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Background

Where to Start

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Searching by Properties

Literature Searching

Quality of Data

 

e-book Electronic resource
U.T. restricted UT-Austin restricted
print Print resource
critical Critically evaluated data
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Searching the Literature

Bibliographic databases (i.e., indexes) are vital for searching the primary literature, but they are not optimally designed for locating property data contained within original documents, especially if the document includes the data in passing rather than as the main focus. It is not always easy to determine from a title and abstract if a paper contains desired numerical data at all. If it does, the actual data are often not shown in the abstract -- the original document must be consulted.

SciFinder (Chemical Abstracts)

The SciFinder version of the Chemical Abstracts database (CAPLUS) can be searched for documents since the late 19th century that may contain desired physical property information. CAS' indexing of substances is extremely thorough and granular, and their subject indexing is also of high quality. There are multiple ways to do this search, which should yield very similar results:

A. Start with the Research Topic query. If you know the substance's Registry number you can use it as a search term instead of a chemical name, and your search will be more precise by avoiding name fragment hits that are not directly related to the compound you are seeking. However, a Registry number is not essential and you can start with a chemical name if you want to. Examples:

dissociation constant of 7778-77-0
dissociation constant of potassium dihydrogen phosphate

From the results table, choose references with the concepts "closely associated with one another" to increase precision further. This method will include documents from all years in the database. Now that the CAPLUS file extends back to 1907 and even before, it is a more powerful tool for identifying older articles that may contain fundamental property data reported long ago.

B. Start from the Explore Substances search:

  1. Search for a compound by Registry number, molecular formula, name, or structure
  2. Click "Get References"*
  3. To retrieve documents from all years, get all references, and then Refine the set using a property name.
* Important caveat: If you select "Properties" from the checkbox "roles" menu before retrieving references, you will only get post-1967 documents. The Property role has not been retrospectively assigned to RNs before that date.

An Alternative to Traditional Indexes: Touloukian's Thermophysical Properties Research Literature Retrieval Guide

What about Google?

Let's face it, if you're on this page you've probably already "googled" your search query and not found what you're looking for. Web search engines are also not ideal tools for finding specific scientific data values, but they can occasionally act as a useful shortcut when used creatively. On the other hand, they can be a waste of time: you could spend an hour sifting through Google results hunting for something that you could find in 30 seconds using the CRC Handbook. It's important to start with the best tools.

Search engines like Google, Google Scholar, Scirus, and Google Books allow you to search within full text of myriad types of scientific literature and web sites, but this is never comprehensive. Your success will depend on your selection of keywords and synonyms and the phrasing of your query (use the "advanced search" option where possible), as well as a measure of sheer luck. You must remember to carefully examine the source of the data. Always look at the original document, not the search engine's summary. Context matters, and you'll soon realize that most of your hits aren't relevant because, while your keywords do appear in a document, they're not in close relation to each other. And while searching is free, your ability to see proprietary content will usually require an institutional subscription to that publication.

Google Scholar (searches full text of undefined swaths of scientific literature)
Scirus (searches selected scientific publications and web sites)
Google (searches the "open web")
Google Books (searches full text of books that Google has scanned or indexed)

Key Journals

Although physical property data are published in many places, these are some of the journals that tend to publish articles focusing on experimental and calculated property data and thermodynamics. All are indexed in Chemical Abstracts/SciFinder.

* These journals also provide ThermoML files, which are publicly available XML data files associated with specific articles, hosted by TRC.