Writing Conventions for Chemistry
The experimental section reads as a replicable recipe
Each procedure is written in past tense with exact quantities, molar equivalents, solvent volumes, temperatures, times, and isolated yields with the mass. Order of addition matters and is stated, because for many reactions it changes the outcome.
Characterization data follow a fixed order and punctuation
Compounds are reported in a set sequence — typically 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR, then high-resolution mass spectrometry — with solvent, frequency, chemical shifts, multiplicity, coupling constants, and integration in a rigid format. Journals treat deviations from that format as errors, not preferences.
Compounds are numbered in bold and referred to by number
New compounds get a bold arabic number at first appearance and are called by that number everywhere after, including in schemes. The numbering must match the scheme, the experimental section, and the supporting information exactly.
Supporting information carries the evidence, not the leftovers
Spectra, crystallographic data, and full procedures live in the SI, which is peer-reviewed alongside the paper. It has its own numbering scheme, and a claim in the main text has to be traceable to a specific SI page.
Names follow IUPAC, and structures do the heavy lifting
Systematic IUPAC names are used for new compounds even when a trivial name is common in the lab. Reaction schemes are the argument’s backbone; the prose explains what changed between structures rather than restating them in words.
Hazards are stated at the point of the procedure
Where a step involves a pyrophoric reagent, a peroxide former, or a pressurized reaction, a caution statement sits in the experimental section next to that step. Burying safety information in a general note is not acceptable practice.
