Chemical Trade Names
Guide to Reference Sources
This bibliography is intended as a guide to important printed resources in this subject area.
All titles listed are shelved in the Chemistry Library's reference section unless otherwise noted.
These titles are particularly useful.
Restricted to UT users.
A trade name is a proprietary name, which may or may not be a registered trademark, that is applied to a product by a company for the purposes of marketing and sales. It is meant to be memorable and unique, and generally doesn't convey much chemical information. Trade names are usually applied to drugs and many kinds of industrial chemical products. A trademark is a legal concept, not a scientific concept, and it is completely distinct from patents and copyright.
There is no single source for identifying the chemical names or composition of specific trade names and vice-versa. The sheer number of commercial products and trademarks, and their constant flux over time, make such a tool impossible. The sources listed here are good starting points. Earlier editions of some of these resources should be consulted when historical trade names are needed.
DICTIONARIES AND DIRECTORIES
- Chem sources U.S.A.
- TP 12 C443 (latest edition)
- Annual listing of commercially available chemicals and their producers, with company and trade name indexes. Separate section for polymers. A good source of current manufacturer information, but selective in coverage.
- Chemical manufacturers directory of trade name products.
- TP 12 C535 2000
- Information on 63,000 chemical and material trade name products currently sold worldwide.
- Chemical tradename dictionary.
- TP 9 A73 1993
- Entries include principal manufacturer and brief description. Manufacturer directory in back.
- Concise chemical and technical dictionary. 4th ed.
- QD 5 B4 1986
- 85,000 brief definitions of trademark products, chemicals, industrial products, and drugs.
- Dictionary of chemical names and synonyms.
- TP 9 H65 1992
- Entries in CAS registry number order, giving formula, molecular weight, SMILES notation, preferred name and synonyms. Name/synonym index forms the latter half of the volume.
- Drugs: synonyms and properties.
- RS 51 D776 2000
- Descriptions of over 10,000 drugs from the USP. Name/synonym index in the back.
- Encyclopedia of chemical trademarks and synonyms.
- TP 9 E529 1981, 3 vols.
- Now dated compendium of commonly used trade names, trademarks, generic names, and acronyms. Entries indicate chemical composition or use, and sometimes a code for a supplier. Suppliers listed in vol.3.
- Gardner's chemical synonyms and trade names. 11th ed.
- TP 9 G286 1999
- A dictionary and commercial handbook containing brief description of terms, with cross- references and British spellings. Covers industrial products, pesticides, agricultural chemicals, etc. Part 2 contains a list of suppliers with their names, addresses, and a list of their products.
- Handbook of green chemicals.
- TP 201 A845 1998
- Includes trade name index of environmentally-friendly chemicals.
- Handbook of plastic compounds, elastomers and resins.
- TP 1130 A84 1992
- Part 1 is organized by compound category, and contains information on manufacturer, description, properties, function, and application; part 2 is a trade name cross-reference (start here); part 3 is a chemical component cross-reference, including CAS registry numbers; part 4 is a manufacturer's directory.
- Hawley's condensed chemical dictionary, 14th ed.
- QD 5 C5 2001
- A standard dictionary defining terms related to chemistry and the chemical industry.
- Merck index.
- Handbook Table
- Standard handbook on the structures, properties, and uses of pharmaceutical products and common chemical compounds. Synonym index in back.
- Organic-chemical drugs and their synonyms. 9th ed.
- RS 154 N428 2007
- 7-volume set arranged by molecular formula, including a 2-volume synonym index. Entries include CAS Registry numbers, list of salts, and the compound's uses.
- Rapid guide to trade names and synonyms of environmentally regulated chemicals.
- TP 200 P63 1998
- 30,000 English language names and foreign synonyms of chemicals regulated under RCRA, CERCLA, CAA, CWA, and SDWA, plus listings of registry numbers from CAS, RTECS, FEMA, NCI, USAF, UN, EINECS, etc.
- Specialty chemicals source book.
- TP 200 A78 1997, 2 vols.
- Profiles of over 8000 chemical products currently used in formulated end products; all trade names fully cross-referenced in vol.1.
ONLINE SOURCES
A variety of free Web databases can be used to identify chemical names and structures, including many manufacturer and supplier catalogs. Some are listed on the Chemistry Library's
Internet resources page.
CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS
- Registry (SciFinder Scholar)
- SciFinder provides easy access to the Chemical Abstracts and Registry databases, as well as the CHEMLIST and CHEMCATS files containing regulatory and supplier information on millions of chemicals. Registry contains names and synonyms for over 25 million reported substances, mixtures, polymers, biological compounds, and other materials. While Registry does index many trade names as used in the chemical literature, CAS makes no systematic effort to gather and index all known trade names for a specific substance.
- Chemical Abstracts Index Guide
- This quasi-subject thesaurus provides cross-references to official CA Index Names for commonly used trivial and trade names. Use the Index Name to consult the printed Chemical Substance Indexes. Remember that the Index Guide changes over time, so consult the appropriate edition for the indexing period you want. Shelved with the CA Collective Indexes. See the page on printed CA for more information.
about Trademarks... from the
Engineering Library and the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
