Linked Data

ChemSpider's RDF is delivered following the principles of Linked Data. Linked Data is a way of interconnecting data published on the web.

Every ChemSpider compound (excluding those that have been deprecated), has its own URI. This URI can also be used in a HTTP request to retrieve the RDF data:

• GET header "Accept: application/rdf+xml" http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.2157.rdf → http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.2157.rdf

Ontology

The structure of ChemSpider RDF is defined by the following ontology modules:

• FOAF
• Dublin Core
• OAI-ORE
• ChemAxiom ChemDomain Chemical Metadata

Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets (VoID)

A description of ChemSpider's RDF is specified in VoID.

Identifier Endpoint

The ChemSpider Identifier endpoint can be used to retrieve RDF using an Identifier. Currently supported identifiers are as follows:

• CSID
• InChI
• InChIKey

• GET header "Accept: application/rdf+xml" http://rdf.chemspider.com/JISVIRFOSOKJIU-UHFFFAOYSA-N → http://rdf.chemspider.com/JISVIRFOSOKJIU-UHFFFAOYSA-N

Note: Identifiers must be URL encoded.

The output from the Identifier Endpoint will be either:

• A 303 redirect to the compound page if a single compound is matched by the Identifier. E.g. http://rdf.chemspider.com/JISVIRFOSOKJIU-UHFFFAOYSA-N
• A 404 if no matches were found. E.g. http://rdf.chemspider.com/abcdefghijklmonpq

Search Endpoint

The ChemSpider Search endpoint can be used to perform a ChemSpider Simple Search using a Search Term.

• GET header "Accept: text/xml" http://rdf.chemspider.com/search/aspirin → http://rdf.chemspider.com/search/aspirin

Note: Search Terms must be URL encoded.

The output from the Search Endpoint will be either:

• A 303 redirect to the compound page if a single compound is matched by the Search Term. E.g. http://rdf.chemspider.com/search/aspirin
• An ATOM syndication feed if multiple results are returned from the search, displaying a list of matching compounds in application/atom+xml format. E.g. http://rdf.chemspider.com/search/C6H12
• A 404 if no matches were found. E.g. http://rdf.chemspider.com/search/abcdefghijklmonpq

SPARQL Endpoint

Coming soon! - Currently under development, all ChemSpider's public RDF data will be accessible using the query language SPARQL at ChemSpider's SPARQL Endpoint. More details will be available here when the software is released.