Introduction to SciFinder Scholar

1) Click on the SciFinder icon. It will take a few moments to connect to CAS. Click the accept button.

2) The Explore menu will pop up to give you several ways to search the database. What are they? What do they do?

3) Exit the Explore menu and check out the buttons on the SciFinder window. What functions do they perform? Also check out the drop down menu options File thru Help. What type of program does the SciFinder menu remind you of? How do you get back to the Explore menu?

4) Return to the Explore menu. We will investigate the first three options, Chemical Substance or Reaction (CSorR), Research Topic (RT), and Author Name (AN). Select CSorR. What are the three ways to search for a chemical substance? What happens when you hit the Cancel button?

**** Exploring CSorR

5) Select "Substance Identifier". What are the ways to identify a substance?

6) Type "hydrogen peroxide" into the text box and search. What information do you get about hydrogen peroxide? Explore the buttons in the box. Find a commercial source. Search the references for a paper on toxicological effects. Click the microscope icon next to the very first paper that you find--what information do you get about the paper?

7) Repeat the search for "2,2 dichloropentane". What paper do you find first? View an abstract.

8) Now Search using the "Molecular Formula" option. Repeat your searches for hydrogen peroxide and 2,2dichloropentane. Do you get the same information you did before? Under your hydrogen peroxide search, look at the reference labeled D-O-O-D. What is unusual about this hydrogen peroxide molecule? What is undesirable about the search for 2,2dichloropentane using the molecular formula?

9) Use the "Chemical Structure" option to draw 2,2 dichloropentane. You only need two tools in the Drawing box: the draw chains tool (top right) and the atoms tools (second row left). The chains tool will let you draw a five-carbon chain. The atom tool will let you place chlorines on the chain. To place the chlorines draw away from the carbon atom and release the left mouse button.

10) Use "Chemical Structure" to search for 5-phenyl pentanoic acid. To draw this structure, erase the old structure and lay dow a benzene ring (fifth row left). Use the chain tool to add five carbons. Then use the Shortcuts tools to add a -COOH group to the end of the chain. How many references do you find? What name does the reference have for this structure?

11) Use "Chemical Structure" to search for 1-nitroazulene. To draw this structure, bring down the template menu and select polycarbocyclic. The azulene ring system will be have a five-membered ring joined to a seven-membered ring (second row, right). Use the Shortcut tool to place a NO2 group on the five-membered ring. How many references do you find?

**** Exploring AN
12) Select AN. Search for papers by R Daniel Libby. Turn OFF the alternative spellings option. How many candidates do you find. Explore the two best choices. Summarize the topics or research areas in which R Daniel Libby has published. Find at least one abstract from a paper by Dan Libby and summarize the abstract.

13) Repeat for two other Moravian professors!

14) Repeat for the professor from a Big Ten or Ivy League school whose web page you have viewed.

**** Exploring RT
15) You probably know that gold can be hammered into a very thin sheet. Enter "ductility of gold" as a research topic. Find one paper that mentions the ductility of gold.

16) You probably know that silver iodide is a yellow insoluble preciptate. Enter "solubility of silver iodide" as a research topic and see what you get.

17) You probably have heard that the electronic structure of benzene makes it a very stable ring molecule. Enter a research topic for this idea and see what you get.

18) What is a "carbon nanotube"? What is a "diamond thin-film"? What is a "cadmium selenide nanoparticle"?

19) Select a research topic for a Moravian professor and search for that topic. Summarize the results of your search.