ChemQuests: A Curated Chemistry Question-Answer Database Extracted from ChemRxiv papers

Abstract

The rapid expansion of chemistry literature poses significant challenges for researchers seeking to efficiently access domain-specific knowledge. To support advancements in chemistry-focused natural language processing (NLP), we present ChemQuests, a curated dataset of 952 high-quality question-answer (QA) pairs derived from 155 ChemRxiv \cite{chemrxivWebsite} papers across 17 subfields of chemistry. Each QA pair is explicitly linked to its source text segment to ensure traceability and contextual accuracy. ChemQuests was constructed using an automated pipeline that combines optical character recognition (OCR), QA generation using GPT-4o, and fuzzy-search verification. The dataset emphasizes conceptual, mechanistic, applied, and synthetic or experimental questions, enabling applications in retrieval-based QA systems, search engine development, and fine-tuning of domain-adapted large language models. We analyze the dataset's structure, coverage, and limitations, and outline future directions for expansion and expert validation. ChemQuests provides a foundational resource for chemistry NLP research, education, and tool development.