$re = '/(?im)^(?:[^a-z].*\r?\n)*([a-z]+).*(\r?\n[^a-z].*)*/';
$str = '(IUPAC: Disilver sulfide)
Acanthite (Y: 1855) 02.BA.35 [18] [19] [20]
(IUPAC: Disilver sulfide)
Acetamide (1974-039) 10.AA.20 [21] [22] [23]
(IUPAC: Acetic acid amide)
Achalaite (2013-103) 04.?? [24] [no] [no]
Achavalite (Y: 1939';
$subst = "$1";
$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);
echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php