You can open the text query box by clicking the bar underneath the words Search Fields from the main Commander screen.

Transcription

1 Useful Tricks in CrossFire Text Searching You can open the text query box by clicking the bar underneath the words Search Fields from the main Commander screen. The tabular query has four fields, Field Name, Relation, Field Value, and Operator. The Field Name is the part of the record that you want to search. Examples of field names are CAS number, NMR, Journal Title, and Molecular Formula. You must use Gmelin s abbreviation for the name of the field. To find this abbreviation: Use the Search Fields tab in the left column of your screen. This brings you into a tree structure for searchable fields (ex. Chemical Name, CAS number, Spectra, Date of Publication Select the field that you want, either by clicking through the tree or by searching in the Search Field Name in Hierarchy option, just above the field tab. Double-click on a field name to add it to the table If you are having difficulty finding the field name that you need, click the find button at the top of the screen and type the name in the box given. You may have to try several synonyms.

2 The Field Content is the text or number for which you want to search in the field that you have chosen. Examples of values that may appear in the chemical name field are benzene, 1-bromo-heptane, and buckminster fullerene. For fields whose values contain text rather than numbers, it is best to search the fields indices and locate the exact spelling of the text within them. Click on the downward-pointing arrow beside the field content space. This will bring you to the index for this field. Slowly type in the word for which you want to search. The index will scroll automatically to the proper place in the alphabet. Select a term either by clicking on it (to highlight it) and clicking on the doublearrow button or by double clicking the term. You may select multiple terms. Click OK to continue. Make sure you read the index terms around your term carefully; you may find some terms that have not been translated from the German or some terms that contain type-os. The Relation space tells the search engine how it should locate the field content within that field.

3 The following items should NOT be searched using the index of terms 1. Temperatures: Temperatures in Gmelin are reported in degrees Celsius. Although the program reports them in scientific notation (7.5*10 1 ), you should search for them without using this convention. You want to search for all compounds with a melting point of 75 C. You type 75 as the field value melting point temperature. 2. Anything Needing Truncation: Use truncation when you want to enter a partial chemical name or formula. The truncation symbol is *. You want to search for any kind of borane as a reactant in a chemical reaction. You type *borane* as the field value for Chemical reaction: reactant name. You want to search for all different hydroboration reactions that have been entered into the database. You type hydroborat* as the field value for Chemical reaction: general conditions. 3. Ranges: Suppose that you need to specify a numerical range that you would like to find. You may use the symbols < or > and >= or <=to specify that range. You want to find compounds having a melting point above 75 C. You type 75 as the field content for the melting point, and use the > relation. You may want to find something with a melting point greater than or equal to 75 C. In this case, you type 75, and use the >= relation. You want to find compounds with boiling points between 200 C and 225 C. You type as the field value for boiling point temp and use the is relation.

4 Operator: The four options for operator are and, or, not, and proximity. Here s what they mean. 1. And: Use and when you want to search for a record containing two properties, but not necessarily within a field or subfield. You want to find out if there are any records for the compound lithium aluminum hydride that also contain the flash point of this compound. You structure your search as follows. 2. Or: Use or when you want to search for a record containing either one property or another, or when you want to search for separate records. You want to find information on either the compound C 60 or the compound C 70. You structure your search as follows. 3. Not: Use not when you want to search for a record that has one property but not another. You are looking for information the boiling point of a water, but you do not want any boiling points at low pressure (less than 100 degrees). You structure your search as follows. 4. Proximity: Use proximity when you want to search for a record that contains two properties within the same field or subfield. You are looking for reactions of boranes with acetylenes. You structure your search as follows.

5 The order of operations for Beilstien or Gmelin is (((A * B) * C) * D), where * is any operator, A is the first field name entered and D is the last. If you want to use a different order than this, you need to add parenthesis. For a simple search without nested parentheses, you can simply use the ( button beside the field name. For a more complex search, you need to click on the button and add your parentheses by hand. The example below shows how you should enter the search ((A or B) and (C or D)) not E.