Reaxys
Elsevier's chemistry database — excerpted reaction, substance, and property data for research and synthesis.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Coverage
Hundreds of millions of substances and reactions with experimentally measured properties, drawn from journals and patents and excerpted into structured data (verify current counts).
- Access
Institutional subscription.
- Free alternative
- PubChem for substances; SciFinder as the main paid rival.
- Regional
Global; strong depth in organic, medicinal, and organometallic chemistry.
Our Take
Reaxys is the other pillar of chemical information alongside SciFinder — Elsevier’s structured database of substances, reactions, and, notably, experimentally measured physical and chemical properties excerpted into searchable form, which makes it especially strong for synthesis planning and property lookups. Many chemists prefer its interface and property data; many institutions subscribe to both because their coverage and curation differ. The trade-offs are the familiar ones: expensive, proprietary, and chemistry-specific. Use it for reaction and property searching; check PubChem first for free substance data, and cross-reference SciFinder where both are available.
Power Tips
- Use the property search to pull experimentally measured data excerpted from the primary literature.
- Plan syntheses with the reaction search, then follow citations back to the original method.
- Where your institution has both, cross-check Reaxys and SciFinder — their coverage and curation differ.
Alternatives & Complements
SciFinder (CAS), PubChem, ScienceDirect, Scopus
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026