CHEMISTRY 347 LIBRARY SUPPORT

Begin search by defining question

• What is purpose of search?

           Completion of an incomplete citation?
           A few good articles on a new subject area?
           A specific property of a compound?
  

• Choose appropriate starting point and continue til answer reached:

           Handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias provide definitions,
           a history and scope of many subjects and have most common property
           values for many compounds.
  
           Specialized handbooks are available in many areas, such as 
           Organic Syntheses(OS) which provides reactions paths, procedures,
           and other information for many organic compounds.  OS comes out first
           annually and is shelved in the reference collection, QD 262 O7.
           Every 10 years, the volumes are collected into collective volumes which are
           kept in the reserve collection, QD 262 O722.  Access is by chemical name, author,
           type of reaction, and molecular formula. Additional useful sets
           are also found in the reference collection and in the book stacks
           starting with the call number QD 262. Dictionary of Organic Compounds,
           (Chem. Reference QD246 .D5 1982) in addition to useful property and nomenclature
           information, often includes journal citations focusing on synthesis of the compound.
           
  
           For more information on handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias,
           go to Chemistry 242 Support Material and
           the Chemistry Library Webpage for
           additional sites such as 
           UCSB's Information Resources for Chemistry.           

Chemical Abstracts

• Coverage begins with 1907
• Indexes journal articles, patents, technical reports, multi-authored books, dissertations and conference proceedings.
• Access points (indexes) vary over years. Current indexes include: General subjects (for groups of compounds, processes, etc.);Substances (for specific chemical compounds); Formulas (molecular formulas--use Hill order, Carbon, Hydrogen, alphabetical order for the rest for organic compounds), Author (indexes up to 10 authors).
• Use the Index Guide to help determine proper chemical name to use in Substance Index
• To locate syntheses, use the substance or molecular formula indexes. The primary term used by chemical abstracts is prepn (abbreviation for preparation) but other terms are also used. In later years, a pr in from of the abstract number indicates the article includes a synthesis for the substance.

• We must use a commercial (non-local) system to search the Chemical Abstracts databases. We use STN/CAS ONLINE and take advantage of the academic (discounted) rate which allows us to search the database, afterhours, at an inexpensive rate. Students may sign up for one search per week. CAS Online Program Information for more details.
• There are three databases which may be useful: Ca, equivalent to 1967-present of the print index; Registry, serves as a chemical dictionary and covers ~17 million compounds; CAOLD, briefly covers 1957-1966.
• There are several ways to search for syntheses in CA file. Generally use the registry number followed by /p. e.g. 14616-24-1/p. For more information, try out the training material on the Chemical Abstracts website:Using CAS Databases on STN

Beilstein Crossfire

• Beilstein Crossfire provides access to two databases: Beilstein, which includes over 7 million organic compounds and Gmelin, which includes over 1 million inorganic and organometallic compounds.
• Beilstein Crossfire is client/server software. There are clients for PCs and Macs and the software may be loaded on your own computer.
• There are two `editors': fact and structure. The fact editor allows you to search by chemical name, melting point and many other access points. The structure editor allows you to search by structure, either an exact structure or substructure allowing for substitution.
• To specify that you want your compound to be the product of a reaction, the fasted way to search is to use the code rx.pbrn in the fact editor. This says you wish to search this compound, represented by the Beilstein registry number(BRN), to be the product. To find the BRN, do a search on your compound first. It will be the first piece of information provided in the display.
• Beilstein Crossfire requires a password to use. This information and access to several help sites can be found on the Chemistry Library Website at Beilstein Crossfire Information.
• To print from Beilstein Crossfire, you must first define you view. To do this, from the disply page, pull down the options menu and click on "Define user view...". There you will find two windows. Pull down all of the submenus in the window on the left. Highlight the pieces of information you wish to see in your final anser set and click on the copy button. What you have chosen will appear in the window on the right. Click on the accept button and then pull down the view menu. Click on user view. The display will change to show only the information you have selected. When you print, this is the information which will be printed. Be sure to include chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Registry Number as part of your answer.