About the CSD
The Cambridge Structural Database (CSD)
The Cambridge Structural Database, or CSD, has been curated since 1965 from the published literature, direct deposition, and sources such as patents and PhD theses.
The world’s largest database of small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structure data, the CSD is managed by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC).
Now at over 1.25 million structures, all from experimental results, big-data learnings from the collective results are used globally to advance scientific research into pharmaceuticals, functional materials, MOFs, and more in both commercial and academic research. The database is CoreTrustSeal certified, and recognized as a trusted data repository. Each year, the number of structures grows as crystallographers share their data in this central repository.
Here you can see what data types are inside the CSD and find useful links to learn more about the CSD, its applications, and the future.
Inside the CSD
Organic Structures
- Drugs and pharmaceuticals
- Agrochemicals
- Pigments
- Explosives
- Protein ligands
Metal Organic Structures
- Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
- Models for new catalysts
- Porous frameworks for gas storage
- Fundamental chemical bonding
Additional Data
- 13,478 polymorph families
- 174,987 melting points
- 1,075,904 crystal colours
- 951,746 crystal shapes
- 30,275 bioactivity details
- 13,641 natural source data
- >350,000 oxidation states
CSD Statistics
Links and Subsets
- DrugBank
- Druglike
- MOFs
- PDB ligands
- PubChem
- ChemSpider
- Pesticide PDB
Full List of CSD Subsets
Learn More
Case Studies
Thousands of scientists around the world use the CSD in their research. See how in these case studies from the literature.
What CSD Users Say
CSD data gives high-confidence predictions
“The breadth and depth of CSD data is enormous today. It covers a lot of space of interest to medicinal chemistry. Plus, you know that every structure you see has been derived from experiment. This leads to very high confidence in predictions based on CSD data, whether you predict a conformation or piece together a new structure from components.”
Dr Martin Stahl, Head of Lead Discovery, Roche Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development
The CSD is the most valuable information resource
“With its software development and the Cambridge Structural Database, CCDC has stretched structural chemistry and biology to its limits.
The CSD with its innovative mining tools has become the most valuable information resource for crystallographers, crystal growers and crystal engineers, always sitting at the heart of what we do.”Dr Aurora Cruz-Cabeza, University of Manchester
