Stanford University Libraries

Central Connecticut State University: Chemistry 435: Literature of Chemistry

Spring 1996
A. W. Kozlowski

Indexes and Databases
Assignments
Topics for Final Discussion

Text: Chemical Information Sources, by Gary Wiggins, 1991.

Grading: Weekly Assignments and Search Reports 65%, Midterm Project 20%, Final Activity 15%. Regular attendance is expected; more than one absence will be reflected in grade (makeup may be possible).

Course Schedule
January 24 Journals; Introduction to Internet
January 31 Chemical Abstracts — Printed
February 7 Chemical Abstracts, cont.; Intro to CA Online, search strategy
Feb 14,21,28 Online Searching — Dialog
March 6 Other Abstracts and Indexes; Current Awareness
March 13 Government Documents, Patents
MIDS, SPRING BREAK
March 27 Open; Midterm Project Due Friday, March 31
Apr 3,10,17 Structure Searching — STN Express
April 24 Beilstein
May 1 Gmelin, Landolt-Bornstein
May 8 Spectra, Numeric Files
May 15 Wrap-up; Final Discussion

Assignment 1: Journals

From A.W Kozlowski, Central Conn. State U., Chemistry 435, Spring 1996

  1. Inspect the following at Burritt. Write a brief description. Primary or Secondary?
    • Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed.
    • Chemische Berichte
    • Nature
    • Accounts of Chemical Research
    • Several journals in your subject area (or for a course you are taking)
  2. Use CASSI and Union Catalogs to find where the following are published, their abbreviation, if they have had any name changes, and where locally they are available.
    • Helvetica Chimica Acta
    • Uspekhi Khimmii
    • Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
    • Recueil des travaux chimiques des Pays-Bas
  3. Read Chapters 1,4 in Wiggins, and the reprint Advances in Electronic Publishing in Chem. & Eng. News, June 14, 1993.
  4. Choose a recent research report from C & EN. Describe how you would follow up on it and obtain more information.
  5. Work with STN Mentor disks on Intro to STN and Searching by Author. You should be able to operate on IBM-PCs and Macintoshes. If you have no experience go to computer certification short course. Work will be done on computers in Copernicus.

Assignment 2: Searching in printed Chemical Abstracts: Developing search strategies

From A.W Kozlowski, Central Conn. State U., Chemistry 435, Spring 1996

  1. Read Chapter 5 in Wiggins.
  2. Prepare two case studies from the list below—one from Part 1, the other from Part II. You will present one of them in class so prepare handouts for the class. You will be principal discussant for the other. AWK will keep a master list of choices—all topics need to be covered.

Part I:

  1. What effect does carbon monoxide from aircraft exhaust gases have on the atmosphere? Use CA Vol. 86.
  2. You are interested in surveying reactions of amides (but cyclic and polymeric amides are not of interest). What references are available in CA Vol. 89?
  3. Find references in CA Vol. 88 on the synthesis of thienophridines by the Gould-Jacobs reaction.
  4. In CA Vol. 80 what references are there on the protein composition of wheat and how does the use of fertilizers affect the protein content?
  5. What references are there in Vol. 88 to the drug therapy of cardiac arrest?
  6. Are there references to the handling and cleanup of oil spills? Try CA Vols. 88 and/or 89.l

Part II:

  1. Find references in CA Vol. 89 on the use of DOS as a plasticizer.
  2. Find references in CA Vol. 88 on the effects of aspirin on the aggregation of blood platelets.
  3. In CA Vol. 90 find references on the metabolism of amphetamine.
  4. Are there reports of studies that link saccharine to cancer in CA vol. 89?
  5. What is reported in CA Vol. 86 on the effects of LSD on behavior?
  6. What are some methods for extracting diethylstilbestrol from animal liver, kidney, and/or muscle? Use CA vol 82.

Midterm Project

From A.W Kozlowski, Central Conn. State U., Chemistry 435, Spring 1996

Due: Monday, April 1

Assume you are to prepare a one-hour seminar to be presented to faculty and advanced chemistry students. Obtain enough references to material available in Burritt Library (or other nearby libraries you are willing to travel to) to prepare this seminar.

A minimum of 1 recent review and 5 recent primary articles which update the review are required.
Alternatively, 2 reviews and 3 recent primary articles may be submitted.
Recent may be construed to be the last five years.

If you find a lot of material, you will have to be selective and narrow down the topic or weed down the papers to the most pertinent. A maximum of 10 articles is acceptable.

Hand in a bibliography with complete references and a photocopy of the first page of each article. Also write up a description of your search strategy and its refinements as you go along. Grading will include both the search techniques and the quality of the submitted bibliography.

