ZINC database

The ZINC database is a curated collection of commercially available chemical compounds prepared especially for virtual screening. ZINC is used by investigators (generally people with training as biologists or  chemists) in  pharmaceutical companies, biotech companies, and research universities.

ZINC is different from other chemical databases because it aims to represent the biologically relevant, three dimensional form of the molecule. ZINC is updated regularly and may be downloaded and used free of charge. It is developed by John Irwin in the Shoichet Laboratory in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco.