1.
Jmol
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Jmol is computer software for molecular modelling chemical structures in 3-dimensions. Jmol returns a 3D representation of a molecule that may be used as a teaching tool and it is written in the programming language Java, so it can run on the operating systems Windows, macOS, Linux, and Unix, if Java is installed. It is free and open-source software released under a GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.0, a standalone application and a software development kit exist that can be integrated into other Java applications, such as Bioclipse and Taverna. A popular feature is an applet that can be integrated into web pages to display molecules in a variety of ways, for example, molecules can be displayed as ball-and-stick models, space-filling models, ribbon diagrams, etc. Jmol supports a range of chemical file formats, including Protein Data Bank, Crystallographic Information File, MDL Molfile. There is also a JavaScript-only version, JSmol, that can be used on computers with no Java, the Jmol applet, among other abilities, offers an alternative to the Chime plug-in, which is no longer under active development. While Jmol has many features that Chime lacks, it does not claim to reproduce all Chime functions, most notably, Chime requires plug-in installation and Internet Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 2.0 on Microsoft Windows, or Netscape Communicator 4.8 on Mac OS9. Jmol requires Java installation and operates on a variety of platforms. For example, Jmol is fully functional in Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Google Chrome, fast and Scriptable Molecular Graphics in Web Browsers without Java3D
2.
ChEMBL
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ChEMBL or ChEMBLdb is a manually curated chemical database of bioactive molecules with drug-like properties. It is maintained by the European Bioinformatics Institute, of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, based at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, the database, originally known as StARlite, was developed by a biotechnology company called Inpharmatica Ltd. later acquired by Galapagos NV. The data was acquired for EMBL in 2008 with an award from The Wellcome Trust, resulting in the creation of the ChEMBL chemogenomics group at EMBL-EBI, the ChEMBL database contains compound bioactivity data against drug targets. Bioactivity is reported in Ki, Kd, IC50, and EC50, data can be filtered and analyzed to develop compound screening libraries for lead identification during drug discovery. ChEMBL version 2 was launched in January 2010, including 2.4 million bioassay measurements covering 622,824 compounds and this was obtained from curating over 34,000 publications across twelve medicinal chemistry journals. ChEMBLs coverage of available bioactivity data has grown to become the most comprehensive ever seen in a public database, in October 2010 ChEMBL version 8 was launched, with over 2.97 million bioassay measurements covering 636,269 compounds. ChEMBL_10 saw the addition of the PubChem confirmatory assays, in order to integrate data that is comparable to the type, ChEMBLdb can be accessed via a web interface or downloaded by File Transfer Protocol. It is formatted in a manner amenable to computerized data mining, ChEMBL is also integrated into other large-scale chemistry resources, including PubChem and the ChemSpider system of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In addition to the database, the ChEMBL group have developed tools and these include Kinase SARfari, an integrated chemogenomics workbench focussed on kinases. The system incorporates and links sequence, structure, compounds and screening data, the primary purpose of ChEMBL-NTD is to provide a freely accessible and permanent archive and distribution centre for deposited data. July 2012 saw the release of a new data service, sponsored by the Medicines for Malaria Venture. The data in this service includes compounds from the Malaria Box screening set, myChEMBL, the ChEMBL virtual machine, was released in October 2013 to allow users to access a complete and free, easy-to-install cheminformatics infrastructure. In December 2013, the operations of the SureChem patent informatics database were transferred to EMBL-EBI, in a portmanteau, SureChem was renamed SureChEMBL. 2014 saw the introduction of the new resource ADME SARfari - a tool for predicting and comparing cross-species ADME targets
3.
ChemSpider
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ChemSpider is a database of chemicals. ChemSpider is owned by the Royal Society of Chemistry, the database contains information on more than 50 million molecules from over 500 data sources including, Each chemical is given a unique identifier, which forms part of a corresponding URL. This is an approach to develop an online chemistry database. The search can be used to widen or restrict already found results, structure searching on mobile devices can be done using free apps for iOS and for the Android. The ChemSpider database has been used in combination with text mining as the basis of document markup. The result is a system between chemistry documents and information look-up via ChemSpider into over 150 data sources. ChemSpider was acquired by the Royal Society of Chemistry in May,2009, prior to the acquisition by RSC, ChemSpider was controlled by a private corporation, ChemZoo Inc. The system was first launched in March 2007 in a release form. ChemSpider has expanded the generic support of a database to include support of the Wikipedia chemical structure collection via their WiChempedia implementation. A number of services are available online. SyntheticPages is an interactive database of synthetic chemistry procedures operated by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Users submit synthetic procedures which they have conducted themselves for publication on the site and these procedures may be original works, but they are more often based on literature reactions. Citations to the published procedure are made where appropriate. They are checked by an editor before posting. The pages do not undergo formal peer-review like a journal article. The comments are moderated by scientific editors. The intention is to collect practical experience of how to conduct useful chemical synthesis in the lab, while experimental methods published in an ordinary academic journal are listed formally and concisely, the procedures in ChemSpider SyntheticPages are given with more practical detail. Comments by submitters are included as well, other publications with comparable amounts of detail include Organic Syntheses and Inorganic Syntheses
4.
DrugBank
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The DrugBank database is a comprehensive, freely accessible, online database containing information on drugs and drug targets. As both a bioinformatics and a resource, DrugBank combines detailed drug data with comprehensive drug target information. Because of its scope, comprehensive referencing and unusually detailed data descriptions. As a result, links to DrugBank are maintained for nearly all drugs listed in Wikipedia, DrugBank is widely used by the drug industry, medicinal chemists, pharmacists, physicians, students and the general public. Its extensive drug and drug-target data has enabled the discovery and repurposing of a number of existing drugs to treat rare, the latest release of the database contains 8227 drug entries including 2003 FDA-approved small molecule drugs,221 FDA-approved biotech drugs,93 nutraceuticals and over 6000 experimental drugs. Additionally,4270 non-redundant protein sequences are linked to these drug entries, each DrugCard entry contains more than 200 data fields with half of the information being devoted to drug/chemical data and the other half devoted to drug target or protein data. Four additional databases, HMDB, T3DB, SMPDB and FooDB are also part of a suite of metabolomic/cheminformatic databases. The first version of DrugBank was released in 2006 and this early release contained relatively modest information about 841 FDA-approved small molecule drugs and 113 biotech drugs. It also included information on 2133 drug targets, the second version of DrugBank was released in 2009. This greatly expanded and improved version of the database included 1344 approved small molecule drugs and 123 biotech drugs as well as 3037 unique drug targets. Version 2.0 also included, for the first time, withdrawn drugs and illicit drugs, version 3.0 was released in 2011. This version contained 1424 approved small molecule drugs and 132 biotech drugs as well as >4000 unique drug targets, version 3.0 also included drug transporter data, drug pathway data, drug pricing, patent and manufacturing data as well as data on >5000 experimental drugs. Version 4.0 was released in 2014 and this version included 1558 FDA-approved small molecule drugs,155 biotech drugs and 4200 unique drug targets. Version 4.0 also incorporated information on drug metabolites, drug taxonomy, drug spectra, drug binding constants. Table 1 provides a complete statistical summary of the history of DrugBank’s development. All data in DrugBank is non-proprietary or is derived from a non-proprietary source and it is freely accessible and available to anyone. In addition, nearly every item is fully traceable and explicitly referenced to the original source. DrugBank data is available through a web interface and downloads
5.