Each student will be expected to develop a unique topic. It must be cleared by AWK by March 13. You may propose your own topic or use or adapt something from the list below. You will probably have to do some general research into your topic to become generally familiar with the topic.

  1. Chemistry of Flavors
  2. Trace Nutrients in Food
  3. Platinum Compounds as Anti-Cancer Agents
  4. Recent Advances in Nitrogen Fixation
  5. Design of Compounds with Insecticide Activity
  6. Photochemistry of Double Bonds
  7. Electroconducting Polymers
  8. Chemistry in Outer Space
  9. Synthetic Oxygen Carriers (Blood Substitutes)
  10. Use of Chiral Lathanide Shift Reagents in NMR
  11. Biomimetics — Design of Catalysts
  12. Use of Electrochemistry in Synthesis
  13. Green Chemistry — Environmentally Benign Processes

Indexes and Databases

From A.W Kozlowski, Central Conn. State U., Chemistry 435, Spring 1996

  1. Locate copies of Current Contents: Physical Chemical and Earth Sciences in the Reference Department of Burritt Library and find the January issue of J. Am. Chem. Soc. Photocopy.
  2. Use Applied Science and Technology Index to obtain less technical references on either:
    1. the effect of chlorofluorocarbons on ozone in the atmosphere or
    2. use of solar energy for hydrogen production, alternate energy source, or alternative fuel production.
  3. Science Citation Index is available at UConn Health Center (printed and most recent 3 yrs on CD-ROM), UConn Storrs (CD), and Wesleyan Science Library (paper only).
    You have located a reference to Linus Pauling’s work on the pleated sheet structure on proteins in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 1953, 39, 255. Is anyone still citing this work? (Citation(s) needed).
  4. Use Scisearch on Dialog to determine if CCSU alumnus Bertrand L. Chenard's 1984 research paper in J. Org. Chem. has been cited since 1990. The paper deals with annelation reactions of quinone monoketals.
  5. If your midterm paper had a review at least 2–3 years old, see what papers cite it. If a midterm is not suitable, pick any review on bucky ball from attached bibliography.
  6. Choose an alternative index or database that would be suitable for your midterm topic and carry out a short search there.

Topics for Final Discussion

  1. A graduate student comes across a 1988 reference in a textbook in which iron exhibits the +1 oxidation state. This compound is mentioned as one of a couple of examples of Fe(1). This is pretty interesting and she thinks this topic might make a good special project. How can she find out more about Fe(1) compounds?
  2. You need to know the systematic name of the substance congressane in order to find its IR spectrum. Nothing on this compound is found in the 9th Collective Index to CA. What should you do now?
  3. A technology student is working on a project on hydrogen as fuel. He has taken Chem 111 and wants to include some recent chemical information on the production of hydrogen. In an attempt to locate recent articles he looks up hydrogen in the Keyword indexes of the 1993 issues of Chemical Abstracts. The first reference he finds is to a review article in a Japanese journal, the second is to a Dutch patent and a third is to a very theoretical paper. By now he is totally frustrated. What can you suggest to help?
  4. You need NMR spectra of diesters of phosphoric acid and turn up a reference on their synthesis in An. Quim., 1975, 71, 618–21. Our library does not have this journal. How can you find out if you want to try to obtain this article. If you do want it, what options are available?
  5. A student is going to start an independent study project on reactions of 0-nitrobenzaldehyde. The compound is commercially available, but the department is out of money, so he will have to synthesize it himself. Organic Syntheses lists two references, one in Vol. III and another in Vol. V. He looks up the one in Vol. V, where the author A. Kalir reports this synthesis is an alternate to the one in Vol. III. How can the student find out if there are any other procedures that might be better?
  6. You have been asked if Plexiglass and Lucite are the same thing. How can you find out?
  7. In order to finish a p chem lab report on the phase diagram of tungsten, you need an accurate value of the boiling point of tungsten. You find this data in two places in the same handbook and the two values are different. What should you do now?
  8. You need to quickly locate a mass spectrum of tetraethyl tin Sn(C2 H5)4 or at least some information on the fragmentation patterns. It is not in the NIH/EPA tables. Would it be better to go to Beilstin or to Gmelin? What are the pros and cons of each?
  9. A chemistry major tells you she has been assigned to prepare Fremyi’s salt for next week’s lab. How can she find out what Fremy’s salt is, and then where should she look for a synthesis?
  10. In the library one afternoon you come across a Chem 111 student browsing through the organic books trying to answer three questions on types of polymers in order to finish the advance study assignment of lab that evening. What advice do you have for him? (His ambition is to be commended!)
  11. You have physical data on an organic compound but its identity is unknown. How can you identify it? ex. What compounds boil between 120–130 degrees C. at 1 atm and have a density of 1.1–1.2 g.mL or what substances melt and boil within - or + 10 degrees of water?
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