LibGuides: Chemistry Resources: Chemical & Physical Properties

Chemical Name Reactions

Chemists often refer to a particular type of reaction by name. Often, the reaction is given the names of the chemists who discovered, improved or promoted that particular reaction. Examples: Diels-Alder reaction, Claisen rearrangement, Sharpless epoxidation.

I have the name of a reaction; how do I find out what the chemical reaction is?

Some good starting points:

Organic Reactions
online comprehensive collection of important synthetic reactions, including critical discussion, and tables of all published examples of the reactions.

Named Organic Reactions by Thomas Laue; Andreas Plagens
Call Number: QD291 .D44
ISBN: 0470010401
Publication Date: 2005-05-06
This online reference work provides concise information on 134 named organic reactions. Alphabetical arrangement with descriptions, schemes, examples, and citations to reviews and first articles on the reaction.
The Merck Index by Maryadele J. O'Neil (Editor)
Call Number: RS51 .M4 2013
ISBN: 9781849736701
Publication Date: 2013
an encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals - the Organic Name Reactions section provides an alphabetical listing with reaction diagrams (chemical structures), a brief text description, and citations to major papers or review articles on the reaction.
Advanced Organic Chemistry by Jerry March
Call Number: QD251.2 .M37 1992
ISBN: 0471601802
Publication Date: 1992-07-24
Look up the reaction name in the index to find a description & scheme, and citations to review article(s) on the reaction.

Organic Chemistry Portal - Named Reactions List
Contains information on the most important Name Reactions and keywords for the field of organic synthesis.
Wikipedia List of Organic Reactions
Helpful for quick look-up of reaction names. Check sources or refer to secondary source.

Data Compilations

Reaxys This link opens in a new window
Reaxys includes Substance Property Data and Spectral Data abstracted from literature back to 18th century
To download content, it is necessary to register with an msu.edu email address. Searching does not require registration.
SciFinder-n This link opens in a new window
SciFinder-n is the new interface for the classic version of SciFinder. If you have already registered for Classic SciFinder, that login should work for SciFinder-n.
WebCSD (Cambridge Structural Database) This link opens in a new window
Established in 1965, the CSD is the world’s repository for small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures. Containing the results of over half-a-million x-ray and neutron diffraction analyses this unique database of accurate 3D structures has become an essential resource to scientists around the world.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics by John Rumble (Editor)
ISBN: 9781138367296
Publication Date: 2019
The CRC (Chemical Rubber Company) Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is the standard book containing tables, definitions, and charts used in chemistry, chemical engineering, and physics. The Web version allows the user to create spreadsheets, and it cross-links to all tables on any compounds thereby increasing its usefulness.

ChemSpider
Owned by Royal Society of Chemistry, ChemSpider includes more than 26 million unique molecules from over 400 data sources.
PubChem Database
PubChem is an open chemistry database at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Open” means that you can put your scientific data in PubChem and that others may use it. PubChem mostly contains small molecules, but also larger molecules such as nucleotides, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, and chemically-modified macromolecules. We collect information on chemical structures, identifiers, chemical and physical properties, biological activities, patents, health, safety, toxicity data, and many others.
NIST Data Gateway
Easy access to NIST scientific and technical data. These data cover a broad range of substances and properties from many different scientific disciplines. Search by specific keywords, properties and substances across a collection* of NIST scientific and technical databases.
Dictionary of Natural Products
The online version of the Dictionary of Natural Products is a structured database holding information on chemical substances. It includes descriptive and numerical data on chemical, physical and biological properties of compounds; systematic and common names of compounds; literature references; structure diagrams and their associated connection tables.

Periodic Tables

Online Periodic Tables:

Interesting Periodic Tables:

6 Different Periodic Tables by Compound Interest