The Merck Index, 13th Edition, CD-ROM

From my perspective, that the Thirteenth edition of The Merck Index continues the tradition of publishing a concise, authoritative reference work designed primarily to serve the needs of chemists, biochemists, pharmacists and those in related professions. The information is assembled with today’s need for quick reference in mind, but the commitment to excellence in scientific scholarship and to enhancing scientific communication remains paramount. This edition contains a diverse collection of over 10,000 monographs. More than 4,000 monographs are devoted to a wide variety of drugs and pharmaceuticals, over 2,000 describe common organic chemicals and laboratory reagents, and another 2,000 cover naturally occurring substances and plants. An additional 1,000 monographs focus on the elements and on inorganic chemicals. Almost 1,000 pertain to compounds of agricultural significance, and several hundred describe endogenous substances and biological agents.

A number of changes have been made since the Twelfth Edition. The monograph section has been extensively revised and updated. In response to requests from our readership, the Chemical Abstracts Registry Numbers for title and derivative compounds have been embedded within the monographs. The derivative compound data presentation now mirrors the title compound such that registry numbers, molecular weights and literature references are included in addition to names and physical properties as in previous editions. Patent data has been reformatted using the two letter international country codes. The section on Organic Name Reactions has been updated and revised; further, the schema has been standardized. The Miscellaneous Table section has been redesigned and reordered to enhance access to the ancillary monograph information.