Also see the Reference sources page of this guide.
1. Check the index of a reference book to find out how the information is organized. You may be interested in finding the Heat of Formation for Ethylenediamine. In some cases, Ethylenediamine may not be listed in the index, but the property, the Heat of Formation, is listed.
2. Chemicals are identified in multiple ways. Ethylenediamine could also be listed as:
1,2-Ethanediamine OR 107-15-3 OR C2H8N2
3. Chemistry related reference materials include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and methods. To learn more about a topic in broad details, you would start with an encyclopedia but to find a specific data point, you would start with handbook.
4. Have an isomer? Each could have their own CAS registry number.
Example: The amino acid ALANINE has two registry numbers: 302-72-7 and 56-41-7
5. Don't forget that you can use the LOCATE BY SUBSTANCE IDENTIFIER in SciFinder to find a compound's registry number and alternative names.