diff --git a/components/rdkit-databases/src/main/groovy/org/squonk/rdkit/db/loaders/ChemspaceSmilesLoader.groovy b/components/rdkit-databases/src/main/groovy/org/squonk/rdkit/db/loaders/ChemspaceSmilesLoader.groovy
index f95ff6e4..0e629b34 100644
--- a/components/rdkit-databases/src/main/groovy/org/squonk/rdkit/db/loaders/ChemspaceSmilesLoader.groovy
+++ b/components/rdkit-databases/src/main/groovy/org/squonk/rdkit/db/loaders/ChemspaceSmilesLoader.groovy
@@ -33,10 +33,12 @@ class ChemspaceSmilesLoader extends AbstractRDKitLoader {
 
     ChemspaceSmilesLoader(RDKitTable table, ChemcentralConfig config) {
         super(table, config)
+        separator = "\t"
     }
 
     ChemspaceSmilesLoader() {
         super(new ChemspaceTable())
+        separator = "\t"
     }
 
     @Override