Organic Acronyms

  • General Info on Acronyms

    "Unfortunately, the synthetic community has become infatuated with using acronyms even for reagents where no valid reason exists (i.e. to save space in a scheme). The following commonly used acronyms, which save almost no space and in some cases are actually longer than a chemical formula readable by any organic chemist, serve only to confuse the non-specialist reader and are not used in this collection. Below are given the acronym, the formulation typically used in the synthetic schemes. A number of trade names are unfortunately used by the synthetic community, and these are also avoided when possible, since they do not have the staying power or comprehensibility of real names (e.g. Superhydride, Selectride, Vitride, Red-Al, Freon, etc)."

    AcronymSchemesReagent Index
    DMSSMe2Me2S
    DCMCH2Cl2Not indexed unless reactant
    DIBALiBu2AlHAlHiBu2
    DIPEANEtiPr2NEtiPr2
    HMDSHN(SiMe3)2NH(SiMe3)2
    KHMDSKN(SiMe3)2KN(SiMe3)2
    LAHLiAIH4AlH4Li
    LDALiNiPr2LiNiPr2
    LIHMDSLiN(SiMes)2LiN(SiMes)2
    PPTSTsOH•PyTsOH•Py
    TBAFBu4N+ F–Fluoride, Bu4N+
    TEANEt3NEt3
    TESSiEt3SiEt3-X
    TIPSSiiPr3SiiPr3-X
    TMSSiMe3SiMe3-X
    TBS (tBuMe2Si) and TBDPS (tBuPh2Si) are used only very rarely when a scheme becomes too cluttered.

  • Statistics on this Database

    Statistics on this Database

    lf the aldol reaction is considered a name reaction, and all forms are counted, it would be at the top. The Ozonolysis reaction, selenoxide eliminations, olefin metathesis reactions, and reductive aminations would be in the top twenty, depending on how broadly they are defined. Several famous name reactions are not in the top thirty: Reformatsky, Baeyer-Villiger, Hofmann elimination, Dieckman condensation. Others were barely used at all: Cope rearrangement, Darzens condensation, Clemmensen reduction, Favorskii rearrangement, Hunsdiecker reaction, Cope elimination, Beckman rearrangement, Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction, Gabriel synthesis, Stetter reaction, Hofmann rearrangement, and Haloform reaction.

    Index entries:

    1. Over 693 total syntheses have been analyzed.
    2. There are over 15,700 Keyword index entries.
    3. There are over 12,700 Reagent index entries.

    This collection represents perhaps 2-5% of total syntheses published

  • Organic Acronyms Table

    An Organic Acronyms Table is available as a PDF file.

  • Organic Acronyms Structure A–C

    Organic Acronyms Structure A–C

  • Organic Acronyms Structure D–G

    Organic Acronyms Structure D–G

  • Organic Acronyms Structure H–P

    Organic Acronyms Structure H–P

  • Organic Acronyms Structure Q–Z

    Organic Acronyms Structure Q–Z

  • J. Org. Chem. Acronyms Table

    A J. Org. Chem. Acronyms Table is available as a PDF file.

  • ChemInform-Acronym Finder (Wiley)

    A link to this external source is here.