Formerly only available by subscription on CD, this is a great little tool for expanding equivocal journal title abbreviations before searching and is essential for confirming an abbreviation for an ACS citation. Searches are available by title, coden, and ISSN, as well, for tracing lost citations.

Bookmark the site yourself, or find it out when you need it on the Chemistry Research Gateway page.

Read the Nobel scientific background report, or check out some of the primary research reports:

• Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
• Thomas A. Steitz
  (click the right-hand link, ‘Search PubMed for Steitz Lab Publications’)
• Ada E. Yonath

While a few users have been anxious about the change, or regretted the serendipity of the stack search, most have been pleased by the more limited environmental impact and the increased potential for innovative data presentation and reuse.

For more information try:

• The June 17 Nature article breaking the story based on the leaked ACS memo detailing the plan.
• Further details in the Ars Technica blog  entry of July 6
• The July 10 note in the Chronicle’s Wired Campus

Photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickdimmock/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

However, difficulties printing detailed reference answers have been reported, with sections of content missing from the printouts. SciFinder’s publisher, CAS, suggests exporting your answers to a PDF or RTF file and then printing from the file until the problem is resolved later in the year.

• Chang, Hasok, and Catherine Jackson, eds. 2007. An element of controversy : The life of chlorine in science, medicine, technology and war. London: British Society for the History of Science.
• Hartmann, Jean-Michel, Christian Boulet, and Daniel Robert, eds. 2008. Collisional effects on molecular spectra : Laboratory experiments and models, consequences for applications. 1st ed. Amsterdam ; Boston: Elsevier Science.

Now, the key features of SciFinder are available online and are accessible on campus or off. Watch a demo of the new SciFinder, or compare the features of the Web and desktop versions.

After April 10, 2009, we will have SciFinder Web only, so now is a good time to get started with the web version.

Registering:

First, you’ll need to register for an individual account. This makes it possible for you to save searches, track new content, and more.

1. Click the registration link above; then click ‘next’ on the first page to get to the registration screen.

2. Fill out the starred sections of the registration form, choose a username and password, and click ‘Register’.

SciFinder requires you to use your @ups.edu email to register successfully!

3. Check your email for a confirmation message:

(SciFinder Registration – Your Confirmation Required).

4. Click on the link in the confirmation email, and you’re set to search. The link is valid for a limited time, but you can re-register if you forget to activate right away.

Using SciFinder Web:

Start at the links to SciFinder Web in Databases A-Z or on the Chemistry Research Gateway page. Click and log in.

When you open SciFinder Web, you’ll start out at the literature search. Just type and go as you used to, or use the menu at the top of the page to select another tool.

When you’re finished, log out. SciFinder Web is still limited to 3 simultaneous users. There is an automatic time-out, but it takes longer to activate if the browser is closed without logging out.

Notes on structure drawing:

Structure drawing is the only aspect that requires software, a Java plugin you may already be running. If you do not have it, you’ll be prompted to install it, or you can download it from http://www.cas.org/misc/downloads/jreplugin.html (PC and Mac versions available).

The first time you use the structure drawing too, it will open slowly. Subsequent uses are quicker.

Questions or Comments?

Please contact your science librarian (email or x3646) with any questions or comments you may have about SciFinder Web.

More resources:

Video Tutorials and PDF How-to Guides

CAS e-Seminars (Registration required)

CAS Search Strategies

If so, you might like to download and install the Chemistry Dictionary for Word Processors (version 2.0).

Developed by Adam Azman, a PhD candidate in synthetic organic chemistry, this dictionary contains over 104,000 chemical terms, and is compatible with Microsoft Office (Windows or Mac) or OpenOffice (Windows or Linux). The dictionary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, and was built using a previous draft and resources from ChemSpider.

Download, correct, or request additions to the Chemistry Dictionary for Word Processors at the Chemistry Blog, or find out more about how it was built.