CHEM 4991B

1. CHEM 4991B Medicinal Organic Chemistry

2. The Origins of Organic Chemistry Some name dropping: Justus Liebig (1803-1875) is considered to be the founder of Organic Chemistry. Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) moved chemistry from theory to experimentation “one fact properly proved is worth all the theories that can be invented.” Victor Meyer (1848-1897) and Charles Gerhardt (1816-1856), who studied under Liebig, worked in France and Germany teaching and conducting research. Dimitri Mendelėeff (1834-1907) and others in the last half of the nineteenth century worked to make chemistry more codified, more research based. How did they communicate their findings to each other?

3. Many worked in universities as teachers passing their knowledge on to their students. Others were working in chemical industries such as dye works or with petroleum. They published their findings mostly in books or pamphlets or gave speeches at learned societies (members of almost exclusively men); even though there were several very accomplished female chemists at the time. There a few long established journals as well. Some early women of science: Vera Bogdanovskaria (1867-1896) died as the result of an explosion in her lab probably from the misuse of prussic acid. IuliiaLermontova (1847-1919) known for the catalytic cracking and continuous distillationsof petroleum.

4. Occasionally these earlier chemists would individually or collectively publish an omnibus work giving all the current information on the topic: treatise in such an such. Some of these could be several volumes long and take many years to complete and were almost immediately followed by revisions, supplements and addendums. Since your library is older than most, we actually have some of these early works such as those written by John Dalton or Beilstein. It was not until very late in the nineteenth century that journals as you know them began slowly to appear. Initially many were the collections of the speeches given at learned societies: Proceedings of the X Society or Transactions of the Y Society.

13. With the beginning of the 20th Century journals became the most important vehicle for scholarly communication. Gaining access to the contents of all these titles became a challenge. The American Chemical Society began publishing Chemical Abstracts which attempted to give English speaking chemists access to articles being published in Russian, French and German by giving at least an English summary. Key articles coming out of Russia and Germany where translated and re-published as translations in English journals. Most researchers were expected to read, if not speak, English and German and French and Russian. With access restricted to large research universities, other chemists needed easier ways to access the literature. This was greatly assisted by the appearance of journals that summarized research by collecting key articles together with titles like: Advances in … Progress in….. Annual review of… Annals of …. Reviews of… Accounts of… Communications in… For many chemists these remained essentials tools until journals began to be published using computer files. Now every word could be indexed and cross-indexed; crudely at first but then with the speed of light almost. Take a close look next time you do a Google Search to see have many records were checked and retrieved in less time than it takes me to find and press the period key.

21. So why the history lesson? The purpose of research at the undergraduate level is more about finding some or any ideas; gathering those ideas together in some coherent fashion, formulating them around some centre idea or thesis, and then drawing a conclusion of some sort based on that information. In other words, changing information into knowledge. At the masters level the gathering of information becomes more comprehensive and at the PHD level the discover process should be exhaustive or totally complete; no stone left unturned. When you are employed in research or industry your career and job could depend on how good your research skills are. Since this is a 4991 capstone course, Dr. Culf would like your researching/searching to be more than superficial. He would like you to explore other avenues you may not have heard of before. My job is to assist you in that endeavour.

22. Database Searching Tips – Additional Clues • Read what is appearing on the screen • Check out the help files • Watch for caution statements – “Does not react well to safari browsers” • Look for e-mail and export features • Many vendors index materials that they DO NOT provide access to • Watch for coverage details • Includes/excludes book chapters, conferences, abstracts, full text • Includes/excludes patents • Full text cover to cover • Date embargoes • Coverage embargoes, beginning and/or end dates • Browser version restrictions • Display requirements “Microsoft Silverlight”, Adobe Reader 9 • Variations in spelling colour/color synthesis/syntheses

37. Where does the export file go to and in what format? Sometimes the software will open a REFWORKS session Sometimes the software will give you options of where, what file formats to use, and what citation manager software to use Sometimes nothing seems to happen but a file has been created and stored by the browser in the location you have specified in your browser setup Mailing the result set to yourself is an useful convenient option Watch for file size restrictions for export and e-mail Off campus links are not always provided

38. Contact information: 506-364-2237 bmcnally@mta.ca Office: Room M12