CHM 277: General Chemistry: Citing Sources

Information to include in a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) citation:

Title (CAS Registry Number). Product Stock or Catalog Number, Revision (Rev.) or Version (Ver.) Number. Manufacturer: Location, Date. URL

Citation example for SDS found in the University of Portland SDS System:

Cyclohexane (CAS RN: 110-82-7). 650455, ver. 6.8; Sigma-Aldrich: St. Louis, MO, May 25, 2023. https://cloud.chemicalsafety.com/chemsafe1/Default.aspx#!

Citation example for SDS found on a manufacturer's site:

Cyclohexane (CAS RN: 110-82-7). 227048, ver. 6.9; Sigma-Aldrich: St. Louis, MO, May 24, 2023. https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/sds/sial/227048 

More SDS citation examples

Table 4.3.33 Safety Data Sheets

Citing course PDFs for experiments or other supplemental information? Use the ACS format for citing an online document.

Example:

Experiment A1: Analysis of Compound Purity via Melting Point & Refractive Index. University of Portland, CHM375 Organic Chemistry Laboratory I, 2025. https://learning.up.edu/course/view.php?id=42819

The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry has over 200 million organic and inorganic substances. Each substance has been given a unique registry number (RN), which is the most accurate way to search for information about it. Searching by substance name can be less accurate since there are different naming systems.

The registry number might be referred to as:

CAS Registry Number
CAS RN
CAS No.
CAS Number

The number has dashes, which are considered part of the number. For example, the CAS RN for Cyclohexane is: 110-82-7. Include the dashes when searching by CAS RN in various databases, and also when including the number in a citation for a source.