European Chemicals Agency
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ECHA is the driving force among regulatory authorities in implementing the EUs chemicals legislation. ECHA helps companies to comply with the legislation, advances the safe use of chemicals, provides information on chemicals and it is located in Helsinki, Finland. The Agency, headed by Executive Director Geert Dancet, started working on 1 June 2007, the REACH Regulation requires companies to provide information on the hazards, risks and safe use of chemical substances that they manufacture or import. Companies register this information with ECHA and it is freely available on their website. So far, thousands of the most hazardous and the most commonly used substances have been registered, the information is technical but gives detail on the impact of each chemical on people and the environment. This also gives European consumers the right to ask whether the goods they buy contain dangerous substances. The Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation introduces a globally harmonised system for classifying and labelling chemicals into the EU. This worldwide system makes it easier for workers and consumers to know the effects of chemicals, companies need to notify ECHA of the classification and labelling of their chemicals. So far, ECHA has received over 5 million notifications for more than 100000 substances, the information is freely available on their website. Consumers can check chemicals in the products they use, Biocidal products include, for example, insect repellents and disinfectants used in hospitals. The Biocidal Products Regulation ensures that there is information about these products so that consumers can use them safely. ECHA is responsible for implementing the regulation, the law on Prior Informed Consent sets guidelines for the export and import of hazardous chemicals. Through this mechanism, countries due to hazardous chemicals are informed in advance and have the possibility of rejecting their import. Substances that may have effects on human health and the environment are identified as Substances of Very High Concern 1. These are mainly substances which cause cancer, mutation or are toxic to reproduction as well as substances which persist in the body or the environment, other substances considered as SVHCs include, for example, endocrine disrupting chemicals. Companies manufacturing or importing articles containing these substances in a concentration above 0 and they are required to inform users about the presence of the substance and therefore how to use it safely. Consumers have the right to ask the retailer whether these substances are present in the products they buy, once a substance has been officially identified in the EU as being of very high concern, it will be added to a list. This list is available on ECHA’s website and shows consumers and industry which chemicals are identified as SVHCs, Substances placed on the Candidate List can then move to another list
6.
PubChem
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PubChem is a database of chemical molecules and their activities against biological assays. The system is maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a component of the National Library of Medicine, PubChem can be accessed for free through a web user interface. Millions of compound structures and descriptive datasets can be downloaded via FTP. PubChem contains substance descriptions and small molecules with fewer than 1000 atoms and 1000 bonds, more than 80 database vendors contribute to the growing PubChem database. PubChem consists of three dynamically growing primary databases, as of 28 January 2016, Compounds,82.6 million entries, contains pure and characterized chemical compounds. Substances,198 million entries, contains also mixtures, extracts, complexes, bioAssay, bioactivity results from 1.1 million high-throughput screening programs with several million values. PubChem contains its own online molecule editor with SMILES/SMARTS and InChI support that allows the import and export of all common chemical file formats to search for structures and fragments. In the text search form the database fields can be searched by adding the name in square brackets to the search term. A numeric range is represented by two separated by a colon. The search terms and field names are case-insensitive, parentheses and the logical operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used. AND is assumed if no operator is used, example,0,5000,50,10 -5,5 PubChem was released in 2004. The American Chemical Society has raised concerns about the publicly supported PubChem database and they have a strong interest in the issue since the Chemical Abstracts Service generates a large percentage of the societys revenue. To advocate their position against the PubChem database, ACS has actively lobbied the US Congress, soon after PubChems creation, the American Chemical Society lobbied U. S. Congress to restrict the operation of PubChem, which they asserted competes with their Chemical Abstracts Service
7.
International Chemical Identifier
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Initially developed by IUPAC and NIST from 2000 to 2005, the format and algorithms are non-proprietary. The continuing development of the standard has supported since 2010 by the not-for-profit InChI Trust. The current version is 1.04 and was released in September 2011, prior to 1.04, the software was freely available under the open source LGPL license, but it now uses a custom license called IUPAC-InChI Trust License. Not all layers have to be provided, for instance, the layer can be omitted if that type of information is not relevant to the particular application. InChIs can thus be seen as akin to a general and extremely formalized version of IUPAC names and they can express more information than the simpler SMILES notation and differ in that every structure has a unique InChI string, which is important in database applications. Information about the 3-dimensional coordinates of atoms is not represented in InChI, the InChI algorithm converts input structural information into a unique InChI identifier in a three-step process, normalization, canonicalization, and serialization. The InChIKey, sometimes referred to as a hashed InChI, is a fixed length condensed digital representation of the InChI that is not human-understandable. The InChIKey specification was released in September 2007 in order to facilitate web searches for chemical compounds and it should be noted that, unlike the InChI, the InChIKey is not unique, though collisions can be calculated to be very rare, they happen. In January 2009 the final 1.02 version of the InChI software was released and this provided a means to generate so called standard InChI, which does not allow for user selectable options in dealing with the stereochemistry and tautomeric layers of the InChI string. The standard InChIKey is then the hashed version of the standard InChI string, the standard InChI will simplify comparison of InChI strings and keys generated by different groups, and subsequently accessed via diverse sources such as databases and web resources. Every InChI starts with the string InChI= followed by the version number and this is followed by the letter S for standard InChIs. The remaining information is structured as a sequence of layers and sub-layers, the layers and sub-layers are separated by the delimiter / and start with a characteristic prefix letter. The six layers with important sublayers are, Main layer Chemical formula and this is the only sublayer that must occur in every InChI. The atoms in the formula are numbered in sequence, this sublayer describes which atoms are connected by bonds to which other ones. Describes how many hydrogen atoms are connected to each of the other atoms, the condensed,27 character standard InChIKey is a hashed version of the full standard InChI, designed to allow for easy web searches of chemical compounds. Most chemical structures on the Web up to 2007 have been represented as GIF files, the full InChI turned out to be too lengthy for easy searching, and therefore the InChIKey was developed. With all databases currently having below 50 million structures, such duplication appears unlikely at present, a recent study more extensively studies the collision rate finding that the experimental collision rate is in agreement with the theoretical expectations. Example, Morphine has the structure shown on the right, as the InChI cannot be reconstructed from the InChIKey, an InChIKey always needs to be linked to the original InChI to get back to the original structure
8.
