Subject: Sci.chem FAQ - Part 2 of 7
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 1995 21:41:16 GMT
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Subject: 7. General Chemistry-related Information on the Internet 
 
Compiled by:    Neil Flatter  <flatter@rose-hulman.edu>
                Lev A. Gorenstein  <lev@cv4.chem.purdue.edu>
                Theodore Heise  <theise@netins.net>
                Mark Perks  <perks@umbc.edu>
Mutilated by:   Bruce Hamilton 

There are so many references that relate to chemistry on the Internet
that this section could become overwhelming in size.  Instead of trying to 
provide a comprehensive listing of all such sites, what follows is more a 
collection of pointers to other sources.  By knowing where to look for an 
answer, this reference should provide a springboard for an information search 
on the Internet. Specialist software and search engines are available to 
search for keywords using Gopher and the WWW, and they will point to 
additional sources. It is important to realise that many of the WWW search 
engines are complementary, and so it is useful to utilise several when
trying to locate information on the web.

7.1  How can I access databases such as Chemical Abstracts?

These databases are almost all inevitably commercial, it costs serious
money to build and update them, thus it will cost money to access them. 
Either you or your institution will be paying the supplier. 

There are several commercial suppliers of databases that contain chemical 
information. These can usually be accessed either via the Internet or 
telephone Packet Switching Networks. The most well known specialist database 
is the American Chemical Society's Chemical Abstracts [1], which is provided
by the Chemical Abstracts Service. CAS offers a commercial database service 
called STN International, which contains over 190 scientific and technical 
databases. These databases cover all aspects of Chemistry, including CAS
Registry Numbers.
 
The most universal and comprehensive database supplier is Knight Ridder, 
whose Dialog service offers over 40 databases that solely concentrate
on aspects of chemistry, including Chemical Abstracts since 1967 ( but it 
does not offer the actual abstract, just the bibliographic information ) 
and the CAS RN database [2]. Dialog also offers several hundred other
commercial and technical databases, and Knight Ridder also offers selected 
general and technical databases on a low-cost, home user ( off-peak :-) ) 
system known as " Knowledge Index "  at approx 25% of the normal Dialog cost.
Knowledge Index is also available from some on-line suppliers such as 
Compuserve - but remember that KI does not include CA. The ability to perform 
on-line searches is becoming an essential attribute for modern chemists. 
Suppliers offer a wide range of training courses and there are several 
excellent articles on searching the chemical literature ( database and/or 
journals) in journals such as J.Chem.Ed.[3-5]. 

I have estimated the cost of a typical search of several chemical databases 
on Dialog, assuming the recovery of 100 titles for immediate off-line review, 
followed by the recovery of 10 relevant citations. These do not include the 
substantial educational discounts available.
                                     Time          10 Citations
Chemical Abstracts                  $14.00           $16.00
Merck Index                           5.00             3.00
Beilstein                            30.00           112.00
Heilbron                              5.00            21.00
Pascal                                9.00             8.50
ChemTox                               8.00           100.00
Chemical Business Newsbase           17.00            36.00
Analytical Abstracts                 14.00            26.00            
World Patents                        30.00            20.00
Engineering Index                    14.00            12.00
TSCA Chemical Substances              3.00             3.50

The above assume that the searcher is reasonably skilled in chemical on-line 
searching, and most database suppliers offer excellent training courses to
teach chemists and librarians how to search. If you have access to a CD-ROM
database, you should practise your search logic on that first, before going 
on-line. Because of the cost structure of database suppliers such as Dialog, 
and the inappropriate selection of keywords by authors :-), it is often more 
cost-effective to focus on grabbing around 100-200 titles and scanning them
offline ( using the 30 minutes "hold search" function ), and then going back
online to grab the desired abstracts and citation information.

7.2  What chemistry-related material is on the WWW?

Searching

There are several well-known search engines available on the WWW that will
provide updated searches for keywords. Because of the huge expansion of the
WWW, I've decided to select some sites and allow users to use search 
engines and/or web crawlers to locate resources. If you find a real 
treasure house of chemical goodies, email me the address and I'll check it
out. 

