis.edu, or (530) 752-0347.
Why Are We Changing The CrossFire Server?
Prior to March 2004, UCD licensed and provided access to CrossFire through a consortium of North American university libraries. All libraries in this consortium accessed CrossFire through a server at the University of Wisconsin at Madison Library.
The UC system recently signed an agreement with MDL/Elsevier (the provider of CrossFire) which will allow all 10 UC campuses access to the database (only 4 campuses had access previously). This provides greater access for the UC community of researchers. Because of this agreement, all UC campuses will now get access through a different server. To maintain access to CrossFire, all database users who have installed CrossFire on their own computers prior to March 2004, must reinstall the program with new settings specific to the UC system.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this page, please contact me at cjcraig@ucdavis.edu Cory Craig - Chemistry Librarian, Physical Sciences & Engineering Library, University of California, Davis. Telephone: (530) 752-0347