PHSC 300 SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE
ASSIGNMENT 4: BEILSTEIN
Beilstein is a treatise on organic chemistry. The volumes or Bands are all in German.
The indices are the Sach-Register (subject index) and the Formel-Register (formula
index). As might be expected, the formula index is usually the easier method of finding
information, especially for the reader who is not extremely fluent in German. Beilstein
is located in the reference section of the library at QD 251.B4. Another very useful
book when looking at Beilstein is Patterson's German-English Dictionary for Chemists
which is located at QD5.P3.
Beilstein is separated into the original work (volumes or Bands 1-31) each volume
dealing with a particular class of compounds, and supplements (Erganzungwerk) 1-4
(Erste, Zweites, Dritte, Vierf) which follow the same volume numbers. Collected
indices and individual indices for volumes are available. References to the original
and supplements are easily distinguished. For example:
17, 485. refers to the original volume 17 page 485.
17 (I) 255. refers to the first supplement page 255.
17 (II) 468. refers to the second supplement page 468.
When reading German some useful rules to know are that all nouns are capitalized
and the verb often occurs at the end of the sentence. Some useful words to know
are listed below:
- Angaben
- information
- aus
- from, out, out of
- Darstellung
- preparation, synthesis
- Kochpunkt
- boiling point
- Kp or kp
- boiling point
- loslich
- soluble
- Losung
- solution
- richtig
- right, true
- saure
- acid
- schlecht
- bad, poor, badly, poorly
- Schmelzpunkt
- melting point
- Schmp. or Schmpt,
- melting point
- sehr
- very
- unloslich
- insoluble
- unrichtig
- incorrect, false
- von
- from, of
Your assignment for next week is to find the oldest synthetic method listed in Beilstein for each of the compounds below. In addition, for each compound, list the physical properties for the compound which are listed in Beilstein.
1. Azocyclooctane, heptamethyleneimine, C7H15N
2. Tetrabromophthalic acid, C8H2Br4O4
3. 1,3-Cycloheptadiene, C7H10
4. Methyl butyl carbonate, C6H12O3