Teaching Chemical Information:
Tips and Techniques

— June 1997 —

Why Teach Beilstein Handbook

The 4th edition of the Beilstein’s Handbuch der Organischen Chemie published in 1918 consists of a Main Work and 5 Supplementary Series of updates.

Whatever new information on a compound published during a time period appears in that supplement.
Only the 5th Supplement is in English; earlier in German.
Organized by functional group according to a hierarchy. Three divisions: acyclic, isocyclic, and heterocyclic are used and 17 functional groups are considered as registry compounds.
Each functional group always appears in the same volume.
Teach students to use chart which assigns Beilstein volume to particular functional group.
Printed indexes:
- subject = Sachregister
- formula = Formelregister
- Comprehensive H–E4
- Comprehensive H–E2 as part of 2nd Supplement
Volume Indexes: E3 and E4; if compound found in appropriate volume, references back to earlier Supplements and Main Work are given.
Compounds with functional groups other than 17 are derivatives. Teach students how to hydrolyze these other functional groups to get registry compounds.
Compounds are found only in volume for functional group which appears latest in hierarchy.
Online database contains all compounds from 1779.
Online database may be searched by name, formula, structure, ranges of property values.

Print: Beilstein Information Systems
Online: STN, Dialog (File 390). On dialog, Beilstein is available in the CIP plan.
Crossfire: Inhouse database: university consortia?

Luckenback, Reiner. “Der Beilstein,” ChemTech, 1979, October 1979, 612–621.
SANDRA — a PC program that locates references to correct printed volume for compounds. Available from Beilstein Information Systems.