Recommended Chemistry Resources for Students and Teachers 2002
Last updated: 2002-09-06 KRW

 About the Chemists' Net: Philosophy and Objectives

ChemInformatics (Chemical Information Handling)

 Molecular Modelling and Molecular Visualisation
 Periodic Tables
 Data, Databooks, Data Handling Software and Databases
 Databases 
 DaDisp resources
 MathCAD resources
 MatLab resources
 Texas Instruments (TI) graphical calculator resources
 Vernier-TI calculator centred data acquisition projects


Education and Administration, General Resources for Educators, Departmental Resources

 A data table of melting temperatures for 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones
 History of Science and Theory of Knowledge
 Software, simulations and media
 Science and Chemistry Clipart
 Interviews with famous chemists and teachers
 Chemistry Teacher's websites
 Chemicals Suppliers and Labware
 Journals
 Reviews
 Safety
 Home Pages for UK-based examining Authorities and Educational Organisations
 UCAS and Careers

Philosophy and Objectives

This discussion list is a resource for chemistry teachers. It is UK based, but international in character having members from UK schools teaching GCSE and A-level, as well as international schools teaching IGCSE and IB Chemistry. The discussion list enables the sharing of ideas about the way we teach chemistry, and is a peer help system for the problems we meet in experimental work and trying out new practicals.

History: The list was started in 1997 by Keith Wilkinson, then a Chemistry Don at Winchester College from a series of talks and demonstrations given for the RSC Southern Section local meetings.

The Chemists' Net is a non-profit organisation, and is not affiliated to any commercial organisation. We are grateful to Felsted School, UK for the use of their excellent mail server from 1997 - 2001, and also to CambridgeSoft for hosting our web pages. Since early 2001 we have used YahooGroups! to manage the discussion list, and this has made the list administration a good deal easier, as well as offering a range of new features, such as a members' file upload/download area, especially useful for the sharing of teaching resources and ideas.

KRW, September 2002

 Molecular Modelling and Molecular Visualisation

A Brief History
One of the most significant developments of the 90·s in chemistry classroom teaching has been the development and release of RASMOL, software that could read and manipulate atom coordinates of molecules, a simple data matrix of numbers in a text file and given the extension .PDB (Protein Data Base). Combine Rasmol with numerous web based libraries of downloadable .pdb files, and you have a powerful set of tools for finding and downloading molecules, together with an impressive graphical display that will enable you to picture and rotate the virtual molecule.

Rasmol was developed as a joint project between Edinburgh Uni and Glaxo. It is still available although the official development has now ceased. The most recent version 2.7.1 (as of June 2002) has fixed a number of issues, such as earlier versions' 'ghost' effect in the registry blocking other viewers as default. Thus Rasmol has once again become the lightest molecular viewer available with a range of features, and high quality viewing options that makes it a 'must have' for any system. Additionally, there are versions available for every major platform, along with some minor ones such as the BBC Acorn Educational Computer. The program is small and light on memory resources, and is spectacularly fast - ideal for classroom explorations into organic chemistry and biochemistry.

Click here to download RASMOL 2.7.1 from this server.

WebLab Viewer takes RASMOL further with more advanced viewing capabilities such as are useful for visualising alpha helices and beta sheets in proteins, as well as being able to zoom and pan. Accelrys' (formerly MSI) WebLab Viewer Lite (freeware) a 'lite' version of the Pro version, but excellent graphics and features.
http://www.accelrys.com/dstudio/ds_viewer/viewerlite/
Make sure you also download the free zipped library of molecules including examples of inorganics, and pharmaceuticals (750 kb)
http://www.accelrys.com/dstudio/ds_viewer/info/samplemol/SampleMol.zip

Shortcoming of .pdb images
Whilst on the one hand there is no copyright on .pdb files or the data they
contain, there is also little to verify the accuracy of the data they
contain. A biologists list recently described the creation of .pdb files by
cutting and pasting from ISIS draw (a freeware chemical drawing software).
No mention was made of verifying the bond angles, or of energy minimisation.
So be warned, and choose your source of .pdb files carefully. Opinions and
recommendations welcome.

Essential software:
Chime plug-in for Explorer and Netscape (there have been some compatibility
issues with the release 6's of Netscape and Explorer, but Chime is regularly
updated to address evolving browser issues). Chime enables the viewing and
manipulation of a wide variety of molecule formats such as .pdb and .mol and
is very effective in classroom teaching.
http://www.mdlchime.com/chime/

Tutorials and support for CHIME
CHIME's own site at http://www.mdlchime.com/chime/ has a wealth of
resources, but do also take a look at the C4 Project page of Cabrillo College
http://c4.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/ with numerous excellent resources for students and teachers
Student Exercises in Chime
http://c4.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/projects/exercises/index.html
Chime toolkit for website developers
http://c4.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/projects/toolbox/index.html
Chime based tutorial on Insulin
http://c4.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/projects/insulin_tutorial/index.html

Software recommended:
All purpose chemical structure drawing freeware.
http://www.acdlabs.com/download/chemsk.html

Other software:
The Kinemage Project: http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/allows handling,
construction and viewing of biological molecules.

