Rainer Bohrer Books

The Gmelin Institute presents the Third Supplement of the Gmelin Formula Index (GFI) which covers 95 new volumes of the Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry published between 1988 and 1992. With this extension the GFI contains more than 400 000 elements, compounds, systems, and other types described in 620 volumes. The Third Supplement includes more than 65 000 compounds sorted according to the empirical formula and characterized by a linearized structural formula. As in previous sections of the index, compounds are further characterized by keywords if more information is available in the Handbook. Systems, mixed crystals, solutions, glasses, isotopes, isotopomers (also highly enriched), and other compound classes are separately listed. The GFI provides fast access to any inorganic or organometallic compound and the relevant page numbers in the Handbook. It is one of the means to facilitate searching for the large amount of available information on the chemical and physical properties of compounds. The Third Supplement will be published in 6 volumes.

The Gmelin Formula Index and the First and Second Supplement covered the volumes of the Eighth Edition of the Gmelin Handbook which appeared up to the end of 1987. This Third Supplement extends the Gmelin Formula Index and includes the compounds from the volumes until 1992. The publication of the Third Supplement enables to locate all compounds described in the Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry since 1924. The basic structure of the Formula Index remains the same as the previous editions. Computer methods were employed during the preparation and the publication of the Third Supplement. Data acquisition, sorting, and data handling were performed using a suite of computer programs, developed originally by B. Roth, now at Chemplex GmbH. The SGML application for the final data processing for printing was developed in the com puter department of the Gmelin Institute and at Universitätsdruckerei H. Stürtz AG, Würzburg. Frankfurt am Main, March 1994 U. Nohl, G. Olbrich Instructions for Users of the Formula Index First CoLumn (EmpiricaL FormuLa) The empirical formulae are arranged in alphabetical order of the element symbols and by increasing values of the subscripts. Any indefinite subscripts are placed at the end of the respective sorting section. Ions always appear after the neutral species, positive ions preceding negative ones.

The scientific literature in chemistry and physics abounds with abbreviations of chemical compounds, physical methods and mathematical procedures. Unfortunately, many authors take it for granted that the reader knows the meaning of an abbreviation, something quite trivial for a specialist. For the less informed reader, these abbreviations thus present definite communication problems. The Gmelin Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the Max Planck Society has collected more than 4000 abbreviations for methods and terms from chemistry, physics and mathematics and more than 4000 chemical compounds (mostly ligands in coordination chemistry and standard reagents for physical and analytical methods). GABCOM and GABMET provide an overview enabling readers and authors to check the definition of an abbreviation used by an author and to see whether this abbreviation is already being used for other purposes. GABCOM and GABMET are also in preparation in electronic form (data file and search software) for IBM-PC or compatible computers.