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The Catalyst: The Swain Library Newsletter

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Spring 2002

Contents

1. Reagents — Two Key Reference Titles Now Available via the Web
2. Cambridge Structural Database — PC Version Available for Downloading
3. Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology
4. SciFinder Scholar — Version 3.0 No Longer Works, Download SFS 2001 to Search CAS Online
5. Crossfire 2000 — Latest Version and Patch that Needs to be Installed
6. Internet Search Engines, Directories and Portals — Workshop Companion Materials
7. Alternatives to Web of Science
8. ACS Journal Archives — Trial Access
9. Proposed Changes to the Enzyme List
10. Handbooks — Full-text available via the web

Reagents – Two Key Reference Titles Now Available via the Web

Swain Library is very pleased to announce that two popular reference works on reagents are now available via the web. These two titles have been added to the pull-down list of databases on the Swain Library home page (http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/index.html).

Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (e-EROS)

URL: http://interscience.wiley.com/eros/ (e-EROS)

Contains a database of over 48,000 reactions and around 3500 of the most frequently consulted reagents and is fully searchable by structure and substructure, reagent, reaction type, experimental conditions etc. and allows sophisticated full text searches. Each entry highlights the various uses and characteristics of each reagent, with illustrative examples of its use and is preceded by valuable information concerning physical data, solubility, form supplied in, purification, and where relevant, preparative methods and with literature references to key review articles and seminal papers.

Reagent Chemicals, 9th Edition

URL: http://pubs.acs.org/reagents/ (click on “Login for paid users”)

Provides specifications and analytical procedures to assure the quality of your chemicals. Developed by the ACS Committee on Analytical Reagents, this edition continues the tradition of providing detailed specifications and analytical procedures for approximately 450 laboratory reagents, while also updating some of the more complicated classical procedures for trace analysis and adding instrumental methods where possible. Also included is a new section of specifications for more than 400 standard-grade reference materials.

Cambridge Structural Database — PC Version Available for Downloading

The PC version of the Cambridge Structural Database is now available for local downloading to your computer. See:

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/collections/databases/csd/index.html

Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology

I am pleased to announce that the full-text of the Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology is now available via the web.

URL: http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/epst/index.html

This title has been added to the pull down list of databases on the Swain Library page (http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/index.html) and to the Polymer Chemistry Guide page:

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/help/subjectguides/polymer.html

SciFinder Scholar — Version 3.0 No Longer Works, Download SFS 2001 to Search CAS Online

Version 3.0 of SciFinder Scholar (client software program for searching Chemical Abstracts Online) no longer works.

To download the latest version, SciFinder Scholar 2001, please go to this url:

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/collections/databases/cas/scifi/index.html

SciFinder Scholar 2001 has several enhancements that will be helpful to you. They include:

• new preference editor that you can modify for each session (e.g. include/exclude polymers and mixtures from substance searches)
• ability to get related information after doing a research topic search that includes:
  • cited/citing references (1999+)
  • cited substances
• additional reactions — now goes back to 1974 (CAS is the only database that indexes multiple step reactions)
• calculated properties for chemical substances (H donor/acceptor, MW, LogP, LogD, pKa, molar solubility).

For more details about SFS 2001, please see:

URL: http://www.cas.org/products/sfacad/index.html

Crossfire 2000 — Latest Version and Patch that Needs to be Installed

FYI, the latest version of Crossfire, the client software program for searching the Beilstein and Gmelin Handbooks, is Crossfire 2000.

In addition to upgrading to the latest version, you also should install the patch that was created to handle Gmelin’s new data structure. Please go to: http://minerva.library.wisc.edu/.

A full-text linking service, called LitLink, has also become available for use with Crossfire. However, I have not had a chance to try it out yet and have received reports from colleagues that it does not always work as expected. For the adventuresome and computer savvy, it is possible to download the LitLink client from the same web page as above.