Excellent starting points are:
http://cuiwww.unige.ch/meta-index.html    
http://home.netscape.com/home/internet-search.html

Chemistry
     
http://www.chem.ucla.edu/chempointers.html 
     The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Chemistry.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/chejs/chem.html 
     Joey Santos' chem page
http://rustico.chem.indiana.edu/ 
     Hieftje's Mass Spec Page
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem/cheminfo/chemres.html 
     Another index has been compiled by Professor Gary Wiggins at Indiana 
     University.
http://www.u-net.com/ukchem/cybrchem/ 
     From: Bill Unsworth <bill@u-net.com>
http://www.cas.org 
     Chemical Abstracts
http://www.camsci.com
     Cambridge Science, Chemdraw, glassware, clip-art
http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-ed/vt-chem-ed.html
     Virginia Tech. maintains the best department of chemistry home page.
http://www2.shef.ac.uk/chemistry/chemistry-www-sites.html 
     At the University of Sheffield there is a list of WWW Chemistry URLs 
     around the world.
http://www.chem.emory.edu/1/ordine 
     The Newsletter of the Organic Division  of the American Chemical Society 
     is a look at professional chemistry.
http://www-wilson.ucsd.edu 
     The Wilson Group, is quite spectacular although the subject matter is 
     physical chemistry not organic chemistry.

Chemistry Education
     
http://jchemed.chem.wisc.edu 
     J Chem Ed: Software
http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/SEP/SEP.html 
     UC Irvine Science Education Program
http://www5.onramp.net/~jaldr/index.html 
     K-12 Chem
http://umbc7/~perks/course351l/ 
     Organic Chemistry Laboratory 351L
http://umbc7.umbc.edu/~perks/course352l/ 
     Chem 352
http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-ed/vt-chem-ed.html 
     Va. Tech. Chemistry
http://cwis.nyu.edu/docs/providers/rich/education/mathmol/more.html 
     See how kids are learning elementary chemistry nowadays.

Other Chemistry-related Resources

http://ds.internic.net/indigo/index.html
     slogan@indigo.com (Stephan Logan)
     We have a website that includes molecular models & scientific glassware 
     that would be of interest to your audience. We also hope to add some 
     basic software very shortly.
http://www.camsci.com - Cambridge Scientific Computing, Inc.
     From this site we will be able to better support the current and 
     potential users of CS ChemOffice, including CS ChemDraw, CS Chem3D 
     and CS ChemFinder.  We also have press releases and information about 
     the other services we provide. Shortly we will provide tech notes, 
     selections from our CS Catalyst newsletter, and other good stuff.
http://www.cas.org - Chemical Abstracts Service.
     Provides information on the services available from CAS.
     STN is accessible via the Internet (as well as, via traditional 
     telecommunication networks) but first you need to open an STN account 
     with us to obtain a login id and password. Internet E-mail: help@cas.org 
http://www.inform.umd.edu/UofMd-System_and_State_of_Maryland/UMD-Projects
/MCTP/Technology/MCTP_WWW_Bookmarks.html 
     MCTP Links to Science and Mathematics
gopher://macfadden.MIT.EDU:7000/hh/miniAIR/1994  
     For the best science satire around, check out the Annals of Improbable 
     Research, successor to the Journal of Irreproducible Results.

Education Resources
     
http://www.dep.anl.gov 
     Division of Educational Programs
http://www-wilson.ucsd.edu/ 
     The Wilson Group
http://cwis.nyu.edu/docs/providers/rich/education/mathmol/more.html 
     education-math and molecules
http://scitech.lm.com/index.html 
     WWW for Science Education
http://www.organik.uni-erlangen.de/info/JMOLMOD/jmolinfo.html 
     Journal of Molecular Modeling
http://www.inform.umd.edu/UofMd-System_and_State_of_Maryland/UMD-Projects
/MCTP/Technology/MCTP_WWW_Bookmarks.html 
     Professor Tom O'Haver at the University of Maryland, College Park has 
     compiled a list of links to Science and Mathematics Education Resources
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAP/WWWVL-HSTM.html 
     Learn something about science history here.

7.3  What information is available commercially on-line?

As well as the database suppliers such as Knight-Ridder's Dialog ( and 
low-cost home-user Knowledge Index ) and CAS's STN International, there are 
several other technical database suppliers that include chemistry-related 
material, eg Orbit. These organisations usually approach institutional 
librarians and provide comprehensive descriptions of their available 
services. The best place to start is at your local library, talking to the 
librarian in charge of on-line services to ascertain what is available, and
what levels of support are provided. 

The obvious first places to start are Dialog and STN. The range of chemistry-
related databases are extensive. There are several full-text databases of
patents, full-text newspapers and journals, and many specialised databases eg
- industry-specific, eg Aluminium Industry Abstracts, Paperchem
- subject-specific, eg Fine Chemicals Database, Chemical Engineering and
                       Biotech Abstracts
- chemical properties, eg Beilstein, Heilbron, Merck Index, Agrochemicals
                          Handbook
- location-specific, eg IMS World R&D focus.
- economic, eg Chemical Business Newsbase, Chemical Industry Notes, Freedonia
               Market Research.

