Introductory Guides & Training
- Internet Chemist: a Virtual Training Suite tutorial
- see also Internet Physicist; Internet Bioresearcher and Internet Detective (a free online tutorial designed to help students develop the critical thinking required for internet research)
- Netskills: internet training for the UK academic community
- Bare Bones: A Very Basic Web Search Tutorial
- Chemical Information Sources Wiki
- Google
- Google Guide - an online interactive tutorial for novices and experts; 2-page quick reference guide
- Making the most of your Google search - tips from OULS on using Google’s Advanced Search
- Bing vs. Google - compare Bing & Google results
Chemistry link collections
MAJOR Chemistry Resources
- ChemDex - Resource compiled by Dr. Mark Winter at the University of Sheffield
- Links for Chemists Chemistry section of the WWW Virtual Library - good list of UK Chemistry depts
- ChemWeb - 'World Wide Club for the Chemical Community'
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Chemistry at About.com - a large selection of links; categories incl. Chemistry Clip Art
- Intute Chemistry Gateway, part of Intute, provides access to descriptions of resources selected for quality and accuracy by subject specialists in the UK academic community.
- Nature Chemistry portal - search for articles in all Nature group publications in the field of Chemistry
OTHER General Chemistry Resources
- Chemistry Web Reviews: reviews, with added comments, of over 500 chemistry -related web sites: written by University of Oxford undergraduate chemists
- Chemistry Section of Open Directory Project: 1,884 links
- Chemical Information on the Web - A Guide from the RSC Library and Information Centre
- 2000 best Chemistry Sites - University Chemistry Departments (worldwide), Chemistry Journals and Societies (Cambridge University)
- Information Retrieval in Chemistry - many links, grouped by 60 specialist subject areas
- CHEMINFO - Chemical Information Sources from Indiana University, by Gary Wiggins.
- Includes CHMINF-L, the Chemical Information Sources Discussion List
- Chemistry Index - Rolf Claessen's Link Collection
- Chemistry web sites - compiled by Dana Roth, Caltech Library
- Academic Info - Chemistry Gateway; also other sciences
- ChIN: International Chemical Information Network - Selected Chemical Resources on Internet (Chinese)
- Chemistry section of Yahoo!
- Ingenta - Chemistry Resources
- WWW Chemistry Guide - simple annotated list of links for chemists, incl. list of Chemistry Blogs
- Library of Congress - Selected Internet Resources - Chemistry
- Chemistry Databases on the Web - a Classified List
- Chemistry: Internet Resources (Univ Buffalo)
- SciVee - videos and podcasts to supplement traditional peer-reviewed articles
- Prized Science (ACS) - a videos series featuring the work and contributions of recipients who won ACS prizes, showing how the chemistry behind ACS’ awards transforms our lives.
- InChI (International Chemical Identifier) - InChI was developed in cooperation with IUPAC and NIST and is the newest way of describing chemical structures in text
- University Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments: Worldwide and in United States
Specialist Resources
- Organic Chemistry Resources Worldwide - for synthetic organic chemists
- Organic Chemistry Portal - with Name Reactions and Property Explorer
- Nanotechnology - see ACS Nanotation and Nanotechweb.org (Inst. Physics)
- Wendy Warr & Associates - Information Sources in Biotechnology, Chemistry and Molecular Diversity; list of resources in chemical e-commerce
- spectroscopyNOW.com (Wiley): mass, X-ray, NMR, infrared, atomic, ultraviolet and Raman spectroscopy plus chemometrics and proteomics sections
- SPECTRa - Submission, Preservation and Exposure of Chemistry Teaching and Research Data: an eighteen month project to develop a set of customized software tools to enable chemists to routinely deposit experimental data, much of which is currently lost, in Open Access digital repositories.