Simplified molecular-input line-entry system
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The simplified molecular-input line-entry system is a specification in form of a line notation for describing the structure of chemical species using short ASCII strings. SMILES strings can be imported by most molecule editors for conversion back into two-dimensional drawings or three-dimensional models of the molecules, the original SMILES specification was initiated in the 1980s. It has since modified and extended. In 2007, a standard called OpenSMILES was developed in the open-source chemistry community. Other linear notations include the Wiswesser Line Notation, ROSDAL and SLN, the original SMILES specification was initiated by David Weininger at the USEPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division Laboratory in Duluth in the 1980s. The Environmental Protection Agency funded the project to develop SMILES. It has since modified and extended by others, most notably by Daylight Chemical Information Systems. In 2007, a standard called OpenSMILES was developed by the Blue Obelisk open-source chemistry community. Other linear notations include the Wiswesser Line Notation, ROSDAL and SLN, in July 2006, the IUPAC introduced the InChI as a standard for formula representation. SMILES is generally considered to have the advantage of being slightly more human-readable than InChI, the term SMILES refers to a line notation for encoding molecular structures and specific instances should strictly be called SMILES strings. However, the term SMILES is also used to refer to both a single SMILES string and a number of SMILES strings, the exact meaning is usually apparent from the context. The terms canonical and isomeric can lead to confusion when applied to SMILES. The terms describe different attributes of SMILES strings and are not mutually exclusive, typically, a number of equally valid SMILES strings can be written for a molecule. For example, CCO, OCC and CC all specify the structure of ethanol, algorithms have been developed to generate the same SMILES string for a given molecule, of the many possible strings, these algorithms choose only one of them. This SMILES is unique for each structure, although dependent on the algorithm used to generate it. These algorithms first convert the SMILES to a representation of the molecular structure. A common application of canonical SMILES is indexing and ensuring uniqueness of molecules in a database, there is currently no systematic comparison across commercial software to test if such flaws exist in those packages. SMILES notation allows the specification of configuration at tetrahedral centers, and these are structural features that cannot be specified by connectivity alone and SMILES which encode this information are termed isomeric SMILES
9.
Chemical formula
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These are limited to a single typographic line of symbols, which may include subscripts and superscripts. A chemical formula is not a name, and it contains no words. Although a chemical formula may imply certain simple chemical structures, it is not the same as a full chemical structural formula. Chemical formulas can fully specify the structure of only the simplest of molecules and chemical substances, the simplest types of chemical formulas are called empirical formulas, which use letters and numbers indicating the numerical proportions of atoms of each type. Molecular formulas indicate the numbers of each type of atom in a molecule. For example, the formula for glucose is CH2O, while its molecular formula is C6H12O6. This is possible if the relevant bonding is easy to show in one dimension, an example is the condensed molecular/chemical formula for ethanol, which is CH3-CH2-OH or CH3CH2OH. For reasons of structural complexity, there is no condensed chemical formula that specifies glucose, chemical formulas may be used in chemical equations to describe chemical reactions and other chemical transformations, such as the dissolving of ionic compounds into solution. A chemical formula identifies each constituent element by its chemical symbol, in empirical formulas, these proportions begin with a key element and then assign numbers of atoms of the other elements in the compound, as ratios to the key element. For molecular compounds, these numbers can all be expressed as whole numbers. For example, the formula of ethanol may be written C2H6O because the molecules of ethanol all contain two carbon atoms, six hydrogen atoms, and one oxygen atom. Some types of compounds, however, cannot be written with entirely whole-number empirical formulas. An example is boron carbide, whose formula of CBn is a variable non-whole number ratio with n ranging from over 4 to more than 6.5. When the chemical compound of the consists of simple molecules. These types of formulas are known as molecular formulas and condensed formulas. A molecular formula enumerates the number of atoms to reflect those in the molecule, so that the formula for glucose is C6H12O6 rather than the glucose empirical formula. However, except for very simple substances, molecular chemical formulas lack needed structural information, for simple molecules, a condensed formula is a type of chemical formula that may fully imply a correct structural formula. For example, ethanol may be represented by the chemical formula CH3CH2OH
10.
Density
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The density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ, although the Latin letter D can also be used. Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by volume, ρ = m V, where ρ is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume. In some cases, density is defined as its weight per unit volume. For a pure substance the density has the numerical value as its mass concentration. Different materials usually have different densities, and density may be relevant to buoyancy, purity, osmium and iridium are the densest known elements at standard conditions for temperature and pressure but certain chemical compounds may be denser. Thus a relative density less than one means that the floats in water. The density of a material varies with temperature and pressure and this variation is typically small for solids and liquids but much greater for gases. Increasing the pressure on an object decreases the volume of the object, increasing the temperature of a substance decreases its density by increasing its volume. In most materials, heating the bottom of a results in convection of the heat from the bottom to the top. This causes it to rise relative to more dense unheated material, the reciprocal of the density of a substance is occasionally called its specific volume, a term sometimes used in thermodynamics. Density is a property in that increasing the amount of a substance does not increase its density. Archimedes knew that the irregularly shaped wreath could be crushed into a cube whose volume could be calculated easily and compared with the mass, upon this discovery, he leapt from his bath and ran naked through the streets shouting, Eureka. As a result, the term eureka entered common parlance and is used today to indicate a moment of enlightenment, the story first appeared in written form in Vitruvius books of architecture, two centuries after it supposedly took place. Some scholars have doubted the accuracy of this tale, saying among other things that the method would have required precise measurements that would have been difficult to make at the time, from the equation for density, mass density has units of mass divided by volume. As there are units of mass and volume covering many different magnitudes there are a large number of units for mass density in use. The SI unit of kilogram per metre and the cgs unit of gram per cubic centimetre are probably the most commonly used units for density.1,000 kg/m3 equals 1 g/cm3. In industry, other larger or smaller units of mass and or volume are often more practical, see below for a list of some of the most common units of density
11.
