First International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry (ECSOC-1), www.mdpi.org/ecsoc/, September 1-30, 1997
[F0009]

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY RESOURCES
WORLDWIDE

An intuitive WWW resource guide for synthetic organic chemists

Koen Van Aken, Georgia State University, Chemistry Department, Atlanta, GA, 30303

Received: 15 August 1997 / Uploaded: 15 August 1997

The use of computers in organic laboratories is not as straightforward as in other chemistry disciplines. After all, the synthesis of organic compounds is more then a few mouse clicks away. Generally speaking, the need of organic chemists for using bits and bytes stops after mastering word processing and chemical drawing programs.

In this respect, the arrival of the Internet is intriguing. It opens a window of opportunities but practicing organic chemists are hard to convince how this new technology can help them achieving their goals. The impressive amount of information is both a blessing and burden. An attempt to find an answer to a specific question is most of the time accompanied by an inefficient use of the researchers¹ time sieving through unrelated/irrelevant sites.

The need for information filters in cyberspace tailor-made for certain professional activities is apparent and triggered the creation of "Organic Chemistry Resources Worldwide". Its mission consists of collecting and independently annotating all useful organic chemistry sites and presenting them in a way that reflects thought processes of synthetic organic chemists. This intuitive navigation is obtained by focussing around their five major activities:

  1. Screen the literature, filter information and generate ideas
  2. Synthesize and purify the compound at the bench
  3. Confirm the structure by analytical techniques
  4. Write down experiments in notebooks, reports and articles
  5. Communicate with colleagues about their results or activities.

Besides the easy navigation, the site has several other user friendly features, e.g. a minimum of (slow-loading) graphics, no access restriction, freely available for a worldwide audience, no registration to fill in or password to remember.

We would like to invite you to visit the guide and explore yourself what kind of information is available at your fingertips. And, as the site is permanently "under construction", any additions and/or comments are welcome.

ENTER Organic Chemistry Resources Worldwide by a click on the door

Comments

During 1-30 September 1997, all comments on this poster should be sent by e-mail to ecsoc@listserv.arizona.edu with F0009 as the message subject of your e-mail. After the conference, please send all the comments and reprints requests to the author(s).