Primary References
Many secondary sources exist which compile the vast quantity of information
contained in the primary literature. For example, Chemical Abstracts (the
world's largest index according to Guiness) publishes a few words about every
article in the literature from anywhere in the world which remotely pertains
to chemistry. Furthermore, the Abstracts collection contains information on
all patents published (foreign or otherwise).
Though Chemical Abstracts is extremely useful, its sheer bulk makes simple
searches complicated affairs. Indeed, the best way to use Chemical Abstracts
is through its automated computer search facility (which costs a lot of money,
unfortunately). Thankfully, several sources exist for organic chemists which
reduce the effort involved in simply obtaining a melting point or synthetic
procedure.
Among these secondary sources one finds The Merck Index, CRC Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics, CRC Handbook for Identification of Organic Compounds,
many chemical company catalogs (notably the Aldrich catalog), and the
Beilstein collection. Unfortunately, Beilstein was published entirely in
German. There are, however, useful little dictionaries which can get you
around that pitfall (assuming that you aren't already fluent).
Tertiary References
By tertiary references we are generally referring to textbooks, such as laboratory manuals. It is unlikely (or at least uncertain) that the authors went to the original (primary) literature before publishing the melting point of some material in their book. The melting point which they report is probably taken from one of the secondary sources listed above and, as such, is merely a step away from hearsay. By the time the book is published there have been numerous possibilities of a little mistake slipping in.
Internet Resources
Begin to explore the multitude of information which exists for chemists on the web. This resource is only in its infancy. In the future it will be even more important. If you run across a useful web page that you think others in the class would want to know about, email the professor. We might add it to the list below. Students who alert the professor to a relevant online journal will receive bonus credit which will increase the final laboratory grade in the course. In order to receive this credit the student must be the first to bring the source to the professor's attention. Further, the professor must agree that the online journal has significant organic chemical relevance to merit inclusion in this collection.
Note all links were active as of this writing (); however, links are often broken. If you discover a broken link below please email the professor with the full information of the address of the broken link.The Assignment
Tutorial on Information Resources
Internet Chemist
General resources
Physical Science Information Gateway
Web-ster's Organic Chemistry - outstanding portal
NIST Scientific and Technical Databases
NIST Chemistry WebBook
American Chemical Society
ChemWeb.com (free registration required)
Chemical Abstracts Service
Patents
United States
England
Japan
Germany (in German)
France (in French)
Academic department pages
Colby College, Maine, great organic resources Imperial College, London, for example, Drugs
University of Liverpool, England, Links for Chemists
University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Chemistry Portal
Universität Potsdam, Germany, LinkCenter
Books, abstracts and journals
Organic Syntheses
List of online-only journals
Japan Science & Technology Information Aggregator
ScienceDirect
Beilstein Abstracts
European Polymer Federation
The Alchemist
New Scientist
Chemical Journal on Internet, China
Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulliten
Chemistry Letters
Chem-Bio Informatics Journal
Journal of Chemical Software
Journal of Computer Aided Chemistry
Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society, 1997-2002
Journal of Organic Chemistry, Online Journal, ARKAT-USA
Acta Chimica Slovenica
The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
South African Journal of Chemistry University Chemistry Education, England
International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Molecules, Online Journal, Switzerland
Internet Journal of Chemistry, free abstracts only
Corporations
MDL (Autonom, Chime, ISIS/Draw, US
ChemExper, Belgium
Sigma-Aldrich Corp, US
Chemical Block, Russia
Special interest sites
UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, for example, Bulliten, 01/01/1958
H3+ Web Page, University of Chicago
Tutorials, Virginia Tech
1. Using a web search engine, such as Google, find out what your molecule is used for.2. Determine the melting point (or boiling point for a liquid) and the bond line chemical structure of your molecule by using any other secondary reference work or the internet. It is particularly helpful to use the Merck Index (either on the computer or in print). The chemistry department owns a copy of the computer-searchable version for student use.
3. Obtain a preparative procedure for your molecule by accessing the US Patent & Trademark Office database. Warning: it is difficult to read patents. They are written by lawyers for lawyers, not by chemists for chemists. Be sure that you have the information that you're really looking for. It is useful to note that the Merck Index usually provides a patent number reference for phatmaceutical compounds.
4. Prepare a report with the following:
- The name of your molecule
- A paragraph summary of the major uses of your molecule
- An image of the molecule, created by using ChemSketch software
- Reference information from secondary sources/Internet: title, page, melting point/boiling point, journal references listed, etc. For an internet reference, use the following style:
Author (if known) or Name of company/organization, Title of web page, URL, (date accessed).For example,Pfizer, Inc., Cholesterol lowering drug, cholesterol medication - Lipitor.com, <http://www.lipitor.com/>, (4-November-2003).- Search for the molecule using a standard search engine (like Google) as well as some of the other portals described in the internet section above. Report on the success or failure of this search. Be sure to document where you looked and any useful links which you found.
- Reference to the patent information describing the preparation of your molecule.