RESEARCH GUIDE: CHEMISTRY

This is a guide to the major print and online bibliographic resources in chemistry. While basic resources are included, there are many others that cannot be covered here because of length. For assistance in using these resources, or to find additional information, contact a Reference Librarian.

Reference Sources | Books | Journal Articles | Review Articles
Dissertations, Conference Papers and Proceedings | Selected Internet Sites

1. Reference Sources

1.1 General

• Concise Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology -- REFERENCE TP9.K54 1999 
  • Valuable information source covers preparation, manufacturing processes, uses of materials, properties of chemical substances, and chemistry fundamentals.
• Macmillan Encyclopedia of Chemistry -- REFERENCE QD4.M33 1997 
  • Informative articles covering the nature of matter, general principles and laws of chemistry, chemical phenomena, processes, research techniques, reactions, elements and substances, biochemistry, industrial applications, and biography.
• Oxford Reference Online: Physical Sciences & Mathematics 
  • Offers complete content of more than 125 titles from Oxford University Press. The collection includes authoritative dictionaries, encyclopedias, and reference works in more than 20 subject areas.
• Van Nostrand's Chemical Encyclopedia -- REFERENCE QD4.V36 2005 
  • Concise one-volume encyclopedia for students at all levels.

1.2 Handbooks

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics -- REFERENCE QD65.H3 
  • A first-stop reference source containing a wealth of basic chemical and physical data for compounds, as well as many other useful tables, constants and formulas, and definitions.
• Dean's Analytical Chemistry Handbook -- REFERENCE QD78.P37 2004 
  • General handbook of wet and instrumental methods, techniques and data.
• Gradner's Chemical Synonyms and Trade Names -- REFERENCE TP9.K54 1999 
• Lange's Handbook of Chemistry -- REFERENCE QD5.L25 
  • Contains large sections on inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry, with extensive tables of physical property data, plus general information and conversion tables, and spectroscopy. A very useful starting point that complements the better-known CRC Handbook.
• Merck Index -- REFERENCE RS51.M4 
  • Descriptions of over 10,000 chemicals, drugs, and biological substances. Entries include name, synonyms and trademarks, mf, mw, structure, physical data, and annotated literature references.
• NIST Chemistry WebBook
  • Provides thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics data compiled by NIST under the Standard Reference Data Program. Users can search by molecule name, formula, or CAS number. Standard results include formula, structure, weight, CAS number, and often also various spectra, phase data, and thermochemical data.

1.3 Biography

• American Men and Women of Science -- REFERENCE Q141.A47 2003 
• Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science -- REFERENCE Q141.B5285 2000 
• Dictionary of Scientific Biography -- REFERENCE Q141.D5 1981 
• Dictionary of Scientists (Oxford Reference Online)
• Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, 1901-1992 -- REFERENCE QD21.N63 1993 
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winners
• Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists -- REFERENCE Q141.N3 1995 

1.4 Periodic Table

• ChemiCool Periodic Table
  • All the basic information about each element, by name, formula, or by clicking on it in a map of the periodic table.
• WebElements Periodic Table
  • Has more in depth information about each of the elements, including spectra, crystal structures, uses, and reactions.

1.5 Laboratory Safety, Hazardous Chemicals, Toxicity

• ChemIDPlus (National Library of Medicine, Specialized Information Services)
  • A gateway into important National Library of Medicine databases on chemical safety and toxicity, easily searched by structure (in Advanced Search) or other identifying chemical information.
• NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)
  • Key information and data in abbreviated format for property data, exposure limits, safe handling and first aid. Searchable by individual compound name and tradenames, CAS Registry Number, etc.
• Where to Find Material Safety Data Sheets on the Internet
  • A gateway to all types of MSDS resources.

