ChemCases.com - ChemCases is a US-based chemistry curriculum development project. You can pick up on many cases studies that look from an inside point of view on how problems are tackled with the help of science. For instance, the story of the first sports drink Gatorade followed a circuitous route with the R&D people at the company having to take into consideration the effects of vigorous exercise, the meaning of sweat and the colligative properties of liquids and mixtures. The result, as you will learn, provides a useful lesson not only in sports science and fitness but osmosis. Other areas cover silicones, the stuff of bathroom sealant and breast implant. Then there's nuclear chemistry cisplatin and cancer, refrigerants for the 21st century, the fat substitute Olestra, pharmaceuticals, fuels and fuel cells. The site is run by staff at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA, with financial backing from the National Science Foundation. It is a bit cluttered on the homepage with too much background information that would be better reserved for the "About" page and some of the headings that you might expect to be hyperlinks to more detailed information are not. It is also frustrating aesthetically that the various current pages do not all conform to a standard style and layout. There are one or two dead links too. But, that said, there is lots of useful information to augment any chemistry curriculum here. Rating: 8 out of 10 (13 January 2003) DB
http://chemcases.com/index.htm
Chemistry Preprint Server - If you want to find out what's happening in the chemical labs of the world before those papers appear in the primary literature, you might check out the Chemistry Preprint Server. This free service is an attempt to provide open access for authors and readers to research papers in all areas of chemistry prior to full peer review. The physicists have had a similar system in place for many years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and that has proved very successful allowing authors to get early feedback in a timely way to help them create the "definitive" version of a paper ready for peer review. Unlike the physics version, this chemistry version from ChemWeb.com requires a free registration for full access, but that is a fairly painless process that gives you access to other useful materials as a biproduct, anyway. As of early July, there were just under 500 articles available, which are freely available and permanently archived. Comments from readers are also archived as are any changes made by the authors. At the time of writing, the latest preprint covered the topic of persistent organic pollutants levels in human milk and food, so topical stuff. Rating: 8 out of 10 (7 September 2002) DB
http://www.chemweb.com/preprint?url=/CPS
ChemSpy.com - This site is touted as a navigator for the chemical industry, but there's every reason to visit if you are after chemical information regardless of your job. Chemspy, created by chemical engineer Glenn Rexwinkel, brings together a wide range of tools that can help you track down information that usually remains hidden in specialist databases about all kinds of compounds. Here you can tap into servers and resources to get toxicity, structural, medical and manufacturer information all from a neat search box, without having to skip between different sites, or more to the point, without having to know where those other sites are. Categorised links - environment, news, chemical engineering etc - provide one-stop access to other useful resources including searchable chemistry journals (more than 20000 of them). I cannot fault this site to be honest, even the somewhat drab grey and green colour scheme is intriguing if not visually stunning. Rating 9 out of 10 (16 May 2002) DB
http://www.chemspy.com/
Molecular Universe - It's not often that scientists themselves come up with a decent introductory pitch into their subject than can be caught by lay people and students alike, but Richard Catlow, the Director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory at the Royal Institution in the UK, has come about as close as you can get. He introduces the topic of molecular and materials science. There are some wonderful pictures showing the inner structure of plastics, metals, gemstones, minerals and medicines and providing just enough background information and explanation on each to keep your attention. From a chemist's point of view, the detail might be a bit simplistic but it will be more than enough for most visitors. I liked the short timeline that offers a whirlwind journey from 1869's Periodic Table to the first enzyme structure determined in 1965, although why it stops almost forty years ago I don't know. Rating 9 out of 10 (4 May 2002) DB
http://www.molecularuniverse.com/
Periodic Table Adventure - Sometimes I quite like that "cheesy" web look. You know the kind, clipart with mad professors and flickering animated gifs. The Periodic Table Adventure provides just such a visual but behind the cheese lies a nice introductory treatise to chemistry and that dearest of devices the periodic table. The site has been created by an eighth grade science teacher in the US, and slots nicely into the science curriculum of Princeton Community Middle School in Princeton, Indiana. But, it is on the web, of course, and so open to anyone who fancies finding out about the insides of an atom, how to interpret the various elemental discoveries, and, if you are a teacher, there's a section just for you on planning a course. There are a few links and access to useful resources although nothing too exciting or unusual. But, some of the tasks for students might be of interest to those stuck for teaching/learning ideas. Rating 8 out of 10 (30 April 2002) DB
http://web.buddyproject.org/web017/web017/
Spectral Lines - Spectral Lines is the new (ish) e-zine of the Spectroscopy Now website (www.spectroscopynow.com), currently up to its fourth issue. This e-zine, written by the science writer David Bradley, provides articles across the many areas of spectroscopy, but with a popular slant, which means it's good reading for the expert and the interested lay person alike. Topics covered include polymer gels, glass transitions, using spectropolarimetry to look at distant galaxies, dioxin testing, among others. The parent website also gathers news and features on spectroscopy, has a bookshop and sections on education, recruitment, conferences and more. (23 October 2001) KN
http://www.spectrallines.com
Chemweb - A wealth of resources exists here for those in professions related to chemistry, and it's all laid out in a clean and elegant manner. Attention has been given to the presentation of text in a highly readable, large size. There are extensive databases, forums, and free access to many journals. Conference information is also given. Registration, which is free, is required to check all the pertinent pages of the site. When we visited, the site tour was unavailable due to the redesign process, but navigation flows well, and there are few glitches. The profiles section highlights a selection of people, journals, and companies. Chemweb also has a lively magazine, The Alchemist; the current issue contains stories regarding the regular ingestion of mercury by Abraham Lncoln (and its bizarre effects on his temperament) and researchers' use of nanotubes in Alzheimer's studies. Technical note: If difficulty is encountered while accessing parts of the site , it is well worth the time to update to a newer version of a browser, and to up the memory allocation. (8 October 2001) AD
http://www.chemweb.com/
