Industrial Chemistry The work of an individual chemist is meaningless if it is not communicated to the rest of the scientific community. The history of chemical investigation has more than one incident involving the eccentric who never published or who waited too long and was "scooped by a rival. I t was also possible to publish an original idea and years later find out someone had published the same idea in an obscure journal in another language. Today, modern information technology allows for the rapid dissemination of information a t many levels and in many languages so that problems of precedence are much less likely. However, a new problem has arisen with the tremendous expansion of the chemical literature-keeping track of all the developments in one's field and still having time left t o do actual research. Much of the latest technolom, in fact. is no longer aimed a t rapid production of inform%ion but, rather, at its retrieval. Computerized databases with on-line searching capabilities and current awareness services are only a couple of the new approachs with which the chemist must be familiar. The retrieval of information has become so corn~ l e that x i t can no longer he learned by osmosis from one's graduate mentor, but,;nstead needs to be taught formally. T h e symposium on Instruction in Chemical Literature featured in this issue addresses the problems encountered in teaching scientists how to keep up with their areasof research and the various approachs that have been developed. Two of the authors, Gorin (page 991) and Wiggins (page 994), describe programs at academic institutions, one developed by the chemistry department and the other by the chemistry lihrary. The next two authors, Hendrickson (page 997) and Allan (page 999), discuss the problems unique to the industrial researcher and the instructional programs that can be developed under the schedule constraints of an industrial lab.
There has been much attention paid recently to the idea that academic instruction does not DreDare graduates to be effective industrial researchers withok some &her training. Manv teachers have been lookina for wavs t o include more inforiation about industrial proc&ses in their courses, often in conjunction with increasing the emphasis on descriptive chemistry. Several articles in this issue touch on this theme in one aspect or another. The most visible effort to incorporate industrial chemistry into the curriculum has been through cooperative education programs. Some of these programs have been described in the ('ooprrorire Educatron feature in THIS JOURNAI. over the past two years. This month's feature article hy Paige (page 1W5, discuses the rationale behind these programs and some ot'the problrms associat~dwith their implementation. The problem of insufficirnt chemisrs entering the industrial work force had become such a serious national problem in Israel that an industrial studies option was introduced into the MSc program. Shani (page 1007) outlines the approach taken to develop the program and gives details of the curriculum. Webb and Canham page (1012) desrribe how they have intn,duced "Descriotive lnorlranic Chrmistrv at the Second Year Level" and, tlhough theuse of audiovis"ua1aids, solved the problem of including industrial chemistry in a location that is not heavily industrialized. In a more specific vein, a laboratory experiment on "Cyclohexanol Dehydration" by Costa (page 1066) offers teachers a simple procedure for introducing heterogenous catalysis, a process with an enormous and growing industrial importance, to undergraduate students.
Communicating - the Information
Four experiments in this issue focus on the preparation and characterization of complexes. Loehlin, Dahl, and Darlington (page 1048) use the study of a cobalt complex for a laboratory project for their second semester introductory students which extends over many weeks and involves the preparation, purification, and analysis of the compound along with more advanced studies later in the semester. Both O'Brien (page 1052) and Harrison and Nolan (page 1054) ~ r e s e n t exneriments which demonstrate the aeometric isomrrism of cunrdinatinn compounds through their preparutiou and ~dentii~ratiun usinr 1R and other techniques. Mosha (page 1057) describes t i e preparation and investigation of the properties of The Monomeric Pentacyanocohaltate(l1) Anion.
No matter how suphisticated the r~tricvaltechnology becomes, it will never he able to imprwe on the quality of the materials retrieved. The scientist communicating his or her results must still know how to properly document the research and explain the ideas involved or its effect will be the same as if it were never published. The student chemist must not only be taught how to retrieve the information from past research but also how to properly record and effectively communicate his or her own work. Steiner (page 1044) has found that by requiring written summaries of his organic lectures, he not only bad students improve their ability to answer essay exan1 questions, but also that they and he gained a better understanding of what was going on in the class. In a related article published in last month's issue (page 959) Pyle and Trammel] describe how they start even sooner to improve their students writing skills hy requiring from their general chemistry classes an essay based on an assigned article in the current literature. All scientists, from the fledgling laboratory student to the seasoned researcher, must keep an accurate and complete notebook hoth to allow them to properly interpret data and also to establish legal claims in the instance of patentable results. Eisenberg (page 1045) in her article on "Keeping a Laboratory Notebook" discusses the legal requirements and outlines a suggested set of procedures for the proper recording of data that should be useful to those just starting out for establishing good habits and to those who have been working many years for reviewing and perhaps updating their procedures. 990
Journal of Chemical Education
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Complex Chemistry
And, Since You have All been So Good this Year..
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A special holiday treat has been prepared in the form of a Chemical Christmas Colors crossword puzzle by Sr. Mary Virginia Orna (page 1020). Familiar to our readers as the editor of the Thumbnail Sketches feature, Sr. Mary Virginia is also well-known for her puzzles which have appeared, among other places, in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, famous for the difficulty and subtlety of its crosswords. The puzzle which she has devised for our readers interweaves chemical terms and compounds which are related to the Christmas colors of red and green and is intended to provide a holiday diversion with a chemical twist.
