Information on Preparations of Compounds

Chapman and Hall Chemical Dictionaries

Chapman and Hall publish a series of chemical dictionaries including the Dictionary of Inorganic Compounds, (Reference: QD 148.D53 1992), Dictionary of Organic Compounds (Reference: QD 246.D5 1996) and Dictionary of Organometallic Compoun ds (Reference: QD 411.D53 1995). While they do not contain preparative methods, they do give references to journal articles where this information can be found. For example:

C13H18 FeSi (Trimethylsilyl)ferrocene

Rausch, M. et al., J.Org. Chem., 1957, 22, 900 (synth)

The Dictionaries are easy to use, and are indexed by compound name, molecular formula and CAS Registry Number.

Beilstein CrossFire Database (Organic Compounds)

The Beilstein database contains information on approximately 7 million organic substances. Records in the database include structures, data on chemical and physical properties such as melting point, boiling point and spectral identification, and over 5 million reactions, including preparations The database contains data from the Beilstein Handbuch which is updated quarterly. The Beilstein database is accessed via a Mac or Windows client which can be downloaded to any campus workstation (see Help downloading CrossFire client). Use of the CrossFire database is restricted to current U. of Pennsylvania faculty, staff and students. The client will work from any Penn IP address (including the SLIP/PPP modem pool). Help searching Beilstein is available.

Gmelin (Inorganic Compounds)

The Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry is a comprehensive reference work which gives information and references to the literature of inorganic and organometallic compounds. The arrangement of Gmelin is based on the periodic table, with a numbered volume, often in several parts, for each element and its compounds. A molecular formula index is available to help you to locate particular compounds. Gmelin was originally published in German: relevant terms to look for are:Darstellung (Preparation), Synthesen (Synthesis) and Praparativ Methodik (preparative methods).

Other Reference Books

Comprehensive Organic Functional Group Transformations (Reference: QD 262.C534 1995) gives information, including references to journals, on the interconversion of functional groups in organic chemistry. The last volume contains a cumulative subje ct index.

Comprehensive Organic Synthesis (Reference: QD 262.C535 1991) gives information, including references to journals, on synthetic methods, arranged by type of reaction. The last volume contains a cumulative subject index.

Chemical Abstracts

Using printed Chemical Abstracts (CA) locate the compound you are interested in under its name in the Chemical Substances index. Scan the list of references given until you find the subheading prepn. of. For example:

2,4(1H,3H)-Pyrimidinedione [66-22-8]

CA is available online via SciFinder Scholar. To find references to preparations of the compound you are interested in, draw the structure in SciFinder and click on the preparations option.

Chemical Abstracts is the most comprehensive source of information available to chemists, and may be the only source of information on the preparations of less well known compounds.