Melting point
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The melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid at atmospheric pressure. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium, the melting point of a substance depends on pressure and is usually specified at standard pressure. When considered as the temperature of the change from liquid to solid. Because of the ability of some substances to supercool, the point is not considered as a characteristic property of a substance. For most substances, melting and freezing points are approximately equal, for example, the melting point and freezing point of mercury is 234.32 kelvins. However, certain substances possess differing solid-liquid transition temperatures, for example, agar melts at 85 °C and solidifies from 31 °C to 40 °C, such direction dependence is known as hysteresis. The melting point of ice at 1 atmosphere of pressure is close to 0 °C. In the presence of nucleating substances the freezing point of water is the same as the melting point, the chemical element with the highest melting point is tungsten, at 3687 K, this property makes tungsten excellent for use as filaments in light bulbs. Many laboratory techniques exist for the determination of melting points, a Kofler bench is a metal strip with a temperature gradient. Any substance can be placed on a section of the strip revealing its thermal behaviour at the temperature at that point, differential scanning calorimetry gives information on melting point together with its enthalpy of fusion. A basic melting point apparatus for the analysis of crystalline solids consists of an oil bath with a transparent window, the several grains of a solid are placed in a thin glass tube and partially immersed in the oil bath. The oil bath is heated and with the aid of the melting of the individual crystals at a certain temperature can be observed. In large/small devices, the sample is placed in a heating block, the measurement can also be made continuously with an operating process. For instance, oil refineries measure the point of diesel fuel online, meaning that the sample is taken from the process. This allows for more frequent measurements as the sample does not have to be manually collected, for refractory materials the extremely high melting point may be determined by heating the material in a black body furnace and measuring the black-body temperature with an optical pyrometer. For the highest melting materials, this may require extrapolation by several hundred degrees, the spectral radiance from an incandescent body is known to be a function of its temperature. An optical pyrometer matches the radiance of a body under study to the radiance of a source that has been previously calibrated as a function of temperature, in this way, the measurement of the absolute magnitude of the intensity of radiation is unnecessary. However, known temperatures must be used to determine the calibration of the pyrometer, for temperatures above the calibration range of the source, an extrapolation technique must be employed
12.
Boiling point
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The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor. The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the environmental pressure. A liquid in a vacuum has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. A liquid at high pressure has a boiling point than when that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. For a given pressure, different liquids boil at different temperatures, for example, water boils at 100 °C at sea level, but at 93.4 °C at 2,000 metres altitude. The normal boiling point of a liquid is the case in which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the defined atmospheric pressure at sea level,1 atmosphere. At that temperature, the pressure of the liquid becomes sufficient to overcome atmospheric pressure. The standard boiling point has been defined by IUPAC since 1982 as the temperature at which boiling occurs under a pressure of 1 bar, the heat of vaporization is the energy required to transform a given quantity of a substance from a liquid into a gas at a given pressure. Liquids may change to a vapor at temperatures below their boiling points through the process of evaporation, evaporation is a surface phenomenon in which molecules located near the liquids edge, not contained by enough liquid pressure on that side, escape into the surroundings as vapor. On the other hand, boiling is a process in which molecules anywhere in the liquid escape, a saturated liquid contains as much thermal energy as it can without boiling. The saturation temperature is the temperature for a corresponding saturation pressure at which a liquid boils into its vapor phase, the liquid can be said to be saturated with thermal energy. Any addition of energy results in a phase transition. If the pressure in a system remains constant, a vapor at saturation temperature will begin to condense into its liquid phase as thermal energy is removed, similarly, a liquid at saturation temperature and pressure will boil into its vapor phase as additional thermal energy is applied. The boiling point corresponds to the temperature at which the pressure of the liquid equals the surrounding environmental pressure. Thus, the point is dependent on the pressure. Boiling points may be published with respect to the NIST, USA standard pressure of 101.325 kPa, at higher elevations, where the atmospheric pressure is much lower, the boiling point is also lower. The boiling point increases with increased pressure up to the critical point, the boiling point cannot be increased beyond the critical point. Likewise, the point decreases with decreasing pressure until the triple point is reached
13.
Aqueous solution
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An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is usually shown in chemical equations by appending to the relevant chemical formula, for example, a solution of table salt, or sodium chloride, in water would be represented as Na+ + Cl−. The word aqueous means pertaining to, related to, similar to, as water is an excellent solvent and is also naturally abundant, it is a ubiquitous solvent in chemistry. Substances that are hydrophobic often do not dissolve well in water, an example of a hydrophilic substance is sodium chloride. Acids and bases are aqueous solutions, as part of their Arrhenius definitions, the ability of a substance to dissolve in water is determined by whether the substance can match or exceed the strong attractive forces that water molecules generate between themselves. If the substance lacks the ability to dissolve in water the molecules form a precipitate, reactions in aqueous solutions are usually metathesis reactions. Metathesis reactions are another term for double-displacement, that is, when a cation displaces to form a bond with the other anion. The cation bonded with the latter anion will dissociate and bond with the other anion, aqueous solutions that conduct electric current efficiently contain strong electrolytes, while ones that conduct poorly are considered to have weak electrolytes. Those strong electrolytes are substances that are ionized in water. Nonelectrolytes are substances that dissolve in water yet maintain their molecular integrity, examples include sugar, urea, glycerol, and methylsulfonylmethane. When writing the equations of reactions, it is essential to determine the precipitate. To determine the precipitate, one must consult a chart of solubility, soluble compounds are aqueous, while insoluble compounds are the precipitate. Remember that there may not always be a precipitate, when performing calculations regarding the reacting of one or more aqueous solutions, in general one must know the concentration, or molarity, of the aqueous solutions. Solution concentration is given in terms of the form of the prior to it dissolving. Metal ions in aqueous solution Solubility Dissociation Acid-base reaction theories Properties of water Zumdahl S.1997, 4th ed. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company
14.