If you plan on using Knight Ridder's lower cost Knowledge Index, ensure that
the databases you are interested in are available on KI, as not all Dialog 
databases are.

With nearly 200 databases on STN and approximately 500 on Dialog, they both 
offer access to a wide range of information. For more specialist information, 
accessing individual businesses is required, and they can provide specialist
sales, marketing and technical support for their products. Some addresses we 
already have include the following. 

7.4  What information is available free on-line?

Note that several science journals are now making some of theor commentary
items and abstracts available on the WWW. These include:-
http://www.nature.com/          Nature
http://www.newscientist.com/    New Scientist 

You can use Veronica to find information, and an excellent starting point is
gopher://veronica.scs.unr.edu/11/veronica

DMITRI is a PC-based, electronic periodic table of the elements. The package 
includes scanned photographs of 16 elements.  Source code is not included. 
Available by anonymous ftp from the University of Pretoria at:
ftp.up.ac.za:/pub/academic/chemistry/DMITRI.ZIP
Hardware required: IBM/Intel 286+, 256-colour sVGA in 640x480 resolution, 
640K of memory, about 2 MB of hard disk, mouse. Runs under MS-DOS.

For those who write papers for the journals of The American Chemical Society,
and use LaTeX, there is now a BibTeX/LaTeX package for reference handling 
available at CTAN.  The  package is called `achemso' and is found in the 
directory /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/achemso

7.5  What chemical patent information is available on-line?

Both Dialog and STN offer commercial access to US and International patents
online, many with full text - however the international ones, especially
those devoted to capturing the current status of patents can be expensive,
so ensure your searching skills are honed if you wish to avoid a large
bill. 

Gregory Aharonian has struggled for several years to provide a free 
comprehensive patent title service. This excellent free service offers the 
titles of chemical, mechanical, or electrical patents via email to 
subscribers. Recently he also offered one years worth of patent abstracts, 
but requires some financial donations to expand the service.  The abstracts 
are freely retrievable by patent number (sorry no searching yet, that needs 
the big donations). For subscription info, send 'help' to 
patents@world.std.com.  

http://town.hall.org/patent/patent.html - search for U.S. Patent information.
http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat.html - abstract retreival service
http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat - WWW patent searching

7.6  Which FTP sites contain chemistry-related material?

kekule.osc.edu 
    Jan Labanowsky's server, also contains archive of computational chemistry 
    mailing list.
qcpe6.chem.indiana.edu
    QCPE archive
ftp.cica.indiana.edu
    MS Windows public domain and shareware
oak.oakland.edu (in mirror/SimTel directory); and, of course, SimTel itself.
    Dos and Windows public domain and shareware

7.7  What chemistry-focused mailing lists exist?

http://bionmr1.rug.ac.be/chemistry/overview.html 
     Overview of chemical mailing lists.
LISTSERV@Beaver.Bemidji.MSUS.edu 
     Chemistry laboratories (both academic and research), students' 
     experiments (high school, college and university), classroom 
     demonstrations and shows for the public of chemical processes, 
     chemistry stockroom management, lab safety, and  small-scale chemical 
     waste handling procedures.
     
7.8  How can I contact Chemical Societies electronically?

Here are some mailboxes for the American Chemical Society:
ACS Division information.....................division@acs.org
ACS expositions..................................expo@acs.org
ACS membership information....................meminfo@acs.org
ACS national meeting info....................natlmtgs@acs.org
Reaction Times (college newspaper)...............rxnt@acs.org
ACS regional meeting info....................reglmtgs@acs.org
ACS state and local government affairs...........slga@acs.org

The UK Royal Socity of Chemistry also has an email address and WWW site.
marketing@rsc.org
http://chemistry.rsc.org/rsc/

 7.9  How can I contact large chemical companies? 

Check their WWW pages for information.
http://www.texnet.it/argus/argus.html           Argus Chemicals
http://www.ciba.com/                            Ciba
http://www.dow.com/                             Dow Chemicals
http://www.eastman.com/                         Eastman Chemicals
http://www.ge.com/gep/homepage.html             GE Plastics
http://www.hoechst.com/                         Hoechst    
http://www.lilly.com/                           Eli Lilly
http://www.monsanto.com/                        Monsanto
http://www.firstmiss.com/qci/qci_home.html      Quality Chemicals        
http://www.rohmhaas.com/                        Rohm and Haas 
htpp://www.shellus.com/Chemical/                Shell (US) Chemicals 
http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/                 Sumitomo Chemicals

You can observe the naming conventions, so try www.company-name.com for 
other companies not listed.