- Analytical Sciences Digital Library - websites and online articles on the science of chemical measurement and instrumentation
- QSAR World - a comprehensive web-based portal for the Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship modeling community
- Crystallography resources:
- Crystallography Open Database (COD, an open access repository of crystallographic data)
- Crystallography Online (IUCr list of Crystallography resources)
- X-Ray Crystallography - guide to information resources
- Reciprocal Net (small molecule database/repository containing many crystal structures solved in several US universities)
- Database of Zeolite Structures
- Lipids resources:
- LIPIDBank: structures and properties of more than 6000 different lipid species
- LIPIDMaps: Metabolites And Pathways Strategy - genes and proteins involved in lipid metabolism
- Lipid Library: info on lipid analysis, incl. mass & NMR spectroscopy & chromatography
- ELIfe: The European Lipidomics Initiative - lipidomics research and membrane lipid disorders
- Biographical:
- Biographical Memoirs - brief biographies of deceased National Academy of Sciences members
Teaching/Undergraduate
- Best Chemistry Web Sites: Online Courseware and Subject Tutorials
- Organometallic Chemistry HyperTextBook
- ChemSpy.com: Tutorials
- Web-sters Organic Chemistry - A Comprehensive Collection of Web-based Resources for Undergraduate Chemistry
- Classic Chemistry Texts
- OpenCourseWare Finder - search for freely available educational courseware
- Inorganic Chemistry teaching resources
- Science Books Online - directory of free science texts, e-books, monographs, lecture notes, and other science related documents; all texts are available for free access, authorized by their respective authors or publishers. Chemistry Section.
Chemistry/Science Web Search Sites
- Scirus - searches scientific information; indexes over 105 million science-related web pages inlcuding US & UK academic and organisation web sites; scans Postscript files as well as HTML and PDF (Elsevier)
- About.com Chemistry Search
- ChemGuide - Full text search engine for chemistry-related web sites, from Fiz Chemie Berlin
- ChemIndustry.com
- Search4science; includes a Chemistry search category
- ChemSpy.com
- eMolecules (previoulsy Chmoogle) - an open-access chemistry structure/substructure search engine
- Windows Live Academic - search for peer reviewed journal articles contained in numerous journal publisher portals and on the web (now in beta; currently indexes content related to computer science, physics, electrical engineering, and related subject areas)
- Google Scholar - search for keywords in journal articles, books, theses, academic publications, technical reports and university websites; more about Google Scholar; see OULS info on setting Google Scholar to display full text links for Oxford subscriptions
- CrossRef Search / Google - A group of 45 leading journal publishers are participating in a CrossRef Search Pilot: this allows a typical Google search but filters the result set to the scholarly research content from participating publishers, with the intent of reducing the noise produced by general web searches. Find the CrossRef Search / Google search box on participating publishers' web sites, eg: American Physical Society, Institute of Physics, International Union of Crystallography, Nature, OUP, PNAS, Springer and John Wiley & Sons
COMPOUND/STRUCTURE/PROPERTY databases
- ChemSpider (RSC) - a chemistry search enginee which aggregates and indexes publicly available chemical structures and their associated information, incl. properties, into a single searchable repository
- PubChem - provides information on the biological activities of small molecules
- Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) - dictionary of molecular entities focused on 'small' chemical compounds which are either products of nature or synthetic products used to intervene in the processes of living organisms
- Chempedia - a free and continuously-updated chemical compound encyclopaedia; Chempedia combines text descriptions from Wikipedia with chemical structure information from PubChem. Includes Chempedia Lab - an online experimental chemistry resource.
- ChemBioFinder - chemical structure database, searchable by chemical name, molecular formula, molecular weight, CAS registry number, and chemical structure. Property information no longer free. Also has National Cancer Institute Database.
- Web Elements - one of the most up-to-date and complete interactive periodic tables on the web - click on any element to find comprehensive data about it. Other Periodic Tables:
- Periodic table of videos from University of Nottingham
- Periodic Table Live! (Chemical Education Digital Library)
- RSC's Visual Elements Periodic Table
- ACS interactive periodic table
- Cambridge University Chemical Laboratory
- C&E News 80th anniversary edition: a celebration of the elements
- Net Elements II - John Emsley's Periodic Table
- Elements Database - Periodic Table database with descriptions of elements and quiz
- ChemExper Chemical Directory - an online database of fine chemicals, contains 55000+ compounds together with their physical properties: boiling & melting points, IR spectra, MSDS, supplier information, 2D and 3D structures. Find a chemical by its formula, name, CAS number, substructure or physical characteristics.
- ChemIDPlus - a database of 350,000 chemicals with links to relevant databases
- Materials Properties Locator Database - find out which reference books contain properties data (mechanical, physical, electrical, thermal, etc.) for particular types of materials
- NIST Chemistry WebBook - for thermodynamic and spectroscopic data
- NIST Chemical Kinetics Database - a compilation of kinetics data on gas-phase reactions
- NIST Pysical Reference Data, incl. Elemental Data Index
- IUPAC-NIST Solubility Database - liquid-liquid systems plus a limited number of multi-component (organic-water-salt) systems
- ASU Physical, Chemical and Other Property Data - Index (by property) to selected printed and internet resources that contain chemical, physical, thermodynamic, mechanical, toxicological and safety data
- Properties Data for Chemicals & Materials - a guide to property data found in the main chemistry databases and references
- Finding Physical Properties of Chemicals on the web: A Practical Guide (PDF)
- Thermodex - contains records for printed and web-based compilations of thermochemical and thermophysical data; gives list of handbooks that might contain required data for specified compound types.
