FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             Roger Rensberger
July 22, 1994                      (301) 975-2762

                                   TN-5985

                 MAJOR EXPANSION ANNOUNCED FOR PC DATABASE

                    ON CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN SOLUTIONS


     An important research tool for environmental scientists,
research chemists, pharmacologists and others in the health care
field has been expanded with new information for modeling
chemical reactions in solution.  The NDRL/NIST Solution Kinetics
Database, Version 2.0, is available for personal computers from
the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

     The computerized database can relay information quickly on
chemical reaction rates.  It holds information on the rates of
10,800 free radicals derived from more than 14,000 experimental
determinations; searches can be made for 7,800 chemical species
that are reactants or products.

     These data are necessary, for example, in predicting the
rates of chemical processes including free radicals.  This
information can be used to design chemical processes, to study
pollution in the environment and to measure the effects of
radiation treatments.  The data also can be used to study
antioxidants for the development of pharmaceuticals and food
preservatives.

     The updated Solution Kinetics Database uses the same
software as the widely used NIST Chemical Kinetics Database for
gas phase reactions.  It provides the bench scientist with fast,
easy access to chemical rate data for free radical processes
involving primary radicals from water, inorganic radicals and
carbon-centered radicals in aqueous solution, and organic peroxyl
radicals in various solvents.  In a few minutes, users can
examine all available data for many different reactions, compare
the rate constants to their own data, generate files for
inclusion in a modeling program or produce literature citations
that can be used in a word processor.

     The NDRL/NIST Solution Kinetics Database was compiled from
the available printed literature through 1992 by the Radiation
Chemistry Data Center, Radiation Laboratory, University of Notre
Dame.  The center is part of the National Standard Reference Data
System established in 1963.  Since 1968, the NIST Standard
Reference Data Program has been responsible, under an act of
Congress, for coordinating the evaluation of numerical data that
describe the chemical and physical properties of well-defined
substances.

     The NDRL/NIST Solution Kinetics Database, Version 2.0, is
available for $265.  It is designed for any MS DOS or PC DOS
computer using DOS 2.1 or later and at least 640K memory; 
free memory must be at least 400KB plus 20KB if running under 
Windows .  Upgrades are $75.  Periodic updates are planned.

     To order NIST Standard Reference Database 40:  NDRL/NIST
Solution Kinetics, Version 2.0, contact the Standard Reference
Data Program, A320 Physics Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md.
20899, (301) 975-2208, fax:  (301) 926-0416, e-mail: 
SRDATA@enh.nist.gov (via Internet).

     As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth 
by working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.

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