Accessing Chemical Information

To be able to access chemical information available on the Internet... 

SciFinder is the preferred portal to access chemical information from the CAS databases and is designed for use by chemists in commercial organisations. SciFinder Scholar is a version for... 

The spectral domain provides immediately accessible chemical information, which can be often be interpreted quickly and efficiently. In many cases... 

Synchrotron radiation is incredibly versatile allowing a wide variety of experimental techniques to be developed. Of direct interest to solid oxide fuel-cell science and technology are both diffraction and spectroscopy. Diffraction beamlines offer the potential to access complex structural information that is not revealed by competing diffraction techniques, while the spectroscopic techniques (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy [XANES]) and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure [EXAFS]) allow users to access chemical information, such as redox kinetics. The latest developments include 3D tomography of complete cells which give unparalled information about the microstructure of composite electrodes [73, 74]. 

The methods for accessing chemical information have been heavily influenced by the availability of computer storage space. With disk space having become more and more available at less and less cost, the residence of databases has shifted from single on-line hosts to many in-house installations. With the global internetting of computers, chemical information can now reside on many individual sites and, nevertheless, be available to the scientific community at large. 

It was reahzed quite some decades ago that the amount of information accumulated by chemists can, in the long run, be made accessible to the scientific community only in electronic form in other words, it has to be stored in databases. This new field, which deals with the storage, the manipulation, and the processing of chemical information, was emerging without a proper name. In most cases, the scientists active in the field said they were working in "Chemical Information . However, as this term did not make a distinction between librarianship and the development of computer methods, some scientists said they were working in "Computer Chemistry to stress the importance they attributed to the use of the computer for processing chemical information. However, the latter term could easily be confused with Computational Chemistry, which is perceived by others to be more limited to theoretical quantum mechanical calculations. 

Scientific, and especially chemical, information is becoming increasingly available on the Internet. This has the advantage that the information is accessible to other users. Additionally, the data formats (HTML, PDF, GIF, etc.) that are used are restricted to the most important ones to provide standards that are readable worldwide. Unfortunately, however, much of the information on the Internet is not reviewed or verified by other organizations as is the case in the primary literature. Thus, the quality of the information is extremely variable. 

The huge number of websites on the Internet (about 2,5 billion web pages December, 2002) containing chemical information is a great challenge when one is attempting to find specific information on a topic. Therefore numerous search engines have been developed and offered that provide fast access to the data. 

MDL Information Systems, Inc. MDL provides modular software systems for managing chemical information, as weU as related molecular and reaction databases for use with the software. MDL s database management programs, MACCS-II and REACCS, provide access to compound and reaction databases and also have the capabiHty to manage user-created databases (37). Although MDL is not considered to be an on-line database vendor, it is mentioned here because of the value of its information products and services to the chemical industry. 

The HCS was promulgated to provide workers with access to information about the hazards and identities of the chemicals they are exposed to while working, as well as the measures they can take to protect themselves. OSHA s HCS requires employers to establish hazard communication programs to transmit information on the hazards of chemicals to their employees by means of labels on containers, material safety data sheets, and training programs. 

The American Chemical Society maintains the chemistry.org website at http // chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry. One can access Chemical Abstracts (CAS) from this site. The site lists meetings and publications and includes a careers and jobs site and an online store. American Chemical Society (ACS) publications at http // pubs.acs.org provides its members information products and services. Currently, over 30 magazines and peer-reviewed journals are published or co-published by the Publications Division. 

Chemical Abstracts, a subscription service at http //www.cas.org/ offers access to CAS, a large and comprehensive database of chemical information. 

SciFinder at http //www.cas.org/SCIFINDER/scicover2.html is an easy-to-use desktop research tool that allows the user to explore research topics, browse scientific journals, and access information on the most recent scientific developments. SciFinder Scholar is a desktop research tool designed especially for use by students and faculty to easily access the information in the CAS databases. With either tool, one can search Chemical Abstracts and the CA Registry by author name, research topic, substance identifier, chemical structure, or chemical reaction. 

Monitoring threat information should be a regular part of a security program manager s job, and utility-, facility-, and region-specific threat levels and information should be shared with those responsible for security. As part of security planning, chemical facilities should develop systems to access threat information and procedures that will be followed in the event of increased industry or facility threat levels, and should be prepared to put these procedures in place immediately, so that adjustments are seamless. Involving local law enforcement and FBI is critical. 

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