- CAPLUS (Chemical Abstracts)
- Chemical Abstracts online extends back to 1907 (and now includes selected pre-1907 references as well). It is the world's most comprehensive index to the literature of the chemical sciences. Over 9,000 journals are currently scanned, in addition to millions of worldwide patents, books, reviews, conferences, technical reports, and dissertations in over 50 languages.
- Registry
- This database of tens of millions of compound records (the majority organic) is the source of CAS Registry Numbers. It contains names, synonyms, trade names, molecular formulas, and structures of substances registered by CAS - which are then linked to bibliographic data in the CAPLUS file. The file may be searched by name, synonym, molecular formula, or by drawing a structure.
Any completely described substance - product, reactant, or intermediate - that appears in a document indexed by CAS receives a registry number and is entered in the database. If a desired substance is not in the database, as determined by several searches, including exact structure, you can be reasonably certain that compound has not been fully described or mentioned in the literature since 1957. (Registry is not fully retrospective.) A substructure search to find similar compounds which might serve as models or starting points is the next step.
- CASREACT
- CASREACT contains information on millions of single- and multistep organic reactions, drawn primarily from Chemical Abstracts' organic sections since 1985. Information includes reactants, solvents, and catalysts. The file is searchable by structure of reactants, functional group codes, registry numbers, yields, bibliographic data, substance and subject indexing terms, and CA abstract numbers. It then links you to the source article record.
Beilstein is the most extensive source for property and synthesis information on carbon compounds. Beilstein is retrospective and contains all compound information found in the printed handbook up to 1959, as well as information currently gathered from selected organic and medicinal chemistry journals. Beilstein contains structure and property data for over ten million carbon compounds and ten million reactions. It complements SciFinder/Registry with excellent pre-1960 coverage. A comprehensive literature search for a substance must include both SciFinder and Beilstein.
This database allows you to look forward in time from a known paper using citations found in article bibliographies. For instance, if you have an important older paper, you can find later papers that cited it. This is a completely different way of approaching the literature than a subject-based index like Chemical Abstracts, and it can be a useful complement to other methods.
The library's online catalog is the place to search for books (including UT dissertations and e-books) on topics in organic synthesis, particularly the chemistry of specific compound classes or functional groups, or well-known reactions. It is not a good place to search for specific compounds or narrow topics that would be more likely addressed in articles. Searching by keyword is the best option for topical queries, and results can be limited by location, format, year, and other parameters. The Catalog also contains records for all journals and series held by the library.The Library of Congress classification for books in organic synthesis in general is QD 262. Books on reaction mechanisms are classed at QD 502.5.
Literature Search 
