You may say that everybody knows these categories and their names are not particularly important. But one of the readers emailed me to tell that I was wrong to mention tangible compounds as virtual, made to order:
"If you look up the dictionary definition you will see it says something along the lines of "real, having a physical existence, discernible by touch", which is not true of virtual compounds. I think its use is just plain wrong in this context."
But then in the next week I was reading a manuscript that is still in the press that divides all compound sources into purchasable and tangible (that is – virtual). So clearly definitions are not as clear and self explanatory as their inventors think.
We reviewed all the comments and came up with the following tags for each of the groups:
In stock items: at least one supplier lists the compound as an item they have in the warehouse. Made-to-order compounds still need to be synthesized. We added “on request” to the tags for items that can’t be ordered yet in our online store.
Where are these tags displayed on our website, you ask? They aren’t yet. But you will see them soon!