7.10 How can I contact chemical suppliers? 

Check out the FAQs in rec.pyrotechics and alt.drugs, they may also list 
some legal suppliers.

http://resorg.com/about.htm    
info@resorg.com
    Research Organics, Inc.          (organic & biochemicals)

7.11 How can I contact equipment suppliers 

Check out the FAQs in rec.pyrotechics and alt.drugs, they may also list 
some legal suppliers.

http://www.fisher1.com/Fisher/Alphabetical_Index.html
    Fisher Catalog                 (general lab equipment)
http://ds.internic.net/indigo/index.html
    A website that includes molecular models & scientific glassware 
    They also hope to add some basic software very shortly.

7.12 How can I contact US government agencies?

http://www.fie.com/us_gov.htm 
http://fedix.fie.com/www/us_gov.htm 
    Federal Information Exchange - all federal government sites
gopher//quasar.tach.net or gopher.gabby.osha-slc.gov 
    OSHA gopher
http://www.fedworld.gov (telnet://fedworld.gov or ftp to fedworld.gov)
    FedWorld Information Network at the National Technical Information 
    Service NTIS) was created "to provide a one-stop location for the public 
    to locate, order, and have delivered to them, U.S. Government 
    information."  
FDA BBS - summary of FDA's weekly enforcement reports, some Federal Register 
    notices, press releases, speeches, consumer information such as "FDA 
    Consumer" magazine, and AIDS/HIV information 1-301-594-6857 and 
    1-301-594-6849 also can be reached using internet gateway fedworld.gov
http://www.lmi.org:80/Armyih/ 
    The I.H. Management Program of the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion 
    and Preventive Medicine has established a "Home Page" on the Internet 
    with links to many resources of interest to industrial hygienists.  
    In addition, a file server has been used to make relevant Army policy 
    documents, technical articles, and general interest materials publicly 
    available. FTP to ftp.lmi.org, directory /pub/armyih.
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/11/gopher.welcome/peg/GOPHERS/gov
    Other US Government Internet Resources
gopher://stis.nsf.gov/11/Other 
    Other US Government Servers
http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Agency/fedwebloc.html 
    Federal Web Locator
gopher://marvel.loc.gov/11/federal/fedinfo/byagency/executive
    Executive Branch Gophers (Library of Congress)
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu/11/socsci/poliscilaw/uslegi/congdir
    Directories of the 104th Congress, 1995/96 (UMich)
gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu/11/socsci/poliscilaw/
    U.S. Government by Branch
http://www.nist.gov/ 
    National Institute of Standards and Technology
http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/atsdrhome.html
    Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
http://www.dot.gov/ 
    Department of Transportation
http://www.epa.gov/ 
    Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.fcc.gov/ 
    Federal Communications Commission
gopher://gopher.niehs.nih.gov/11/ntp 
    National Toxicology Program (NTP)
http://www.access.gpo.gov 
    Government Printing Office

7.13 Where can I find compilations of science humour?

From: Bernard J. Treves Brown <mcnbjtb@fs4.instrumentation.umist.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Large science jokes compilation
   FTP fs4.in.umist.ac.uk, in the directory: /sys/users/anonymou/text
   File: scijokes.txt

7.14 Where can I purchase scientific software?

Refer also to "Other Chemistry-related Resources" in section 7.2
From: Kerry Fowler  <kfowler@icos.com>
http://www.scitechint.com/scitech/
    Scitech provide a Software for Science catalogue. It's not freeware or 
    shareware, but has a wide variety of scientific software for Mac and
    PC. In the chemistry section they include various drawing programs, 
    databases, and miscellaneous stuff.  
    High-end workstation products are not included.
    SciTech International Inc
    2525 N. Elston Ave
    Chicago IL 60647-2003
    phone 800-622-3345

------------------------------

Subject: 8. Laboratory and Chemical Safety Information on the Internet

Compiled by:  Neil Flatter  <flatter@rose-hulman.edu>
              Lev A. Gorenstein  <lev@cv4.chem.purdue.edu>
              Theodore Heise  <theise@netins.net>
              Mark Perks  <perks@umbc.edu>

8.1  Where can I find Material Safety Data Sheets?

Manufacturers are required by OSHA to provide MSDSs for the chemicals they 
produce, but most include liability disclaimers.  For MSDSs obtained from 
online sources, the user must be sure the MSDS meets his/her needs.  As with 
most information obtained from the Internet, use at your own risk! 

