Chemical Entities of Biological Interest, also known as ChEBI, is a

chemical database A chemical database is a database specifically designed to store chemical information. This information is about chemical and crystal structures, spectra, reactions and syntheses, and thermophysical data. Types of chemical databases Bioactiv ...

and

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ex ...

of molecular entities focused on 'small' chemical compounds, that is part of the

Open Biomedical Ontologies The Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) Foundry is a group of people dedicated to build and maintain ontologies related to the life sciences. The OBO Foundry establishes a set of principles for ontology development for creating a ...

(OBO) effort at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). The term "molecular entity" refers to any "constitutionally or isotopically distinct atom, molecule,

ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conv ...

ion pair In chemistry, ion association is a chemical reaction whereby ions of opposite electric charge come together in solution to form a distinct chemical entity. Ion associates are classified, according to the number of ions that associate with each o ...

, radical,

radical ion In organic chemistry, a radical anion is a free radical species that carries a negative charge. Radical anions are encountered in organic chemistry as reduced derivatives of polycyclic aromatic compounds, e.g. sodium naphthenide. An example of a ...

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

conformer Conformer is a clear acrylic shell fitted after an enucleation if the final artificial eye is not available at the time of surgery to hold the shape of the eye socket and allow the eyelids to blink over the shell without rubbing the suture line ...

, etc., identifiable as a separately distinguishable entity". The molecular entities in question are either products of nature or synthetic products which have potential bioactivity. Molecules directly encoded by the genome, such as nucleic acids, proteins and peptides derived from proteins by

proteolytic Proteolysis is the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acids. Uncatalysed, the hydrolysis of peptide bonds is extremely slow, taking hundreds of years. Proteolysis is typically catalysed by cellular enzymes called prote ...

cleavage, are not as a rule included in ChEBI. ChEBI uses nomenclature, symbolism and terminology endorsed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and nomenclature committee of the

International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) is an international non-governmental organisation concerned with biochemistry and molecular biology. Formed in 1955 as the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), the union ...

(NC-IUBMB).

Scope and access

All data in the database is non-proprietary or is derived from a non-proprietary source. It is thus freely accessible and available to anyone. In addition, each data item is fully traceable and explicitly referenced to the original source. It is related in scope other databases such as

ChEMBL ChEMBL or ChEMBLdb is a manually curated chemical database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties. It is maintained by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), based at the Well ...

ChemSpider ChemSpider is a database of chemicals. ChemSpider is owned by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Database The database contains information on more than 100 million molecules from over 270 data sources including: * EPA DSSTox * U.S. Food and D ...

, DrugBank, MetaboLights and PubChem. ChEBI data is available through a public web application, web services, SPARQL endpoint and downloads.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chebi Biological databases Chemical databases Chemical nomenclature Science and technology in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District