- SDBS - Integrated Spectral Data Base System for Organic Compounds - free access to almost 100,000 spectra: EI mass, 1H decoupled 13C NMR, 1H NMR, FT-IR, laser-Raman, and ESR. Produced by National Institute of Materials and Chemical Research of Tokyo, Japan.
- Sigma-Aldrich catalogue provides FT-NMR and FT-IR Raman spectra
- SOLV-DB solvents database (National Center for Manufacturing Sciences) - physical properties and links to regulatory, environmental and health & safety data
- Protein Data Bank (PDB) - international repository for the processing and distribution of 3-D macromolecular structure data primarily determined experimentally by X-ray crystallography and NMR. Also at RCSB.
- Entrez (National Center for Biotechnology Information, NCBI) - databases of nucleotide sequences, protein sequences, 3D macromolecular structures, whole genomes, and MEDLINE, via PubMed.
- Enzymes
- BRENDA - The Comprehensive Enzyme Information System
- Enzyme nomenclature
- ACD/I-Lab: (Advanced Chemistry Development Interactive Laboratory) - service for NMR and physicochemical prediction and systematic name generation
- some ACD calculated property values (no. hydrogen donors/acceptors, no. rotatable bonds, molecular wt., logD, logP, pKa, and solubility in water) now available via SciFinder
- Actelion Property Explorer - prediction of drug-relevant properties; also here
- Landolt-Börnstein - can view contents but NOT full text/numerical data
- Best Chemistry Web Sites: Databases/Databanks of Chemical Information
- TOXNET (National Library of Medicine/PubMed): A cluster of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals; includes Toxicology Data, Toxicology Literature & Toxic Release Information. Further info.
- Chemical Registry System (from US Environmental Protection Agencies, EPA) provides links to toxicity information on more than 70,000 chemicals
- Toxicology Sources on the Web - a Free Pint article
- Knovel Engineering and Scientific Online References: interactive scientific handbooks and databases. The following titles are freely available to academic users :
- International Critical Tables of Numeric Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology - originally published for the National Research Council in 7 volumes; contains an enormous amount of critical data on inorganic and organic compounds, and pure substances
- Knovel Critical Tables - tables of physical, solvent, and thermodynamic properties. The physical property tables alone include over 13,000 inorganic and organic compounds, and pure substances. The solvent property tables have 385 solvents, and the thermodynamic property tables have 500 compounds.
- Smithsonian Physical Tables - classic reference source comprises 901 tables of common physical and chemical data
- Essential Practices for Managing Chemical Reactivity Hazards
- Large-Scale Adsorption and Chromatography
- Knovel Unit Converter and Periodic Table of the Elements
- Search the content of all Knovel electronic reference books (including Chemical Properties Handbook, Chemistry of the Elements, Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, Dictionary of Substances and their Effects, and many others). Even if the required data is not available electronically, you can save time by finding out which table in which handbook has the required information.
- Chromatography online reference books
- Platinum Group Metals/PGM Database - collection of physical, mechanical and chemical data for the platinum group metals (platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium) and their alloys
- ZINC - free database of commercially-available compounds for virtual screening
- NMRShiftDB - open access, open submission, open source NMR database
REACTION databases
- Organic Syntheses - needs ChemDraw Plugin
- Heterocycles Database: Natural products with heterocyclic ring system whose structure has been determined or synthesis accomplished since 1975
- Named Organic Reactions Collection (compiled by Oxford undergraduates); links to other Named Reactions sites
- Chemical Thesaurus - reaction chemistry database of fundamental chemistry
- Organic Reactions (Wiley) - can browse by Reaction Type and view reaction details and abstract, but we do not have full text access (RSL has print copy)
- Sigma-Aldrich Reaction Database - this new online tool enables you to find detailed literature procedures for a desired transformation by entering the starting material and product-of-interest. In addition, the procedures include a list of reagents needed as well as links to their respective product detail pages for easy ordering.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC databases
NB: See Databases page for major chemistry databases available via Oxford University subscriptions
JOURNAL PAPERS
- Synthesis Reviews (Thieme) contains over 26,000 English language review articles (from journals and books) of interest to synthetic organic chemists, from 1970 to end-2009. Download the whole database as a text file or an Endnote library
- scitopia.org - a federated search portal created through the collaboration of 21 leading science and technology societies, incl. AIP, APS, Electrochemical Society, IoP, IUCr, Optical Society of America and Royal Society; also includes some patents and US government reports.