Solubility
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Solubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a solid, liquid, or gaseous solvent. The solubility of a substance depends on the physical and chemical properties of the solute and solvent as well as on temperature, pressure. The solubility of a substance is a different property from the rate of solution. Most often, the solvent is a liquid, which can be a substance or a mixture. One may also speak of solid solution, but rarely of solution in a gas, the extent of solubility ranges widely, from infinitely soluble such as ethanol in water, to poorly soluble, such as silver chloride in water. The term insoluble is often applied to poorly or very poorly soluble compounds, a common threshold to describe something as insoluble is less than 0.1 g per 100 mL of solvent. Under certain conditions, the solubility can be exceeded to give a so-called supersaturated solution. Metastability of crystals can also lead to apparent differences in the amount of a chemical that dissolves depending on its form or particle size. A supersaturated solution generally crystallises when seed crystals are introduced and rapid equilibration occurs, phenylsalicylate is one such simple observable substance when fully melted and then cooled below its fusion point. Solubility is not to be confused with the ability to dissolve a substance, for example, zinc dissolves in hydrochloric acid as a result of a chemical reaction releasing hydrogen gas in a displacement reaction. The zinc ions are soluble in the acid, the smaller a particle is, the faster it dissolves although there are many factors to add to this generalization. Crucially solubility applies to all areas of chemistry, geochemistry, inorganic, physical, organic, in all cases it will depend on the physical conditions and the enthalpy and entropy directly relating to the solvents and solutes concerned. By far the most common solvent in chemistry is water which is a solvent for most ionic compounds as well as a range of organic substances. This is a factor in acidity/alkalinity and much environmental and geochemical work. According to the IUPAC definition, solubility is the composition of a saturated solution expressed as a proportion of a designated solute in a designated solvent. Solubility may be stated in units of concentration such as molarity, molality, mole fraction, mole ratio, mass per volume. Solubility occurs under dynamic equilibrium, which means that solubility results from the simultaneous and opposing processes of dissolution, the solubility equilibrium occurs when the two processes proceed at a constant rate. The term solubility is used in some fields where the solute is altered by solvolysis
15.
Diethyl ether
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Diethyl ether or simply ether, is an organic compound in the ether class with the formula 2O. It is a colorless, highly flammable liquid. It is commonly used as a solvent in laboratories and as a fluid for some engines. It was formerly used as an anesthetic, until non-flammable drugs were developed. It has been used as a drug to cause intoxication. The compound may have created by either Jābir ibn Hayyān in the 8th century or Ramon Llull in 1275. At about the time, Paracelsus discovered ethers analgesic properties in chickens. The name ether was given to the substance in 1729 by August Sigmund Frobenius and it is particularly important as a solvent in the production of cellulose plastics such as cellulose acetate. Ether starting fluid is sold and used in countries with cold climates, for the same reason it is also used as a component of the fuel mixture for carbureted compression ignition model engines. In this way diethyl ether is very similar to one of its precursors, diethyl ether is a common laboratory aprotic solvent. It has limited solubility in water and dissolves 1.5 g/100 ml water at 25 °C and this, coupled with its high volatility, makes it ideal for use as the non-polar solvent in liquid-liquid extraction. When used with a solution, the diethyl ether layer is on top due to the fact that it has a lower density than the water. It is also a solvent for the Grignard reaction in addition to other reactions involving organometallic reagents. Morton participated in a demonstration of ether anesthesia on October 16,1846 at the Ether Dome in Boston. British doctors were aware of the properties of ether as early as 1840 where it was widely prescribed in conjunction with opium. Because of its associations with Boston, the use of ether became known as the Yankee Dodge, diethyl ether depresses the myocardium and increases tracheobronchial secretions. Diethyl ether could also be mixed with other agents such as chloroform to make C. E. mixture, or chloroform. In the 2000s, ether is rarely used, the use of flammable ether was displaced by nonflammable fluorinated hydrocarbon anesthetics
16.
Acid dissociation constant
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An acid dissociation constant, Ka, is a quantitative measure of the strength of an acid in solution. It is the constant for a chemical reaction known as dissociation in the context of acid–base reactions. In the example shown in the figure, HA represents acetic acid, and A− represents the acetate ion, the chemical species HA, A− and H3O+ are said to be in equilibrium when their concentrations do not change with the passing of time. The definition can then be more simply H A ⇌ A − + H +, K a = This is the definition in common usage. A weak acid has a pKa value in the approximate range −2 to 12 in water, pKa values for strong acids can, however, be estimated by theoretical means. The definition can be extended to non-aqueous solvents, such as acetonitrile and dimethylsulfoxide. Denoting a solvent molecule by S H A + S ⇌ A − + S H +, K a = When the concentration of solvent molecules can be taken to be constant, K a =, as before. The value of pKa also depends on structure of the acid in many ways. For example, Pauling proposed two rules, one for successive pKa of polyprotic acids, and one to estimate the pKa of oxyacids based on the number of =O and −OH groups. Other structural factors that influence the magnitude of the dissociation constant include inductive effects, mesomeric effects. Hammett type equations have frequently applied to the estimation of pKa. The quantitative behaviour of acids and bases in solution can be only if their pKa values are known. These calculations find application in different areas of chemistry, biology, medicine. Acid dissociation constants are essential in aquatic chemistry and chemical oceanography. In living organisms, acid–base homeostasis and enzyme kinetics are dependent on the pKa values of the acids and bases present in the cell. According to Arrheniuss original definition, an acid is a substance that dissociates in solution, releasing the hydrogen ion H+. The equilibrium constant for this reaction is known as a dissociation constant. Brønsted and Lowry generalised this further to an exchange reaction
17.
