obscure paper

April 6, 2010 at 4:35 pm | | grad life, literature

I was recently looking for a prep for p-bromophenylphosphine, and I found exactly 1 reference for it’s synthetic prep that’s cited by every paper that uses it.

It happens to be in (possibly) the most obscure journal in the world – “Phosphorus and the Related Group V Elements.”  It had all of 6 volumes in the 70’s before it merged with the “International Journal of Sulfur Chemistry” to form “Phosphorous and Sulfur and the Related Elements.”

I finally found TWO places in the world that had hard copies – the North Carolina State University library, and, of course, the National Library of Australia.

I’m beginning to think what I want must be some obvious synthesis, and that I’m just an idiot.  However, I did fail organic chemistry and am now working in a synthesis lab, so the “idiot” part is probably appropriate…

5 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

  1. According to ISE, now it has already become PHOSPHORUS SULFUR AND SILICON AND THE RELATED ELEMENTS. They’re coming after the entire table!

    I think I found some copies of it in Israel:

    BAR: Bar Ilan U. : 1-40,1976-88
    TEC-CEN: Technion. Central Library : 1,1976 TCP5274
    BR: Israel Institute for Biological Research : 1-40,1976-88

    If by any chance you need the volume that’s in the Technion, I can try and get it for you. If it’s in Bar Ilan it would be a bit harder, but also possible.

    Comment by David E — April 7, 2010 #

  2. How long will it be before useful chemistry in obscure journals with no on-line repository are lost forever? Maybe you should republish the method, perhaps with some improvements and uses in a journal like OPPI.

    Comment by Sinbad — April 8, 2010 #

  3. Do you still need the article? We have the journal (v2-5) at U at Buffalo. I could probably get my hands on it by mid next week

    Comment by Nate — April 9, 2010 #

  4. Thanks for the offers of support, but I got it from Australia!

    Comment by charles — April 13, 2010 #

  5. Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to guide himself.
    Just a monopolist could study a company and ruin it by providing away products.

    Comment by Ophelia Waxler — March 9, 2012 #

Leave a comment

thanks for the comment

Powered by WordPress, Theme Based on "Pool" by Borja Fernandez
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS.
^Top^