Please note: AutoNom Standard (a chemical nomenclature program) which does not support stereochemical bonds is bundled with Crossfire 2000. We have a license agreement for AutoNom 4.0 which does support stereo bonds. To upgrade to AutoNom 2000, you need to install AutoNom 4.0 before installing Crossfire 2000. Then when you install Crossfire 2000, it will recognize that AutoNom 4.0 is on the computer and then upgrade it to AutoNom 2000. Go to this url to get AutoNom 4.0: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/collections/software.html

Internet Search Engines, Directories and Portals — Workshop Companion Materials

Companion materials from a one hour workshop on methods for finding scientific and technical information on the web by using general and specialized search engines, subject directories, and portals or gateways is available via the web. What’s in the “invisible web” and how to access it, search tutorials, and web searching tools are also topics covered in the presentation. Go to: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/help/subjectguides/internet/index.html

In addition, while they are still a work in progress on Swain’s pages, there are a number of links that may be of potential use to you. They include:

Web Guide Directory

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/help/webdirs/index.html

Electronic Resources

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/help/subjectguides/general.html

Library Research

URL:

News

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/about/newandnote/news.html

Visitor Information Checklist

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/services/visitors.html

Alternatives to Web of Science

Due to frustration in trying to use the Web of Science, I thought it would be useful to provide some background information and to recommend an alternative route for searching SciSearch.

In the big scheme of things, remember that SciSearch only covers the journal literature whereas Chemical Abstracts Online also covers patents, dissertations, technical reports, etc.

The Web of Science contains Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Many users are unable to access Web of Science because we only have three simultaneous users for the entire campus. Why is this?

We have unlimited access to the same three citation indexes via the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). All three indexes are listed on the Databases page of the Stanford University Libraries. Here is the URL for each index:

Science Citation Index via LANL

Social Sciences Citation Index via LANL

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

While the Web of Science brand name is recognized widely, we choose to go with the LANL version of these files for several reasons. Science Citation Index was available via LANL almost two years before Web of Science became available. The service via LANL allows an unlimited number of simultaneous users whereas via Web of Science, libraries have to sign up for a specific number of simultaneous users. Weekly alerting services are also available via LANL. Finally, the LANL search interface is better than the interface via Web of Science. Note: it is critical to browse rather than search when doing a cited reference search.

EndNote users: Even though EndNote has the ability to connect directly to the Web of Science, the EndNote search interface is very limited. Instead, it is much more efficient overall to do a search using the LANL interface and then using the EndNote filter created by LANL, import search results into an EndNote Library. Using the EndNote search interface will often result in getting many citations outside a search topic that have to be sorted through manually. It is important to note that many databases available to Stanford users are not available via a direct connection in EndNote.

Flashpoint is a relatively new service offered by LANL that enables users to search the Citation Indexes as well as in-depth subject indexes all at one time. While the Citation Indexes offer cover-to-cover indexing of a core list of journals, more types of materials and more journals are covered in subject-specific indexes (e.g. BIOSIS, Engineering Index, INSPEC, MathSciNet). Relying only on the Citation Indexes to find information may cause users to miss important research papers. Flashpoint is great because it allows you to search all files of interest at one time. When importing results into EndNote you can eliminate duplicate records.

ACS Journal Archives — Trial Access

I am pleased to announce that Stanford has trial access for the ACS Journal Archives. Trial access runs from May 1, 2002 through June 30, 2002. Efforts are underway for ongoing access.

Searching between current ACS Web Editions and the ACS Journal Archives can be conducted simultaneously in one search. This seamless searching functionality between current subscriptions and the ACS Journal Archives will allow cross-journal searching by full-text, for all years covering all titles. Single journal or cross-journal searching will be able to be queried by author, title, key-word or through a search of all fields. In addition, a new search feature called Citation Find has been added. This enhancement will give users the ability to look up specific citations by searching on the journal, volume and page number of the citation or by the article’s unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

Proposed Changes to the Enzyme List

IUBMB Nomenclature on the Web

New enzymes

The latest batch of new enzymes, revised or corrected, old enzymes, together with several additional reaction schemes have just been put on the web for public review with its usual URL. See:

http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/iubmb/enzyme/newenz.html

Much of this batch of changes involves a reconsideration of the myo-inositol enzymes.

Handbooks — Full-text available via the web

Classic handbooks such as:

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
• Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook
• Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry

plus a couple of hundred handbooks are available via the web to Stanford users. The full-text is searchable, both by keyword and by data. Go to:

http://www.knovel.com

Grace Baysinger
Head Librarian & Bibliographer, Swain Library of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/swain/index.html
Head, Science and Engineering Libraries Resource Group