Refractive index
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In optics, the refractive index or index of refraction n of a material is a dimensionless number that describes how light propagates through that medium. It is defined as n = c v, where c is the speed of light in vacuum, for example, the refractive index of water is 1.333, meaning that light travels 1.333 times faster in a vacuum than it does in water. The refractive index determines how light is bent, or refracted. The refractive indices also determine the amount of light that is reflected when reaching the interface, as well as the angle for total internal reflection. This implies that vacuum has a index of 1. The refractive index varies with the wavelength of light and this is called dispersion and causes the splitting of white light into its constituent colors in prisms and rainbows, and chromatic aberration in lenses. Light propagation in absorbing materials can be described using a refractive index. The imaginary part then handles the attenuation, while the real part accounts for refraction, the concept of refractive index is widely used within the full electromagnetic spectrum, from X-rays to radio waves. It can also be used with wave phenomena such as sound, in this case the speed of sound is used instead of that of light and a reference medium other than vacuum must be chosen. Thomas Young was presumably the person who first used, and invented, at the same time he changed this value of refractive power into a single number, instead of the traditional ratio of two numbers. The ratio had the disadvantage of different appearances, newton, who called it the proportion of the sines of incidence and refraction, wrote it as a ratio of two numbers, like 529 to 396. Hauksbee, who called it the ratio of refraction, wrote it as a ratio with a fixed numerator, hutton wrote it as a ratio with a fixed denominator, like 1.3358 to 1. Young did not use a symbol for the index of refraction, in the next years, others started using different symbols, n, m, and µ. For visible light most transparent media have refractive indices between 1 and 2, a few examples are given in the adjacent table. These values are measured at the yellow doublet D-line of sodium, with a wavelength of 589 nanometers, gases at atmospheric pressure have refractive indices close to 1 because of their low density. Almost all solids and liquids have refractive indices above 1.3, aerogel is a very low density solid that can be produced with refractive index in the range from 1.002 to 1.265. Moissanite lies at the end of the range with a refractive index as high as 2.65. Most plastics have refractive indices in the range from 1.3 to 1.7, for infrared light refractive indices can be considerably higher
18.
Relative permittivity
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The relative permittivity of a material is its permittivity expressed as a ratio relative to the permittivity of vacuum. Permittivity is a property that affects the Coulomb force between two point charges in the material. Relative permittivity is the factor by which the field between the charges is decreased relative to vacuum. Likewise, relative permittivity is the ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor using that material as a dielectric, relative permittivity is also commonly known as dielectric constant, a term deprecated in physics and engineering as well as in chemistry. Relative permittivity is typically denoted as εr and is defined as ε r = ε ε0, where ε is the complex frequency-dependent absolute permittivity of the material, and ε0 is the vacuum permittivity. Relative permittivity is a number that is in general complex-valued, its real and imaginary parts are denoted as. The relative permittivity of a medium is related to its electric susceptibility, χe, in anisotropic media the relative permittivity is a second rank tensor. The relative permittivity of a material for a frequency of zero is known as its relative permittivity. The historical term for the relative permittivity is dielectric constant and it is still commonly used, but has been deprecated by standards organizations, because of its ambiguity, as some older authors used it for the absolute permittivity ε. The permittivity may be quoted either as a property or as a frequency-dependent variant. It has also used to refer to only the real component εr of the complex-valued relative permittivity. In the causal theory of waves, permittivity is a complex quantity, the imaginary part corresponds to a phase shift of the polarization P relative to E and leads to the attenuation of electromagnetic waves passing through the medium. By definition, the relative permittivity of vacuum is equal to 1. The relative static permittivity, εr, can be measured for static electric fields as follows, first the capacitance of a test capacitor, then, using the same capacitor and distance between its plates, the capacitance Cx with a dielectric between the plates is measured. The relative dielectric constant can be calculated as ε r = C x C0. For time-variant electromagnetic fields, this quantity becomes frequency-dependent, an indirect technique to calculate εr is conversion of radio frequency S-parameter measurement results. A description of frequently used S-parameter conversions for determination of the frequency-dependent εr of dielectrics can be found in this bibliographic source, alternatively, resonance based effects may be employed at fixed frequencies. The relative permittivity is a piece of information when designing capacitors
19.
Viscosity
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The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to gradual deformation by shear stress or tensile stress. For liquids, it corresponds to the concept of thickness, for example. Viscosity is a property of the fluid which opposes the motion between the two surfaces of the fluid in a fluid that are moving at different velocities. For a given velocity pattern, the stress required is proportional to the fluids viscosity, a fluid that has no resistance to shear stress is known as an ideal or inviscid fluid. Zero viscosity is observed only at low temperatures in superfluids. Otherwise, all fluids have positive viscosity, and are said to be viscous or viscid. A fluid with a high viscosity, such as pitch. The word viscosity is derived from the Latin viscum, meaning mistletoe, the dynamic viscosity of a fluid expresses its resistance to shearing flows, where adjacent layers move parallel to each other with different speeds. It can be defined through the situation known as a Couette flow. This fluid has to be homogeneous in the layer and at different shear stresses, if the speed of the top plate is small enough, the fluid particles will move parallel to it, and their speed will vary linearly from zero at the bottom to u at the top. Each layer of fluid will move faster than the one just below it, in particular, the fluid will apply on the top plate a force in the direction opposite to its motion, and an equal but opposite one to the bottom plate. An external force is required in order to keep the top plate moving at constant speed. The magnitude F of this force is found to be proportional to the u and the area A of each plate. The proportionality factor μ in this formula is the viscosity of the fluid, the ratio u/y is called the rate of shear deformation or shear velocity, and is the derivative of the fluid speed in the direction perpendicular to the plates. Isaac Newton expressed the forces by the differential equation τ = μ ∂ u ∂ y, where τ = F/A. This formula assumes that the flow is moving along parallel lines and this equation can be used where the velocity does not vary linearly with y, such as in fluid flowing through a pipe. Use of the Greek letter mu for the dynamic viscosity is common among mechanical and chemical engineers. However, the Greek letter eta is used by chemists, physicists
20.
Molecular symmetry
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Molecular symmetry in chemistry describes the symmetry present in molecules and the classification of molecules according to their symmetry. Molecular symmetry is a concept in chemistry, as it can predict or explain many of a molecules chemical properties, such as its dipole moment. Many university level textbooks on chemistry, quantum chemistry. While various frameworks for the study of symmetry exist, group theory is the predominant one. This framework is useful in studying the symmetry of molecular orbitals, with applications such as the Hückel method, ligand field theory. Another framework on a scale is the use of crystal systems to describe crystallographic symmetry in bulk materials. Many techniques for the assessment of molecular symmetry exist, including X-ray crystallography and various forms of spectroscopy. Spectroscopic notation is based on symmetry considerations, the study of symmetry in molecules is an adaptation of mathematical group theory. The symmetry of a molecule can be described by 5 types of symmetry elements, symmetry axis, an axis around which a rotation by 360 ∘ n results in a molecule indistinguishable from the original. This is also called a rotational axis and abbreviated Cn. Examples are the C2 axis in water and the C3 axis in ammonia, a molecule can have more than one symmetry axis, the one with the highest n is called the principal axis, and by convention is aligned with the z-axis in a Cartesian coordinate system. Plane of symmetry, a plane of reflection through which a copy of the original molecule is generated. This is also called a plane and abbreviated σ. Water has two of them, one in the plane of the molecule itself and one perpendicular to it, a symmetry plane parallel with the principal axis is dubbed vertical and one perpendicular to it horizontal. A third type of symmetry plane exists, If a vertical symmetry plane additionally bisects the angle between two 2-fold rotation axes perpendicular to the axis, the plane is dubbed dihedral. A symmetry plane can also be identified by its Cartesian orientation, center of symmetry or inversion center, abbreviated i. A molecule has a center of symmetry when, for any atom in the molecule, in other words, a molecule has a center of symmetry when the points and correspond to identical objects. For example, if there is an atom in some point
21.