gopher://quasar.tach.net 
    One excellent source of online MSDSs is Tachyon Communications.  
    This site provides about 90,000 MSDSs, many of which are from a CDROM 
    published by the Department of Defense. Tachyon is willing to add 
    manufacturer's MSDSs to their database to develop it further. 
    This should be the first port of call.
http://www.fisher1.com/Fisher/Alphabetical_Index.html
    The Fisher Scientific Chemical Catalog is available online. In addition 
    to MSDSs, one can order chemicals.  
gopher://atlas.chem.utah.edu/11/MSDS 
    The University of Utah is developing an online database of unlicensed 
    publicly-available MSDSs.  It currently has about 1500 MSDSs. It is also 
    mirrored at several sites including http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/
gopher://gaia.ucs.orst.edu/11/osu-i%2bs/osu-d%2bo/ehs/msds 
    The Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Labs of Oregon State University 
    MSDS database.
     
8.2  Where can I find detailed safety & toxicity data?

gopher://ecosys.drdr.Virginia.edu/11/library/gen/toxics
    EPA Chemical Substance Factsheets for over 300 chemicals 
http://www.cdc.gov - Center for Disease Control
http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/gsql/toxprof.script
    The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) maintains a 
    searchable database which contains toxicological profiles of about 200 
    chemicals.
GOPHER.EPA.GOV
    The 1994 TSCA Inventory Update Rule (Instructions for Reporting for the 
    Partial Updating of the Chemical Inventory Data Base) is now available 
    via gopher. The file is located under EPA Offices and Regions\Office of
    Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances\ Toxic Substances\ TSCA
    Inventory Update Rule (IUR) 1994.
gopher://gopher.niehs.nih.gov/11/ntp/94-carcinogens
    The National Toxicology Program (NTP) 7th Annual Report on Carcinogens 
http://cygnus-group.com/ULS/Waste/epa.html
gopher://gopher.cygnus-group.com, port 9011
ftp://ftp/cygnus-group.com/pub/vendor/cygnus/ULS/Waste
    WASTEWI$E -- The EPA Office of Solid Waste has teamed up with The ULS 
    Report to electronically distribute information on the EPA's WasteWi$e 
    program. WasteWi$e encourages businesses to improve their environmental 
    efficacy by focusing on waste prevention, recycling collection, and 
    buying or manufacturing recycled products.  This site also includes 
    links to related EPA information on waste prevention, as well as to 
    their latest MSW statistics.

Note that many government departments now have made their databases 
available to both commercial database suppliers ( such as Knight Ridder )
and private citizens. Some are free, and some charge, it is worth contacting
government agencies like OSHA, NIOSH, EPA, NIH and asking about what is
available. Some databases ( like NIH library ) can be accessed via telnet, 
as also can Dialog ( once you have an account number ). eg
Telnet Medlars.NLM.NIH.Gov  ( IP 130.14.10.200 )
Telnet Dialog.com

8.3  Where can I find occupational exposure limits?

http://www.pls.com:8001/his/cfr.html - Recent (but perhaps not most current)
    Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (Labor) section 1910.1000
    lists OSHA's permissible exposure limits (PELs) for air contaminants.

8.4  Where can I find hazard information for a chemical?

http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~ayersmv/envref.htm
    From: Mike Ayers <alley@edge.ercnet.com>
    We are in the process of combining the numerous Environmentally related 
    sources of information that we have run accross on the Net into an easy 
    to browse Web page.  
Path=0/UNLinf/Guidelines/chemlab
Host=frontier.unl.edu.
Port=70
#Type=0+
Name=Chemical Labelling Guidelines
    University of Nebraska has a document about how the NFPA
    Diamond is being used in their labs.  Point your gopher to:

8.5  Where can I find laboratory safety guides?

http://www.sas.ab.ca/biz/christie/safelist.html 
    Carolla Christie of Christie Communications maintains an excellent list 
    of environmental and occupational health and safety information resources 
    available on the InterNet.

URL:gopher://siri.uvm.edu:70/11ftp%3aSIRI%3aSIRI_file_library%3a
Graphics_files%3a 
    - 400+ files of public domain clip art (mostly from OSHA and NIOSH 
    publications)
LISTSERV@UVMVM.BITNET (or LISTSERV@UVMVM.UVM.EDU) -- SAFETY mailing list 
    discusses environmental and occupational health and safety issues, 
    particularly those associated with college and university campuses, 
    although a wide range of subjects is encouraged.