- Open J-Gate: a database of journal articles from over 3000 open access journals, from 2001, with full text links to full papers.
- BEC Matters (IOP): a database of IOP journal articles and PhD dissertations on Bose-Einstein condensation and matter waves research; with free news update facility
- OJOSE: Online JOurnal Search Engine - powerful free scientific search engine allows you to search different databases or the journals of specific publishers
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
- Directory of Published Proceedings (DoPP/InterDok); see also MInd - Meetings Index for forthcoming conferences
- Conference-Service.com - Chemistry and Physics
REPORTS
- GEIGER COM RESEARCH Engine - searches a collection of science and engineering technical reports from US government organisations
- SciTechResources.gov - access to key US government science & technology resources incl. databases, images, publications, reports and data
- GrayLit Network also searches technical reports from several different US government agencies
- OAIster - one-stop search for open archived theses, reports and more
PATENTS
- For an introduction see:
- What Every Chemist Should Know About Patents (ACS, 2002); 2006 Supplement (PDF files)
- Introduction to intellectual property (British Library)
- Free Patent Searching/Document Sites:
- European Patent Office
- esp@cenet - patents of European Patent Organisation (EPO) members states + abstracts of patents from many countries, some back to the 19th century
- DEPATISnet/German Patent Office - full text of all German Patents from in 1877, also Patents from many other countries
- US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): Search Patent Databases - full text US patents
- SurfIP - access to multiple patent sources in one search: includes European & UK Patent Offices, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), and USPTO
- FreePatentsOnline - PDFs of US Patents
- Patent Fetcher: limited free downloads plus Pay-As-You-Go service
- FreePatentsOnline
- Patent Lens - an independent, public-good global resource; can search and view full-text of more than 8 million patent documents from US, Europe, Australia and WIPO, including their status and counterparts in up to 60 countries
- Google Patents - indexes patents (about 7 million) and applications (about 1 million) from (USPTO). Features full text searching.
- Sites which sell Full-text Patents:
- SureChem - chemical structure or name search of USPTO, European, WO/PCT and Japanese patents; patent front page, claims, summary and description are free; can buy full PDF
- Delphion Intellectual Property Network (IBM)
- MicroPatent large collection of worldwide patents and applications
- Get-the-Patent
- Chemical Patents Plus - searching free but need to register
- SureChem - chemical structure or name search of USPTO, European, WO/PCT and Japanese patents; patent front page, claims, summary and description are free; can buy full PDF
- British Library: Patents collection; patent holdings
- Chemical Patent Searching - links to free patent searching sites, commercial patent databases, patent classification and country codes
- Citation Bridge - free search utility lets you look up forward and backward US Patent Citations; need to register
THESES
- Theses Link Collection - finding/searching theses from various countries
- Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
- OAIster - one-stop search for open archived theses, reports and more
- EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service) - access to electronic theses from many UK universities
Most CITED Chemistry Journals/Articles/Scientists
- CAS Science Spotlight shows the most highly Cited chemistry-related research publications for 1999 -2002. An abstract, and in most cases the full text, of papers/patents are provided free of charge. Also listed are the most requested and most intriguing journal articles.
- ISIHighlyCited.com lists the world's most Cited Researchers in 21 subject areas. It will grow to include 250 researchers in each category, based on the total number of citations received by their articles, as recorded in the ISI Citation Databases. Categories include Chemistry, Physics and Biology & Biochemistry.
- Fast Breaking Papers (ISI) - those having the largest percentage increase in citations in their respective fields from one bimonthly update to the next: they represent recent scientific contributions just beginning to attract the attention of the scientific community.
- ScienceWatch (Thomson Reuters) - Rankings, hot papers, analyses, research fronts: helps identify the latest developments and research
TRANSLATIONS
- Index Translationum database contains bibliographical information on books translated and published in UNESCO's Member States since 1979 and totalling some 1,300,000 translations in all disciplines incl. sciences.
CHEMICAL SUPPLIERS
- Sigma-Aldrich provides biochemicals, organic chemicals, chromatography products, and diagnostic reagents. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and information on more than 200,000 products are available. Searchable by substructure, CAS registry number, and browsable by brand name and area of interest.