Molecular geometry
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Molecular geometry is the three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms that constitute a molecule. It determines several properties of a substance including its reactivity, polarity, phase of matter, color, magnetism and biological activity. The angles between bonds that an atom forms depend only weakly on the rest of molecule, i. e. they can be understood as approximately local, the molecular geometry can be determined by various spectroscopic methods and diffraction methods. IR, microwave and Raman spectroscopy can give information about the molecule geometry from the details of the vibrational and rotational absorbance detected by these techniques. X-ray crystallography, neutron diffraction and electron diffraction can give molecular structure for crystalline solids based on the distance between nuclei and concentration of electron density, gas electron diffraction can be used for small molecules in the gas phase. NMR and FRET methods can be used to determine complementary information including relative distances, dihedral angles, angles, molecular geometries are best determined at low temperature because at higher temperatures the molecular structure is averaged over more accessible geometries. Larger molecules often exist in multiple stable geometries that are close in energy on the energy surface. Geometries can also be computed by ab initio quantum chemistry methods to high accuracy, the molecular geometry can be different as a solid, in solution, and as a gas. The position of each atom is determined by the nature of the bonds by which it is connected to its neighboring atoms. Since the motions of the atoms in a molecule are determined by quantum mechanics, the overall quantum mechanical motions translation and rotation hardly change the geometry of the molecule. In addition to translation and rotation, a type of motion is molecular vibration. The molecular vibrations are harmonic, and the atoms oscillate about their equilibrium positions, at higher temperatures the vibrational modes may be thermally excited, but they oscillate still around the recognizable geometry of the molecule. At 298 K, typical values for the Boltzmann factor β are, β =0.089 for ΔE =500 cm−1, β =0.008 for ΔE =1000 cm−1, β = 7×10−4 for ΔE =1500 cm−1. When an excitation energy is 500 cm−1, then about 8.9 percent of the molecules are excited at room temperature. To put this in perspective, the lowest excitation vibrational energy in water is the bending mode, thus, at room temperature less than 0.07 percent of all the molecules of a given amount of water will vibrate faster than at absolute zero. As stated above, rotation hardly influences the molecular geometry, but, as a quantum mechanical motion, it is thermally excited at relatively low temperatures. From a classical point of view it can be stated that at temperatures more molecules will rotate faster. In quantum mechanical language, more eigenstates of higher angular momentum become thermally populated with rising temperatures, typical rotational excitation energies are on the order of a few cm−1
22.
Dipole
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In electromagnetism, there are two kinds of dipoles, An electric dipole is a separation of positive and negative charges. The simplest example of this is a pair of electric charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign, a permanent electric dipole is called an electret. A magnetic dipole is a circulation of electric current. A simple example of this is a loop of wire with some constant current through it. Dipoles can be characterized by their moment, a vector quantity. For the current loop, the dipole moment points through the loop. In addition to current loops, the electron, among other fundamental particles, has a dipole moment. That is because it generates a field that is identical to that generated by a very small current loop. However, the magnetic moment is not due to a current loop. It is also possible that the electron has a dipole moment although it has not yet been observed. A permanent magnet, such as a bar magnet, owes its magnetism to the magnetic dipole moment of the electron. The two ends of a bar magnet are referred to as poles, and may be labeled north and south, the dipole moment of the bar magnet points from its magnetic south to its magnetic north pole. The north pole of a bar magnet in a compass points north, however, that means that Earths geomagnetic north pole is the south pole of its dipole moment and vice versa. The only known mechanisms for the creation of magnetic dipoles are by current loops or quantum-mechanical spin since the existence of magnetic monopoles has never been experimentally demonstrated, the term comes from the Greek δίς, twice and πόλος, axis. A physical dipole consists of two equal and opposite point charges, in the sense, two poles. Its field at large distances depends almost entirely on the moment as defined above. A point dipole is the limit obtained by letting the separation tend to 0 while keeping the dipole moment fixed, the field of a point dipole has a particularly simple form, and the order-1 term in the multipole expansion is precisely the point dipole field. Although there are no magnetic monopoles in nature, there are magnetic dipoles in the form of the quantum-mechanical spin associated with particles such as electrons
23.
Occupational safety and health
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These terms of course also refer to the goals of this field, so their use in the sense of this article was originally an abbreviation of occupational safety and health program/department etc. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include to foster a safe, OSH may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the workplace environment. In the United States, the occupational health and safety is referred to as occupational health and occupational and non-occupational safety. In common-law jurisdictions, employers have a common law duty to take care of the safety of their employees. As defined by the World Health Organization occupational health deals with all aspects of health, Health has been defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Occupational health is a field of healthcare concerned with enabling an individual to undertake their occupation. Health has been defined as It contrasts, for example, with the promotion of health and safety at work, since 1950, the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization have shared a common definition of occupational health. It was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its first session in 1950, the concept of working culture is intended in this context to mean a reflection of the essential value systems adopted by the undertaking concerned. Such a culture is reflected in practice in the systems, personnel policy, principles for participation, training policies. Professionals advise on a range of occupational health matters. The research and regulation of safety and health are a relatively recent phenomenon. As labor movements arose in response to concerns in the wake of the industrial revolution. The initial remit of the Inspectorate was to police restrictions on the hours in the textile industry of children. The commission sparked public outrage resulted in the Mines Act of 1842. Otto von Bismarck inaugurated the first social insurance legislation in 1883, similar acts followed in other countries, partly in response to labor unrest. Although work provides many economic and other benefits, an array of workplace hazards also present risks to the health. Personal protective equipment can protect against many of these hazards. Physical hazards affect many people in the workplace, Falls are also a common cause of occupational injuries and fatalities, especially in construction, extraction, transportation, healthcare, and building cleaning and maintenance
24.