Source of molecules
Okanagan University College has one of the original and still excellent
searchable database of 1400 downloadable .pdb files
http://www.ouc.bc.ca/chem/molecule/molecule.html
Protein Data Bank search
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/
UMASS list of pdb libraries
http://www.umass.edu/microbio/rasmol/whereget.html
Imperial College's molecule library for schools
http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/vchemlib/mol/mol.html
[RP] see Eric Mertz 'Chime Resources'
http://www.umass.edu/microbio/chime/
[RP] and by Dave Woodcock's 'Molecular Models'
http://www.sci.ouc.bc.ca/chem/molecule/molecule.html
100 pdb files of proteins with high resolution (see web notes on resolution
and source)
http://kinemage.biochem.duke.edu/databases/structures.htm
ChemFinder by cambridge software is an excellent, freely usable on-line
database, as can be purchased on CD-rom as ChemIndex. It catalogues about
80,000 molecules, which can be downloaded as chemdraw molecules, optimised
using Molpac in Chem3D and saved to any of many formats, such as .pdb.
http://www.chemfinder.com

Note: Webmolecules.com has disappeared through the domain being pirated. See
earlier posting by KRW.

Other:
Molecule Library v.2.0
http://c4.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/projects/viewers/index.html
Cabrillo College has an excellent downloadable library, complete with chime
based web pages for the viewing of these molecules.
+ easy to use, impressive java enhanced chime modelling
+ excellent for use with biological molecules
- - not flexible, cannot make changes or add to the library

Bristol's Molecule of the Month
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/motm.htm

Examples of good molecular modelling sites:

Any additions, suggestions are very welcome. Please email:

Download Molecules.zip a compressed file containing a collection of molecules for Chemistry students to view. It includes structures for common organic molecules, well known compounds such as LSD and nicotine, polymers, biochemicals, diamond and graphite. Note: there is no copyright on .pdb molecule files. To view these files you will need Rasmol, Chemscape Chime
http://www.mdli.co.uk/support/chime/default.html or
MSI's WebLab molecule viewer. All are free and detailed in the software page. Compiled by KRW.
http://website.lineone.net/~chemie/download/molecules.zip

Cambridge Software has launched a new release of ChemDraw, Chem3D and their ChemOffice suite.
http://products.camsoft.com/family.cfm?FID=2

 

Periodic Tables
Visual Elements Periodic Table Goto ChemSoc's Visual Elements web site and explore the Kingdom of the Periodic Table
http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/page3.html
Dr Mike Winter's WebElements Sheffield University's definitive site with it's database of element data, and downloadable .pdf files for students
http://www.webelements.com/
A full periodic table software with a molar mass and solutions calculator can be downloaded through ZDNet using the link below:
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2054-8893139.html?tag=dir

 

   Data, Databooks, Data Handling Software and Databases

NIST Chemistry WebBook An excellent    online databook with a full database of compounds with spectroscopic data. 
http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/
MrPlot (Uni Michegan) software download
Axum, 
Vernier, Graphical Analysis for use with TI calculators
Effect of entropy and DH on DG, spreadsheet author: 
Statistical Analysis Perform your stats analysis through this online resource
http://www.goethe.de/z/11/aussen/deindex.htm

  MathCAD Resources

						To be added

  MatLab Resources

						To be added

 Texas Instruments (TI) calculator resources

						KRW's TI Project page 

 Vernier-TI calculator centred data acquisition projects

Vernier's Website for the Logger Pro 
http://www.vernier.com/
TI's Calculator and Educator/Student support site
http://education.ti.com/educationportal/index.jsp
Probes Available for the TI/CBL2's and LoggerPro's
http://www.vernier.com/probes/index.html

 DaDisp resources

						To be added
 Databases 
The melting points of commonly isolated 2,4-dnph derivatives
NIST Web DataBook with infra-red and mass spectra  Physical Reference Data – a 
    good place to send students seeking specific data for compounds where there 
    is no CRC handbook to hand!
Fundamental Physical Constants from NIST
Umrechnung von Einheiten
Tables of Chemical Data
pKa  of Common acids and pKb of Common Bases
Physical and Safety Data from ChemFinder:

ChemFinder Simply enter the name of a compound or formulae. ChemFinder returns formulae, structure, physical properties and data references.  Excellent for students. http://chemfinder.camsoft.com/

Material Safety Data Sheet Index
A good source of MSDS’s for those risk assessments…
http://www.enviro-net.com/technical/msds/

Molecules from Chemistry at Okanagan University
One of the original sites to host .pdb molecule files. It now has sophisticated search facilities and the biggest library of molecules. Whether you use Rasmol, Chime, or WebLabViewer, this is an excellent resource not to be overlooked.
http://www.sci.ouc.bc.ca/chem/molecule/molecule.html

Poisonous Plant Database (PLANTOX)
As the title suggests, a database of botanical toxins..
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~djw/readme.html

Journal Search
Search through chemistry related journals for key words
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5243/base_en.htm

Liquid Crystal database at Hamburg Uni. Allows free use once you have created a web account.
http://liqcryst.chemie.uni-hamburg.de/lolas-www/main.html 

