PHSC 300 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

Assignment 2

There are many different tools available for searching the scientific literature by what is known as a hand search. It is important to know how to perform hand searches since not all the literature has been catalogued on computer records (Few as yet have databases going back past the 1960s). Progress in getting these older records on computer databases is necessarily slow since all newly generated materials must be added to the databases first or the abstracting services would never catch up. Some useful tools for hand searches of the the scientific literature by hand are listed below:

Beilstein

- Provides synthetic methods and properties for organic compounds

Biological Abstracts

- Provides abstracts of articles related to biological sciences (newer volumes online at McNeese library)

Chemical Abstracts

- Provides abstracts from about 13,000 different sources on chemistry and chemistry related articles (newer volumes available online at McNeese library)

Current Contents

- Provides the table of contents of journals (not available at McNeese library)
(Science)

Medicus Indicus

- Provides abstracts on articles related to medicine

Physics Abstracts

- Provides abstracts on physics related articles

Science Citation Index

- Provides a list of publications by author and how many times each publication has been cited as a reference and by whom and where (not available at McNeese library)

Most abstracting services are patterned after Chemical Abstracts in the way they function. Chemical Abstracts abstracts a large number of articles from an amazing amount of diverse journals. Articles published in foreign languages typically take longer for the abstracts to appear. The abstract of an article may appear anywhere from about 3 months to over a year from publication date. Older volumes of Chemical Abstracts had only three indexes, the Subject Index, Author Index and the Formula Index for each volume. Modern volumes contain a Subject Index (general), Chemical Substances Index, Author Index, Formula Index and Patent Index for each volume. Perhaps most useful are the Collected Indexes (formerly Decennial Indexes). They have the same titles as the indexes for each volume. The most efficient ways of searching are if you know the author and time period, to use the Author Index of a collected index or if you know the formula of the compound to use the Formula Index. In either case a short one line (sometimes one word) description is given, along with a volume number and code number. You then look up the code number in the volume indicated. In older volumes this might be something like 47:1035a, which indicated column 1035, position a. In the newer abstracts, each abstract has its own distinct number but still retains a letter. The abstract itself is typically short, usually less that half a column in length; gives the journal, authors, details of the experiments, etc.

ASSIGNMENT 2: USING CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS FIND & RETRIEVE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION

(listing your sources and path to the information):

1. Find the pka of 1,2-dipiperidinoethane (C₁₂H₂₄N₂).

2. Find the pKa of 1,2-bis[4,4'-(morpholino)]ethane. (C₁₀H₂₀N₂O₂)

3. Find at least two synthetic methods for 1,5-diazacyclooctane (C₆H₁₄N₂)

4. Find at least two synthetic methods for bis(diethylaluminum)oxide ( Al₂C₈H₂₀O ).

STRUCTURES OF COMPOUNDS

1,2-DIPIPERIDINOETHANE

1,2-BIS[4,4'-(MORPHOLINO)]ETHANE

1,5-DIAZACYCLOOCTANE

BIS(DIETHYLALUMINUM)OXIDE