Safety data sheet
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A safety data sheet, material safety data sheet, or product safety data sheet is an important component of product stewardship, occupational safety and health, and spill-handling procedures. SDS formats can vary from source to source within a country depending on national requirements, SDSs are a widely used system for cataloging information on chemicals, chemical compounds, and chemical mixtures. SDS information may include instructions for the use and potential hazards associated with a particular material or product. The SDS should be available for reference in the area where the chemicals are being stored or in use, there is also a duty to properly label substances on the basis of physico-chemical, health and/or environmental risk. Labels can include hazard symbols such as the European Union standard symbols, a SDS for a substance is not primarily intended for use by the general consumer, focusing instead on the hazards of working with the material in an occupational setting. It is important to use an SDS specific to country and supplier, as the same product can have different formulations in different countries. The formulation and hazard of a product using a name may vary between manufacturers in the same country. Safety data sheets have made an integral part of the system of Regulation No 1907/2006. The SDS must be supplied in a language of the Member State where the substance or mixture is placed on the market. The 16 sections are, SECTION1, Identification of the substance/mixture, relevant identified uses of the substance or mixture and uses advised against 1.3. Details of the supplier of the safety data sheet 1.4, Emergency telephone number SECTION2, Hazards identification 2.1. Classification of the substance or mixture 2.2, Other hazards SECTION3, Composition/information on ingredients 3.1. Mixtures SECTION4, First aid measures 4.1, Description of first aid measures 4.2. Most important symptoms and effects, both acute and delayed 4.3, indication of any immediate medical attention and special treatment needed SECTION5, Firefighting measures 5.1. Special hazards arising from the substance or mixture 5.3, advice for firefighters SECTION6, Accidental release measure 6.1. Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures 6.2, methods and material for containment and cleaning up 6.4. Reference to other sections SECTION7, Handling and storage 7.1, conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities 7.3. Specific end use SECTION8, Exposure controls/personal protection 8.1, Exposure controls SECTION9, Physical and chemical properties 9.1
25.
Dimethyl sulfoxide (data page)
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This page provides supplementary chemical data on dimethyl sulfoxide. The handling of this chemical may incur notable safety precautions and it is highly recommend that you seek the Material Safety Datasheet for this chemical from a reliable source such as SIRI, and follow its directions. MSDS is available at Mallinckrodt Baker, vapor pressure at 20 °C =0.556 mbar =0.417 mmHg NIST Standard Reference Database. Except where noted otherwise, data relate to standard ambient temperature and pressure
26.
Flash point
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The flash point is the lowest temperature at which vapours of a volatile material will ignite, when given an ignition source. The flash point may sometimes be confused with the autoignition temperature, the fire point is the lowest temperature at which the vapor will keep burning after being ignited and the ignition source removed. The fire point is higher than the point, because at the flash point the vapor may be reliably expected to cease burning when the ignition source is removed. The flash point is a characteristic that is used to distinguish between flammable liquids, such as petrol, and combustible liquids, such as diesel. It is also used to characterize the fire hazards of liquids, all liquids have a specific vapor pressure, which is a function of that liquids temperature and is subject to Boyles Law. As temperature increases, vapor pressure increases, as vapor pressure increases, the concentration of vapor of a flammable or combustible liquid in the air increases. Hence, temperature determines the concentration of vapor of the liquid in the air. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which there will be enough flammable vapor to induce ignition when a source is applied. There are two types of flash point measurement, open cup and closed cup. In open cup devices, the sample is contained in a cup which is heated and, at intervals. The measured flash point will vary with the height of the flame above the liquid surface and, at sufficient height. The best-known example is the Cleveland open cup, in both these types, the cups are sealed with a lid through which the ignition source can be introduced. Closed cup testers normally give lower values for the point than open cup and are a better approximation to the temperature at which the vapour pressure reaches the lower flammable limit. The flash point is an empirical measurement rather than a physical parameter. The measured value will vary with equipment and test protocol variations, including temperature ramp rate, time allowed for the sample to equilibrate, sample volume, methods for determining the flash point of a liquid are specified in many standards. For example, testing by the Pensky-Martens closed cup method is detailed in ASTM D93, IP34, ISO2719, DIN51758, JIS K2265 and AFNOR M07-019. Determination of flash point by the Small Scale closed cup method is detailed in ASTM D3828 and D3278, EN ISO3679 and 3680, cEN/TR15138 Guide to Flash Point Testing and ISO TR29662 Guidance for Flash Point Testing cover the key aspects of flash point testing. Gasoline is a used in a spark-ignition engine
27.
Sulfoxide
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A sulfoxide is a chemical compound containing a sulfinyl functional group attached to two carbon atoms. It is a functional group. Sulfoxides are the derivatives of sulfides. Examples of important sulfoxides are alliin, a precursor to the compound that gives freshly crushed garlic its aroma, and DMSO, sulfoxides feature a pyramidal sulfur center with relatively short S-O distances. In DMSO, the S-O distance is 1.531 Å, sulfoxides are generally represented with the structural formula R–S–R, where R and R are organic groups. The bond between the sulfur and oxygen atoms is intermediate of a bond and a polarized double bond. The S–O interaction has an aspect, resulting in significant dipolar character. A lone pair of electrons resides on the sulfur atom giving it tetrahedral electron pair geometry, when the two organic residues are dissimilar, the sulfur is a chiral center, for example, methylphenylsulfoxide. The energy required to invert this stereocenter is sufficiently high that sulfoxides are optically stable, that is, sulfoxides are typically prepared by oxidation of sulfides. A typical oxidant is hydrogen peroxide, oxidation of thioanisole can be effected with periodate. In these oxidations, care is required to avoid over oxidation to the sulfone, dimethyl sulfide is oxidized to dimethyl sulfoxide and then to dimethyl sulfone. Unsymmetrical sulfides are prochiral, thus their oxidation gives chiral sulfoxides, certain reagents or catalysts effect enantioselective oxidations. Similarly, they can be oxidized to sulfones, sulfoxides form complexes with transition metals. Chiral sulfoxides find application in certain such as esomeprazole and armodafinil. DMSO is widely used as a solvent in the laboratory, methionine sulfoxide forms from the amino acid methionine and its accumulation is associated with aging. The enzyme DMSO reductase catalyzes the interconversion of DMSO and dimethylsulfide