8.6  Where can I find other safety information?

http://www.sas.ab.ca/biz/christie/safelist.html 
    Carolla Christie of Christie Communications maintains an excellent 
    list of safety information resources available on the InterNet.
    The list is also posted to the SAFETY mailing list above, and should be
    the first port of call.
    
siri.uvm.edu:SAFETY_FAQ's:Abbrev/Acronyms_[A-B]
<URL:gopher://siri.uvm.edu:70/00ftp%3aSIRI%3aSAFETY_FAQ%27s%3aAbbrev/Acro
nyms_%5 bA-B%5d>
    Many of the safety related acronymns are decoded in Peter Zavon's FAQ on 
    Abbreviations related to Environment, Health, and Safety area also 
    available on the siri.uvm.edu gopher server:

http://env.fpm.wisc.edu/
    The University of Wisconsin - Madison now has information about 
    environmental programs (recycling statistics and guides, reuse projects, 
    reports, etc.) 

http://www.teleport.com/~salem/salem.html - covers recycling
    Select "Recycling" from the main menu. Then take a look at the links.  

------------------------------

Subject: 9. Traditional General Chemistry Information Sources 

9.1  When can I find Chemical Abstracts? 

Chemical Abstracts is produced by the ACS and is available in hardcopy in 
most institution libraries that have a chemistry department. It is expensive,
and is also available commercially from several online database suppliers 
( Section 7.1 ). It is not legally available free over the Internet.
Some libraries have accidentally enabled limited search access for anonymous
users, but this is usually soon curtailed, enjoy them while you can :-).

If your school does not have access, the librarian should be able to 
ascertain the nearest library that holds the hardcopy CA and also permits 
public access. CA volumes are not available for interloan. All chemicals are 
given an arbitrary Registry Number as they are encountered by the Chemical 
Abstracts Service ( Section 12.1 ). Many information sources now also use 
the CAS RN to overcome potential nomenclature confusion.  
 
9.2  Where can I obtain chemical patent information? 
      
Most governments have a patent office, and there are usually branches in main
centres. If you are able to obtain access to the patents at the patent office, 
and are familiar with patent codes, or know the patent number, the cost will 
be lower than using a patent attorney. If you do not know how to search for 
patents, and your time is valuable, you will find that using a patent 
attorney will be very cost effective. An excellent guide to the general 
concepts of patents and what you can expect to find, along with the 
advantages and disadvantages, is " What Every Engineer Should Know About 
Patents" [1]. 

9.3  Where can I purchase chemicals? 

The chemicals usually found in home chemistry sets can usually be purchased
at the shop where the set was obtained, or the local hardware shop or
pharmacist, provided the chemical is not subject to government or state
restrictions. Many chemicals are only available to approved purchasers. 
If the chemical is used for a hobby, then it is very likely the FAQ for that 
Usenet group ( eg rec.pyrotechnics ), will contain information on suppliers. 
Most national chemical societies publish an annual listing of suppliers with 
their journals. Standard trade directories ( eg  Chem Sources [2,3] and OPD
Chemical Buyers Directory [4] ) list companies who specialise in chemicals,
however few will be interested in small purchases. Smaller specialist and 
boutique suppliers are usually more likely to sell small quantities of 
chemicals to individuals.  Most larger suppliers of high purity laboratory 
and industrial chemicals ( eg Aldrich-Sigma [5], J.T.Baker [6] ) will only 
sell a limited range of chemicals to individuals , and usually do not provide
any discounts for individuals unless they have an account with the company. 
I'm not sure about the US, but here in NZ discounts can halve the price of 
chemicals.
 
If you are intending to acquire a wide range of chemicals over time, an 
account may be a good idea, however remember that you may then be subject to 
inspection visits by regulators if you purchase certain chemicals. Most 
government and corporate organisations and laboratories also have policies 
of not supplying unknown individuals with *any* chemical.  Some chemical 
suppliers are also accessible via the Internet ( refer section 7.10 )

9.4  Where can I purchase laboratory equipment? 

As with chemicals, simple laboratory equipment can be purchased from the
suppliers of home chemistry sets. Some government and state authorities
require certain equipment ( eg stills ) to be registered, especially if it
can be used to produce illegal substances. Most larger suppliers may 
require an account, but often specialist supplies can be purchased from
hobby shops such as home brew kit suppliers. Once again the FAQ of
relevant newsgroups ( such as alt.drugs and rec.pyrotechnics ) may provide
the names of suppliers, as can trade directories and the Yellow Pages.
Cole Palmer and Fisher offer free comprehensive catalogues that identify what
is available. Some equipment suppliers are accessible via the Internet 
( refer section 7.11 )

9.5  What reference texts should I search first? 

If you require basic information about a chemical then many chemical 
suppliers catalogues ( eg Aldrich, Merck ), also include common
properties such as boiling point, melting point, density, flash point.
They often also provide a cross reference to the Chemical Abstracts
Registry Numbers, the Merck Index, spectral libraries, and safety and
preparation information. As they are usually free on request ( Aldrich
catalogue is also available on disk as a searchable database for $25 ),
they are an excellent initial information source that will often direct you 
to the correct reference texts. 

