Chemical Descriptive Information Section
Applicability: Cranium, Synapse (core versions 0315+)

The Chemicals Chapter's Descriptive Information Section contains six fields:

  • Formula: the chemical formula field.
  • CAS #: the Chemial Abstract Services identification number, a unique identifier for a chemical substance.
  • Reasys: the Reaxsys registry number, a unique identifier for a chemical substance.
  • EC #: the European Community number, a unique seven-digit identifier for a chemical substance.
  • RTECS #: the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances, a unique identifier for a chemical substance.
  • Merck: the number of the chemical in the Merck Index. These values are typically entered as ee:nnnn, where ee denotes the edition number.
Tip: The Abbreviations Dialog shows the definitions of abbreviations

The Abbreviations Dialog shows the definitions of all the abbreviations used in Cranium and Synapse. To activate the dialog, select the Help menu's Abbreviations command. See here for documentation.

Field Controls

Each field contains a label and a datum control.

The formula, CAS number, Beilstein, EC number, RTECS number and Merck Index fields all contain text values and thus function similarly.

Tip: The Abbreviations Dialog shows the definitions of abbreviations

The Abbreviations Dialog shows the definitions of all the abbreviations used in Cranium and Synapse. To activate the dialog, select the Help menu's Abbreviations command. See here for documentation.

Editing a Datum Value

Clicking the left mouse button on a datum control activates the Datum Edit dialog enabling you to enter a value, reference and comment.

Documentation on the Datum Edit dialog can be found here.

Dialog Commands Menu

The commands menus for text entry controls, e.g., the value control, the reference control and the comments control, have commands for copying, pasting, inserting symbols, and changing case. The commands menu is displayed by clicking the right mouse button on a text entry control.

Documentation on each of the menu commands can be found here. See also documentation for the Symbol Dialog and Changing Case.

Datum Commands Menu

Clicking the right mouse button within a field's datum control activates the field's datum commands menu.

Documentation on each of the menu commands can be found here.

Example: Edit the current chemical's formula
  1. Open a knowledge base document. (Open a "working" document or create a copy of a document (see here) if you are just experimenting with this functionality.)
  2. Change to the Chemicals chapter. The Descriptive Information Section is located at the top of the page.
  3. Click the left mouse button anywhere within the current chemical's formula field's data entry control. (Any chemical will do for this example.) The application activates the data entry dialog.
  4. Enter any text value for the new formula. Clicking the right mouse button on the dialog's edit control will display the commands menu enabling you to copy text, paste text, change case and insert symbols. (See documentation on the Symbol Dialog for more details.)
  5. Optionally, enter a value for the datum's reference and any relevant comments. Pressing the Date button will enter the current date and time into the edit control. Pressing the Phrase button will enter the currently stored phrase into the edit control. Pressing the Set button enables you to change this stored phrase. (See the Phrase Dialog documentation for more details.)
  6. Finally press the Save button to store the values in the document and display the new formula value.

The Chemical Abstracts Number field, Beilstein number field, EC Number field, RTECS number field and Merck index number field are all edited in the same manner.

Related Documentation
Topic Description
Estimating Chemical Properties a short video demonstrating how to estimate physical properties using either Synapse or Cranium.
Getting Started using Cranium provides a quick tour of Cranium's capabilities including a discussion of structure editing.
Chemicals Chapter the chemicals chapter contains numerous sections for entering and displaying data and estimates including the chemical structure section.