ChEBI (meaning "Chemical Entities of Biological Interest", or "Chemistry at the EBI") is a database of molecular entities focused on 'small' chemical compounds. The term "molecular entity" refers to any constitutionally or isotopically distinct atom, molecule, ion, ion pair, radical, radical ion, complex, conformer, etc., identifiable as a separately distinguishable entity [1]. The molecular entities in question are either products of nature or synthetic products used to intervene in the processes of living organisms. Molecules directly encoded by the genome, such as nucleic acids, proteins and peptides derived from proteins by proteolytic cleavage, are not as a rule included in ChEBI. The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) part of EMBL is a centre for research and services in bioinformatics. ... Highly simplified diagram of a double-stranded nucleic acid. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... Peptides are the family of molecules formed from the linking, in a defined order, of various amino acids. ... Proteolysis is the directed degradation (digestion) of proteins by cellular enzymes called proteases or by intramolecular digestion. ...

ChEBI includes an ontological classification, whereby the relationships between molecular entities or classes of entities and their parents and/or children are specified. In both computer science and information science, an ontology is a data model that represents a domain and is used to reason about the objects in that domain and the relations between them. ...

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 (NC-IUBMB). IUPAC nomenclature is a system of naming chemical compounds and of describing the science of chemistry in general. ... The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to the advancement of chemistry. ... Italic text ...

ChEBI is available via a webserver (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/), and for download by anonymous FTP (ftp://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/chebi/).

To cite a particular ChEBI article in Wikipedia, use the template of the form {{ChEBI|xxx}}, where xxx is a numeric part of ChEBI ID, for instance ChEBI 5020 (ferricyanide).