CAS Numbers (often called CAS RN or CAS Registry Numbers) are universally used to provide a unique, unmistakable identifier for chemical substances. They are permitted by the American Chemical Society (ACS) to be used to identify a chemical substance or molecular structure when there are many possible systematic, generic, proprietary, or trivial names. CAS Numbers are used in many other public and private databases and chemical inventory listings and, of course, are included in all CAS-produced databases.
Each CAS Number identifier:
- Is a unique numeric identifier
- Designates only one substance
- Has no chemical significance
- Is a link to a wealth of information about a specific chemical substance
Source: American Chemical Society; Royal Society of Chemistry.