2. Books

• Centre Library Online Catalog
  • Contains the cataloged holdings of the Centre College Library.
• Kentucky Virtual Library
  • Use KYVL to search other Kentucky libraries, including the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville.
• Interlibrary Loan
  • Use the Interlibrary Loan service to borrow books and journal articles from other libraries.
• Worldcat
  • WorldCat contains records for the holdings of several thousand libraries. This is an excellent starting point for identifying and locating material beyond the Centre College library.

3. Journal Articles

3.1 Core Resources for Finding Articles

• American Chemical Society Journals Online 
  • Links to full-text versions of ACS journals. Note: Centre College users have access only to selected ACS titles.
• Chemical Abstracts. Student Edition
  • Chemical Abstracts Student Edition is a subset of the complete Chemical Abstracts designed for use by undergraduate students. It indexes and abstracts over 260 of the chemistry journals most widely held in university libraries as well as over 300,000 dissertations.
• STN Easy
  • STN Easy provides Web access to selected databases in STN International, a service that includes 200 databases in the physical sciences, biological sciences, engineering, and intellectual property. Centre College users have access to the following STN databases: Chemical Abstracts (1967-present), Chemical Industry Notes (1974-present), and Registry (1957-present). Hours of availability are limited. Contact a Reference librarian for password.

3.2 Additional Resources for Finding Articles

• Academic Search Premier 
  • A multi-disciplinary index to periodicals that covers over 8,000 scholarly and popular periodicals, and includes full-text for more than 4,500 of these. Designed specifically for academic institutions, ASP spans most areas of study. Coverage varies, but most titles begin in the late 1980's and early 1990's.
• OmniFile Full Text Mega 
  • Collection of several Wilson full-text databases, including General Science Full Text and Applied Science & Technology, two good indexes for finding scholarly journal articles in chemistry.
• PubChem
  • PubChem provides information on the biological activities of small molecules.
• Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Online
  • Links to full-text versions of RSC journals. Note: Centre College users have access only to selected RSC titles.
• TOXNET
  • A cluster of databases covering toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health and related areas. It is managed by the Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program of the National Library of Medicine.

3.3 Electronic Journals

• Electronic Journals in Chemistry 
  • Use the library's e-journal portal to browse a list of electronic journals for chemistry.

4. Review Articles

Review articles provide an overview of a topic, highlighting the major work and providing many key references.

• Annual Review of Biochemistry (vol. 66, 1997-present) 
• Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology (vol. 37, 1997-present) 
• Annual Review of Physical Chemistry (vol. 47, 1996-present) 

5. Dissertations, Conference Papers & Proceedings

• Conference Papers Index
  • Provides citations to papers and poster sessions presented at major scientific meetings around the world. Subject emphasis since 1995 has been in the life sciences, environmental sciences and the aquatic sciences.
• Dissertations Abstracts
  • Covers dissertations accepted at accredited U.S. institutions since 1861; selectively covers masters theses, Canadian dissertations, British, and other international dissertations.
• PapersFirst
  • Provides access to individual papers presented at conferences worldwide
• ProceedingsFirst
  • Provides tables of contents of papers presented at conferences worldwide.

6. Selected Internet Sites

5.1 General

• ChemInfo
  • A good place to start when looking for a well-organized approach to chemical information. Under the Resource Guides button, look for SIRCh ("Selected Internet Resources in Chemistry") for a carefully evaluated selection of Web resources.
• Librarians Internet Index: Chemistry
• Links for Chemists
  • Part of the WWW Virtual Library.
• Martindale's Calculators: Chemistry
  • Locates links to chemistry calculators from the basic to the advanced.
• Organic Chemistry Resources Worldwide
• Science.gov
  • Gateway to scientific resources produced by the U.S. government. There are a number of important chemistry-related databases available here, including ChemWebBook, CHEMIDPlus, IRIS, CancerNet. etc. Many are searchable by compound name, CAS Registry Number, structure, etc.

5.2 Chemical Catalogs

• ChemIndustry.com

5.3 Directories

• Academic Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments in the U.S.
• American Chemical Society Directory of Graduate Education

Last updated January 16, 2008