Primary vs Secondary Literature
Finding Secondary Literature
Entry Points
Types of Chemical Info
Four ways to find articles
Databases (Index-based) => SciFinder, PubMed/MEDLINE, Structure databases
People => Colleagues, advisors, Internet
Footnote chasing
Cited reference searching => SciFinder, Science Citation Index, Google Scholar
Types of Chemical Information
Facts => Properties, spectra, crystal structure, sequence, uses
Reactions => What kind of chemistry does it do? How has it been prepared?
Methods => How do I ... ? prepare / detect / analyze / measure
Introduction => General and specialized reviews
Handouts
Selected Chemistry Handbooks => Data
Selected Dictionaries (with Subject Encyclopedias) => Data
Analytical and Spectral Data => Data
Synthesis and Reaction Chemistry => Reactions
Chemistry Techniques and Methods => Methods
Subject Encyclopedias => Introduction
Primary Literature -- Where new results are published
Data (and Data Collections)
Crystal structures (e.g., Protein Databank; Cambridge Crystallographic Structural Database)
Sequence data (e.g., GenBank)
Journal articles (not review articles)
Communications
Full paper
Conference Proceedings (e.g., ACS Symposium)
Technical Reports
Theses and Dissertations
Patents
Secondary literature => Publications that are based on the primary literature
Indexes
SciFinder
Web of Science
PubMed (MEDLINE)
Compacters
Review articles
Encyclopedias
1st chapter of a thesis
Books
Repackagers
CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics
NIST Chemistry Webbook
Merck Index
Entry Points ... for Handbooks and other resources
Name / Synonym Index
Self-organization => Often aphabetical by name ... online often browse by name
CAS Registry Number
Molecular formula
Structure -- For most online resources
Property -- Depends on quality and availability of data
General Index => Usually by property ... occasionally by chemical name
Accession Number => More common than you might think
Other entry points => It depends on the data and how it is organized