It depends on the type of chemical information required, but there are 
several texts that are common to most fields of chemistry. These are usually 
found in the reference section of most public and technical libraries, and 
because they are often heavily discounted for students, many chemists have 
copies of several of them. If your library does not have them, ask some of 
your teachers for access to their personal copy. Many of these texts are now 
also available on CD-ROM, usually at a slightly lower cost to the hardcopy.
Don't expect a $5,000 encyclopedia to be freely available over the Internet,
or available on CD-ROM for $100. :-). I have marked those that are available
commercially online with an asterisk.

For more detailed aspects of individual compounds, common texts include:- 

CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics  ( aka Rubber Handbook ) [7]
  - tabulations of diverse chemical and physical properties.
  - start here for physical data with minimal description.
The Merck Index * [8]
  - brief monographs on common most chemicals, especially pharmaceuticals.
  - excellent source for physical and physiological properties
  - monographs point to more descriptive sources.
Lange's Handbook of Chemistry [9]
  - tabulations of chemical properties.
Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary  [10]
  - very brief monographs on a wide range of common chemicals.
  - very good starting point to ascertain properties.
Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants ( aka Kaye and Laby ) [11]
  - tabulations of constants, often not in the Rubber Handbook   
The Chemical Technicians' Ready Reference Handbook [12]
  - tabulations of various common chemicals and materials.
The Matheson Gas Data Book - 6th edition [12a]
  - tabulations of properties of a diverse range of gases 
  
There are several good general "science" texts that provide basic coverage
of aspects of chemistry, eg the concise version of the McGraw Hill 
Encyclopedia of Science and Technology [13] or Van Nostrand's Scientific
Encyclopedia [13a]. There are also several single volume chemistry books 
that provide brief monographs covering diverse aspects of chemistry, such as 
the McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Chemistry [14]. These texts are often found 
in the reference sections of general libraries.

The next source is usually the encyclopedia sets that are also found in the
reference section of general libraries. There are some general ones that 
cover all fields of science, and often have annual updates. An example is 
the 20 volume McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, available
in hardcopy or CD-ROM versions [15].

For more detailed, but still with general coverage, there are at least two 
popular large multi-volume chemistry encyclopedias. One, or both, of these 
is usually found in the reference sections of technical and large public
libraries. They are :- 

Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology - 4th edition * [16]
  - excellent 27 volume set 
  - extensive monographs on chemical families and processes.
  - start here if you wish to obtain up-to-date, easy-to-read, comprehensive 
    technical information on an amazingly diverse range of chemistry. 
  ( available in hardcopy ($275/volume, around $6,700/set), online, on 
    CD-ROM, and as a greatly-abridged concise volume (3rd ed = $90)
Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry - 5th edition [17]
  - excellent translation from the original German edition. 
  - extensive monographs on common industrial processes 
  - the style is different to Kirk Othmer in that information is not so well
    integrated into the monograph, but often contains more hard information.

There are also the very large multi-volume sets of specialised chemical
information that are mainly only found in institutions that have a strong 
chemistry or chemical engineering component, such as: 

Beilstein * [18] 
  - provides detailed monographs of most organic chemicals, covering
    preparation, properties and structure.
Gmelin [19]
  - provides detailed information on most elements and inorganic chemicals
Heilbron * [20]
  - provides short monographs of many organic compounds, mainly listing
    properties and references to preparations. An excellent way to 
    quickly find information on chemicals.
McKetta - Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design [21]
  - extensive monographs containing technical data on chemical processes.
Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering - 2nd edition * [22]
  ( available in hardcopy, online, and in a greatly-abridged concise volume )
  - detailed monographs on common polymers and processes
Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry [23]
  - getting old, but *still* contains lots of excellent information on the
    properties and industrial applications of chemicals 
  - is very useful for historical information on how a product developed.

For more specialised references, refer to the appropriate section of this
FAQ, however I will list a few texts covering general laboratory techniques
not mentioned elsewhere. If your local bookshop does not carry specialist
technical books, many are also available from appropriate chemical and 
equipment suppliers, such as Aldrich-Sigma and Supelco.
Vacuum = High Vacuum Techniques for Chemical Syntheses and Measurements [24].
       = High Vacuum Techniques [25]
Pipework = Swagelok Tube Fitting and Installation Manual [26]
Thermocouples = Thermocouples: Theory and Practice [27]
( The Omega catalogues are also a good source of practical information
  on a wide range of temperature, flow and pressure sensors ) 
Many of the laboratory safety texts also include sections on design and
management of laboratories.

