Welcome to the Chemical Match Finder for Chemical Weapons Control Lists (CMF-CW)!
International chemical weapons disarmament and nonproliferation frameworks maintain lists of chemicals and chemical families that must be subject to controls (CW-control lists) [1]. Conceived and developed by Prof. Stefano Costanzi at American University, CMF-CW is a web-based system that automates the task of determining whether a chemical—identified by a name or other textual identifier—is covered by a CW-control list. Crucially, CMF-CW is free to users and accessible as a web application via any web browser without licensing costs.
The need for automation arises from the complexity of chemical nomenclature and the vastness of the chemical space. In practice, the task of determining whether a given chemical is covered by one of these CW-control lists is challenging and time-consuming for three main reasons:
- A single chemical can be known by multiple synonyms, making it difficult to determine whether it is controlled based on its name alone.
- Different forms or variants of the same chemical may carry distinct CAS Registry Numbers®, complicating identification based on CAS numbers.
- Some regulatory lists include broad families of chemicals, defined by a shared core structure (or "scaffold") with varying substituents. Evaluating whether a specific chemical falls within the scope of such families requires specialized expertise.
Prior work by Prof. Costanzi—in collaboration with the Stimson Center’s Partnership in Proliferation Prevention and George Mason University, with support from Global Affairs Canada—has demonstrated that these challenges can be addressed with automated, structure-aware approaches based on cheminformatics (the use of computational methods to organize, manage, and analyze chemical information) [2, 3, 4, 5].
Prof. Costanzi's CMF-CW combines an in-house cheminformatics engine (Chemical Match Finder; CMF) with an integrated database of chemical-weapons control lists. Development began in December 2023, and the first public release is anticipated in May 2026. Support comes from the Isbell Chair in Chemistry and Policy and, in part, from the National Science Foundation Accelerating Research Translation program under the Translating Research Into Action Center (TRAC) award #2331399. By keeping the tool free and actively disseminating it, we aim to maximize adoption and impact.
CMF-CW checks whether chemicals are covered by CW-control lists by leveraging both structure-based and metadata-based searches. It automatically translates chemical names or other textual identifiers into molecular structures and compares them against a curated database of controlled substances and structurally defined chemical families. In parallel, it also examines associated metadata—currently limited to the chemical names as they appear in the control lists, along with a few structural identifiers that could not be reliably converted into molecular structures. This combined approach enhances the robustness of the identification process, especially in cases where structural conversion fails.
The frontend, written in JavaScript and HTML, provides the user interface. The backend, written in Python, includes both the CMF cheminformatics engine and the integrated CW-control-list database; both are hosted within the Google Cloud ecosystem. A record of changes to the frontend and backend is available on the Version History page.
CW-control lists currently covered by CMF-CW include the Chemical Weapons Convention Schedules, the Australia Group Chemical Weapons Precursors list, and Wassenaar Arrangement Munitions List 7. For more information about the lists implemented in CMF-CW, including the source versions currently used in the database, see the Database of CW-Control Lists page.
Learn More and Launch CMF-CW
To explore CMF-CW in more detail, visit the following pages:
- Database of CW-Control Lists – The database currently implemented in CMF-CW
- How to Use CMF-CW – A step-by-step user guide
- How CMF-CW Works – Overview of the technical methodology and system design
- Frequenty Asked Questions – Answers to common questions about CMF-CW
When you are ready, launch the CMF-CW screening tool.
References
- Costanzi, S., Slavick, C. K., Hutcheson, B. O., Koblentz, G. D., & Cupitt, R. T. (2020). Lists of chemical warfare agents and precursors from international nonproliferation frameworks: structural annotation and chemical fingerprint analysis. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 60(10), 4804-4816. Link
- Costanzi, S., Koblentz, G. D., & Cupitt, R. T. (2020). Leveraging cheminformatics to bolster the control of chemical warfare agents and their precursors. Strategic Trade Review, 6(9), 69-92. Link
- Costanzi, S., Slavick, C. K., Abides, J. M., Koblentz, G. D., Vecellio, M., & Cupitt, R. T. (2022). Supporting the fight against the proliferation of chemical weapons through cheminformatics. Pure and Applied Chemistry, 94(7), 783-798. Link
- McAllister, C. A Project Note: The Nonproliferation Compliance Cheminformatics Tool (NCCT) Moves to Field Testing. Stimson Center, July 2022. Link
- McAllister, C., Savagner, G. The Nonproliferation Compliance Cheminformatics Tool Completes a Second Test. Stimson Center, March 2023. Link