ChemDex

Mark Winter's ChemDex, a database of chemistry related 
sites at Sheffield University 

http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/

University of Liverpool Chemistry Sites Database
The ever expanding, but carefully sorted and reviewed lists of  links for chemists 
 ttp://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/Links/links.html
Rolf Claessen's Chemistry Index 
A well resourced and maintained site with a good selection of links to German chemistry related sites.
http://www.claessen.net/chemistry

  
Perfumery 
A database of chemical compounds used in scents and perfumery
http://www.execpc.com/~goodscnt/
Scientific American Articles Database 
A search facility makes this a very powerful site with access to articles from    the SciAm database. 
http://www.sciam.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi    
Rasmol .pdb files 
A searchable database of Rasmol .pdb molecule files
http://www.sci.ouc.bc.ca/chem/molecule/molecule.html 
The Smell Database 
http://mc2.cchem.berkeley.edu/Smells/index.html 
Klotho Compound List
http://www.ibc.wustl.edu/moirai/klotho/compound_list.html 
 Pigments Library
http://pw1.netcom.com/~bcb56/1500.htm 
 
 Amino Acids 
 List of acids with formulae and 3D modeling link to specific acids
 http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/chemistry/bio/amino-acids.html


 Safety

2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones

Aldehydes Tm/°C Ketones Tm/°C
methanal
ethanal
propanal
butanal
2-methylpropanal
pentanal
benzaldehyde		 167
164, 146 (2 forms)
156
123
187
98
237		 propanone
butanone
pentan-2-one
pentan-3-one
3-methylbutanone
hexan-2-one
cyclohexanone		 128
115
141
156
117
107
162		 
  Reviews

ChemOffice 2000 Ultra: the ultimate professional chemist's computational tool http://www.chemnews.com/art.cfm?S=126

DrDAQ Data aquisition the simplest and cheapest data aquisition on the market. A small robust module smaller than a cellphone complete with on board light sensor, sound sensor and temperature sensor. It comes complete with plug in temperature and pH sensors, and using the terminal connections and software provided can be used not only for data logging, but also as an oscilloscope. The software provided is functional and upgrades can be downloaded from their website. In appearance it could be better written as it looks dated, but drivers are provided allowing data aquisition directly into Excel and into Visual Basic.Verdict: excellent value - every PC should have one. Good for use both at Primary and Secondary levels. No technical expertise required. DrDAQ can be found at www.drdaq.com


Software, simulations and media

 Science and Chemistry Clipart

Chris Evans (QEGS Blackburn) has put together a site for teachers clipart. New additions always welcome.
http://www.btinternet.com/~chemistry.diagrams 

  UK Chemistry Teachers' Websites 

Some excellently presented and resourced websites are:

Mike Thompson's Uppingham Student's Chemistry Website 
http://www.4chemistry.co.uk/

Leigh Old's Organic Analysis and other data 
http://members.aol.com/ChangChem/topic25.html
Weston Favell Upper School, Northampton

Rod Beavon's (Westminster School) excellently resourced Chemistry site http://www.rod.beavon.clara.net/chemistry_contents.htm 

 Interviews with well known chemistry teachers and lecturers

(I began this in 2000, but sadly time has not permitted me to interview more 
teachers) Ken Kite, renowned for enthusing students and teachers with 
his Chemistry of Colour demonstration lectures, describes his career and his 
passion for Chemistry. 
http://www.chemclub.com/teachers/chemists/august2000/kenkite.html

Chemicals Suppliers and Labware
Sigma-Aldrich Chemicals Online chemicals database, pricing and ordering. https://www.sigma-aldrich.com/ Phillip Harris International

 History of Science and Theory of Knowledge 
 The Culture of Chemistry
Writings and Papers that shaped Chemistry through the ages.
http://maple.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/papers.html
 Journals
Nature http://www.nature.com/
The Times Educational Supplement http://www.tes.co.uk/
The Chemical Educator http://journals.springer-ny.com/chedr/
The Times Literary Supplement http://www.the-tls.co.uk/
Elemental Discoveries http://www.camsoft.com/elemental/index.html
Chemweb http://chemweb.com/
New Scientist
International Educator
Scientific American
 Home Pages for UK-based examining Authorities and Educational Organisations
International Baccalaureate 
Cambridge International Examinations 
CCEA 
WJEC 
EdExcel | OCR      | AQA 
QCA
National Curriculum Documents
ECIS - European Council of International Schools
IB Online Curriculum Centre - for International Baccalaureate teachers (Diploma programme, MYP and PYP)
Search Associates - an international staffing agency for teachers and international schools

Royal Society of Chemistry					
UK  Government Information Service	
DfEE																
QCA																
Millenium Commission 							
National Grid for Learning						
Association for Science Education		

Royal Institution
Royal Society

  UCAS and Careers
UCAS  home page
Alternatively, you can goto a UK University directly from this map
For planning a journey within the UK to an interview or visit, then look no further than Railtrack's own journey planner
for careers in Chemistry, see UK Univeristy Chemistry departments page. 
Author: Keith Wilkinson, Science Department, ISL September 2002