ZINC15 access

ZINC15 may be accessed at four levels. We take up each level in turn, highlighting pros and cons of each.

ZINC web pages

This is the easiest way to use ZINC.

ZINC flatfiles

This is the original form of ZINC, and still the most popular as measured by TB of downloads.

• Pros:
  • Via the Tranche Browser, this is the only pragmatic way to download really large subsets of ZINC.
  • Owing to recent improvements in granularity, it is now easier to get what you want, and to incrementally update.
• Cons:
  • These files are static and dated and as such can be slightly out of date (but rarely more than a month or two as of Sept 2015)
  • You must use the granularity we have set up.

ZINC API

Anonymous, a subset of which is RESTful. Designed for experts to build their own tools.

ZINC shell

• more flexible.
• allows union, intersection, custom sql, joins not easily accessed via the API.
• requires lab access (ssh)

Curator

• bottom level access
• only used by 2 people currently.
• for a private install of ZINC, allows complete control, including modifying tables.