CAS marks 250 millionth compound

In April, scientists at CAS registered the 250 millionth unique chemical substance—an oligonucleotide that may have applications in quality-control assays for messenger RNA drugs and vaccines. CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, provides a suite of scientific research tools that enable discovery and facilitate workflow. ACS also publishes C&EN.

The substance was disclosed in a patent reported by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The novel oligonucleotide, assigned CAS Registry Number 2627558-64-7, was developed by Moderna.

“I think this milestone exemplifies the continuous commitment that we are making to offer the scientific community the most reliable substance-inventory system,” says Gilles Georges, vice president and chief scientific officer of CAS. “Our scientists are the guardians of this unique scientific heritage, and they proudly apply their expert seal every day on all the substances they index.”

CAS began indexing substances in 1965. The registry was started to identify and track chemical substance information. It is now the world’s largest database of unique chemical substances. It has registered on average one substance every 2.5 min.