Wikipedia:WikiProject Chemicals

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to chemical compounds. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there. To join, simply list yourself at #Participants by adding * ~~~ to the section.

Title

WikiProject on Chemicals

Scope

This WikiProject aims primarily to compile a database of known chemicals, similar to the Merck Index. Regarding inorganic compounds, this will initially provide pages on:

• At least one important compound per non-radioactive element of the periodic table. For common elements such as sodium, a range of common compounds will be represented.
• Major inorganic reagents used in organic chemistry (such as lithium aluminium hydride).

For organic compounds, there will initially be pages on each of the following:

• Common organic reagents (e.g., oxalyl chloride) and solvents (such as DMF).
• Common small building blocks (such as iodomethane)
• Important industrial commodity chemicals such as styrene.
• Important ring systems and similar units (e.g., indole).
• Major pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals etc. (e.g., fexofenadine).
• Important biochemical compounds such as NAD.
• Important molecules of scientific interest such as prismane. These may be biologically active molecules which are being evaluated as possible future drugs.

In addition there will be coverage of chemicals in general which are expected to come to public attention, for example environmental pollutants like dioxins.

Parentage

The parent of this WikiProject is WikiProject Chemistry.

Participants

• Eequor
• Walkerma
• OpusV
• H Padleckas
• Wim van Dorst

Goals

1. Write a full page for one significant compound of each non-radioactive element in the periodic table. For metals this will usually be an oxide or chloride. These pages should include an infobox such as the short form inorganic template.
2. Compile a list of 50 common reagents (inorganic and organic) used in organic chemistry.
3. Write a full page for a selection of 30 small building block molecules used in simple organic reactions, and for 50 major commodity organic chemicals. These should include an infobox such as the simple organic template.
4. Write a full page for 30 common organic solvents. These should include an infobox such as the simple organic template.
5. Compile a list of 100 important compounds of biochemical and general chemical interest, as well as pharmaceuticals.
6. Write a full page for 30 common polymers.
7. Develop appropriate navigational aids to help users locate pages relevant to their needs, and which help identify those compounds that have complete pages written. These would help supplement the traditional searches, categories, and list of compounds by being tailored for the specific class of compound.
8. Set up a means of keeping track of progress towards the above goals.

Note: that these are not permanent goals, rather they set targets for us that are achievable in a reasonable timescale. One or two may already have been reached- but when we have all of them checked off we can set new goals.

discussion forums

Several streams of discussion are on-going, among others:

• /Organization
• wikipedia_talk:WikiProject Chemistry
• wikipedia_talk:WikiProject Chemicals

Infoboxes

Infoboxes are defined on Wikipedia:Chemical infobox. Three templates have been defined sofar, viz., the {{Chembox}} template as a generic table, the {{Chembox simple organic}} for organic coumpounds, and {{chembox short inorganic}} for inorganic compounds.

Templates

The templates of the Chemistry Wikiproject will be used. Sofar the {{chem-stub}} for stubs and the {{Chemistry}} as WikiProject notice are in use.