''The Merck Index'' is an encyclopedia of
chemical
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wi ...
s,
drug
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
s and
biologicals with over 10,000
monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
on single substances or groups of related
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
s
published online by the
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
.
History
The first edition of the Merck's Index was published in 1889 by the German chemical company
Emanuel Merck and was primarily used as a sales catalog for Merck's growing list of chemicals it sold.
The American subsidiary was established two years later and continued to publish it. During World War I the US government seized Merck's US operations and made it a separate American "Merck" company that continued to publish the Merck Index.
In 2012 the Merck Index was licensed to the
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
.
An online version of The Merck Index, including historic records and new updates not in the print edition,
is commonly available through research libraries. It also includes an appendix with monographs on organic
named reaction A name reaction is a chemical reaction named after its discoverers or developers. Among the tens of thousands of organic reactions that are known, hundreds of such reactions are well-known enough to be named after people. Well-known examples include ...
s.
The 15th edition was published in April 2013.
Monographs in ''The Merck Index'' typically contain:
* a
CAS registry number
A CAS Registry Number (also referred to as CAS RN or informally CAS Number) is a unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), US to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. It inclu ...
* synonyms of the substance, such as
trivial name
In chemistry, a trivial name is a nonsystematic name for a chemical substance. That is, the name is not recognized according to the rules of any formal system of chemical nomenclature such as IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, IUPAC inor ...
s and
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry nomenclature
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has published four sets of rules to standardize chemical nomenclature.
There are two main areas:
* IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry (Red Book)
* IUPAC nomenclature of organic ...
* a
chemical formula
In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...
*
molecular weight
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...
*
percent composition
Elemental analysis is a process where a sample of some material (e.g., soil, waste or drinking water, bodily fluids, minerals, chemical compounds) is analyzed for its chemical element, elemental and sometimes isotope, isotopic composition. Element ...
* a
structural formula
The structural formula of a chemical compound is a graphic representation of the molecular structure (determined by structural chemistry methods), showing how the atoms are possibly arranged in the real three-dimensional space. The chemical bondi ...
* a description of the substance's appearance
*
melting point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...
and
boiling point
The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor.
The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding envir ...
*
solubility
In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a substance, the solute, to form a solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form such a solution.
The extent of the solubil ...
in
solvent
A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvÅ'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
s commonly used in the laboratory
* citations to other literature regarding the compound's
chemical synthesis
As a topic of chemistry, chemical synthesis (or combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products. This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In moder ...
* a therapeutic category, if applicable
* caution and hazard information
Editions
*1st (1889) - first edition released by E. Merck (Germany)
*2nd (1896) - second edition released by Merck's American subsidiary and added medicines from the
United States Pharmacopeia
The ''United States Pharmacopeia'' (''USP'') is a pharmacopeia (compendium of drug information) for the United States published annually by the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (usually also called the USP), a nonprofit organization that ...
and
National Formulary
A formulary is a list of pharmaceutical drugs, often decided upon by a group of people, for various reasons such as insurance coverage or use at a medical facility. Traditionally, a formulary contained a collection of formulas for the compounding ...
*3rd (1907)
*4th (1930)
*5th (1940)
*6th (1952)
*7th (1960) - first named editor is Merck chemist Paul G. Stecher
*8th (1968) - editor Paul G. Stecher
*9th (1976) - editor Martha Windholz, a Merck chemist
*10th (1983), - editor Martha Windholz. In 1984 the Index became available online as well as printed.
*11th (1989),
*12th (1996), - editor Susan Budavari, a Merck chemist
*13th (2001), - editor Maryadele O'Neil, senior editor at Merck
*14th (2006), - editor Maryadele O'Neil
*15th (2013), - editor Maryadele O'Neil; first edition under the Royal Society of Chemistry
See also
*
List of academic databases and search engines
This article contains a representative list of notable databases and search engines useful in an academic setting for finding and accessing articles in academic journals, institutional repositories, archives, or other collections of scientific and ...
* ''The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy''
* ''The Merck Veterinary Manual''
* ''Home Health and Pet Health''
References
External links
*
Merck Group
1889 non-fiction books
1896 non-fiction books
1907 non-fiction books
1930 non-fiction books
1940 non-fiction books
1952 non-fiction books
1960 non-fiction books
1968 non-fiction books
1976 non-fiction books
1983 non-fiction books
1989 non-fiction books
1996 non-fiction books
2001 non-fiction books
2006 non-fiction books
Encyclopedias of science
1889 in science
Royal Society of Chemistry
Chemical databases
Biological databases
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