- ChemXplorer
- ChemExper Chemical Directory
- ChemSources
- Chemical Suppliers Directory - products and services for drug discovery industry
- ICIS Global Chemical Suppliers Search
SAFETY
- Safety Information from the Department of Chemistry (University of Oxford): the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory provides Health and Safety Information, including a Safety Database with Materials Safety Data Sheets and other safety-related information
- University of Oxford: Safety Office
- List of Internet Sites for Material Safety Data Sheets
- Hazardous Chemical Database (University of Akron)
- NIOSH International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCS)
- UK Chemical Reaction Hazards Forum - collection of mainly unreported incidents / near misses in chemical labs and plant
- Chemical & Engineering News Safety Letters since 1993
COLLABORATION TOOLS
- SciTopics (Elsevier): free expert-generated knowledge-sharing service for the scientific community. It serves as an information and collaboration service for researchers
- 2collab (Elsevier): an online collaboration tool that enables researchers to share, connect and discuss research with their peers
- LinkedIn: a professional social networking site; see Linking Up With LinkedIn
- AuthorMapper (Springer): an online tool for visualizing scientific research, allowing document discovery based on author locations and geographic maps. Integrates content and mapping technology, and enables you to explore patterns in scientific research. Covers Springer Journals only.
- biomedexperts (BME) - literature-based social networking platform for the life-science research communit, bringing the researchers together and allowing them to expand their professional network
- AIP UniPHY - professional networking site for physical scientists: allows physicists and other scientists to directly connect with and explore their professional contacts and to identify researchers with the expertise needed for future collaborations
Miscellaneous Chemical sites
- Fundamental Physical Constants: CODATA Recommended Values 1998
- Nomenclature
- IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology - the Gold Book
- IUPAC chemical nomenclature
- IUBMB biochemical nomenclature: enzymes, peptides, natural products etc.
- Research Assessment Exercise
- DGRweb: ACS Directory of Graduate Research - information on chemical research and researchers at universities in the U.S. and Canada
- ACS Style Guidelines
- Examples
- Quick Guide to Citing Using the ACS Style Guide, 3rd Ed. (PDF)
Mailing Lists/News Groups
- Chemistry Mailing Lists
- Topica Directory of Mailing Lists: Sciences
- JISCMail - UK National Academic Mailing List Service
- LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU - hosts many US and international lists
- Network News service from OUCS
- News Groups at Google - with Searchable archives
- News groups include:
Related subjects
For Information on related subjects try the following hubs/portals/link collections:
- Intute (formerly Resource Discovery Network/RDN) - a network of Internet Resource Catalogues providing access to descriptions of resources for education and research, selected for quality and accuracy by subject specialists in the UK academic community.
- Science and Technology: includes Intute Chemistry Gateway, Physics Gateway and Materials Science Gateway
- See also: Health and Life Sciences section
- The old Resource Discovery Network/RDN services remain available:
- PSIgate for physical sciences
- BIOME covers health and life sciences and includes: BioResearch for biological and biomedical sciences and OMNI for health and medicine
- EEVL for Engineering, mathematics and Computing
- PINAKES - a subject launchpad for quality information on the Internet via over fifty subject gateways
- Materials Information Network (indexes ASM Handbooks)
- MaterSci.Net a searchable database of Internet resources related to Materials Science and Metallurgy
- Materials Science Resources on the Web
- Physics - Physics Resources on the Internet
- PhysicsWeb - online resources in physics from the Institute of Physics
- PubMed - NLM's freely available Medline service with additional material
- Molecular Biology Databases - see Nucleic Acids Research 2005 Molecular Biology Database Issue
- BioMed Central Databases - Catalogue of biomedical databases available on the web; coming soon: Biology Image Library
- MedPharmGuide Internet Search Engine covering medicine/pharmacology-related web sites
- i-engineering.com - an international engineering portal which covers all engineering disciplines
- Archives Hub - descriptions of archives and special collections held in UK universities; includes papers of many prominent chemists and other scientists
- psci-comlit - database of journal, newspaper and book references on science communication, public engagement with science and the wider issues of science in society; from the Wellcome Library
Miscellaneous REFERENCE sources
- Encylopaedia Britannica Online
- Dictionaries and Reference works (BUBL links)
- Specialist Dictionaries - large collection incl. Chemistry Dictionaries
- Chemistry Dictionary for Word Processors
- British National Formulary
- Academic and Scholar Search Engines and Sources - Internet MiniGuide - an annotated Link Compilation listing selected resources for those attempting to find academic and scholarly information and knowledge available on the Internet