9.6  Where can I find physical and spectral properties of chemicals?

Some chemical suppliers catalogues ( eg Aldrich [5] ), also include common
properties such as boiling point, melting point, density, flash point.
Most will provide a catalogue free on request, but it is often easier
to obtain an obsolete edition from your institution, as they usually
just throw them out. Usually the most information is in catalogues from
international laboratory chemical suppliers ( eg J.T.Baker [6], Rhone-Poulenc
[28] ), and specialist organic chemical suppliers ( eg Aldrich [5], Sigma 
[29], Janssen [30] ).

Once you have checked the catalogues, and checked the standard texts above, 
then more specialised compilations should be checked. For spectral 
properties, there are several large compilations of detailed spectral
properties, including infra-red [31-33], NMR [34-36], and mass-spec [37,38]. 
These are usually located near the instruments, rather than in the library.

Most safety and transportation compilations also list common physical
properties, as do the most of the encyclopedia sets ( Section 9.5 ).
More specialised information is usually found in specialist books or
journals, such as the Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data.

9.7  Where can I find production data for commercial chemicals 

Both Kirk Othmer and Ullmann tabulate production data, and identify
major manufacturers, and more recent information is found in monographs 
in CMR. C&EN also tabulates production data for the major industrial 
chemicals and publishes an annual listing of the top 50 chemicals. Lists of 
manufacturers of chemicals are found in compilations such as Chemical 
Sources [2,3] and trade directories. There are also industry organisations
such as the Chemical Manufacturers Association that maintain records of
production. Specialist industry journals usually provide annual surveys
of production and capacity. Government departments ( often the Dept. of
"Trade & Industry" or "Commerce" ) also compile national production
statistics. 

9.8  Where can I find the composition of a proprietary chemical?

If it has been patented, the composition will be detailed in the patent,
and any local patent agent should be able to locate and obtain a copy. 
Transportation regulations usually require manufacturers to list components,
consequently examination of the MSDS often provides an indication of major
components, some of which are likely to just be the solvent. There are also
compilations of chemical tradenames that may also indicate what the major
components in a proprietary chemical. Hawley, Gardner, Industrial 
Chemical Thesaurus [39], Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemical Additives [40],
and the Chemical Tradenames Dictionary [41] are good starting points. In some 
countries only the "active" or 'toxic" ingredients have to be disclosed, 
consequently chemical analysis would have to be undertaken. Another technique
is to look for equivalent formulations - to ascertain what ingredients are
typically used, and the multi-volume Chemical Formulary [42] is one of the 
best sources if you can not justify a patent search. 

9.9  Where can I find out about the history of Chemistry? 

There is a soc.history.science Usenet group that is very knowledgeable and
active, and includes individual events in the history of chemistry. There
are usually several overview books on the history of chemistry in most school 
and public libraries, and example is "The History of Chemistry" by J.Hudson
[43] . There are also several outstanding biographies of famous chemists and 
many chemical societies and chemical firms have commissioned books on 
specific aspects of chemistry history. The Journal of Chemical Education 
often has articles on specific historical aspects of chemistry.   

9.10 Where can I find out about the discovery of an element?

The Rubber Handbook has a monograph on each element, including a brief
discussion of the discovery. "Chemistry of the Elements" by Greenwood and 
Earnshaw [44], and "The Elements" by Emsley [45], also provide good 
discussions, and Gmelin provides a fairly comprehensive discussion of 
discovery of each element. In each of the above, the discovery of each 
element is taken in isolation. The best general overview that provides a 
cohesive framework explaining the overall progression of discoveries, is 
"Discovery of the Elements" by Weeks [46], and it should be available in most 
libraries. For the more recent elements, there usually brief reports and 
discussions in C&EN and the Journal of Chemical Education.  

9.11 What inspirational books about chemistry should I read?

Do they exist :-)?. You could try "The Chemical Bond: Structure and Dynamics"
edited by A.Zewail [47]. It contains articles by several Nobel Laureates.

If you want to be entertained, and only have time for a short read, try the
"Chemistry in the Next Century" [48] article in Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry written in May 1935 by Thomas Midgley, Jr.. He was responsible for 
the discovery and development of CFCs and alkyl lead octane enhancers for 
gasoline - two chemical developments that became so pervasive and useful 
that their use resulted in unintentioned environmental pollution. 
For a brief story about their discovery, try "Midgely - Saint or Serpent" 
[49] in ChemTech. It confirms that old saying " Luck is when preparation
meets opportunity ". 

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