Product Description

A new style of textbook, aimed principally at the European (and British in particular) student. It is needed because almost all current organic chemistry texts are written to a fixed American pattern. This text is different from these in a number of important ways: The approach is based on explanation rather than fact. The functional group approach (alkane, alkene, alkyne) has served American State College readers well but increasingly students and instructors are attracted more to an approach based on mechanism and reaction type. This approach aims at understanding rather than factual knowledge and, though slower at the start, eventually gives the student power to understand compounds and reactions never previously encountered. This is a big advantage in a science already too large for individuals to learn and which is annually expanding at an ever greater rate. The basics of the subject are explained carefully and thoroughly. How to draw molecules realistically and how to draw mechanisms to reveal the fundamental chemistry are both emphasised. Important points are revisited when they become relevant in later chapters. Examples are very important too. New examples are given each time a concept resurfaces, and examples from everyday life and medicinal chemistry are frequently used. The authors want the readers to be excited by the universality of organic chemistry rather than be overwhelmed by facts. The design of the book has features to help comprehension. Structures are drawn in red, and black is used on them for emphasis. Other colours are used flexibly to draw attention to atoms, molecules, orbitals, arrows or whatever the authors want to emphasise rather than being used in a rigid systematic way. There are four types of "box" used to separate material from the main text, ranging from extra important summaries to diversions which can be omitted at first reading. The early chemistry chapters feature carbonyl group reactions because addition to carbonyl groups is probably the easiest reaction to understand. Thereafter the chemistry develops in a logical sequence but chapters on spectroscopy, stereochemistry etc are interspersed among those dealing with chemical reactions. From time to time review chapters summarise what has been described in a particular area. A personal and honest approach is adopted. The authors write clearly and directly to the reader, sharing their enthusiasms, understandings and doubts. If they believe an explanation is imperfect or controversial, they say so. They show that organic chemistry is developing rapidly, and that new ideas continually emerge to replace the old. The authors know from experience what conceptual difficulties often overwhelm students at an early stage in their studies and they devote more space to these points, give more examples, and revisit them when they can be applied. The aim is to help the readers master these points for themselves rather than just learn them off by heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15902 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1536 pages

Tony Barrett, Imperial College London
"What strikes the reader straight away is the way the text is laid out so that it is visually exciting. ...I could go on, so let me end by congratulating the authors and publishers in producing what I am sure will become the standard text in organic chemistry..."

Review
'If you want a really good book about organic chemistry get "Organic Chemistry" by Clayden, Greeves, Warren & Wothers' Christian Aichinger, Organic Chemistry Blog

What strikes the reader straight away is the way the text is laid out so that it is visually exciting. ...I could go on, so let me end by congratulating the authors and publishers in producing what I am sure will become the standard text in organic chemistry. Perhaps I should just summarise how I felt about the book when I came to put it down: refreshing, exciting and motivational. Tony Barrett, Imperial College London

"The authors should be congratulated for compiling a book that should prove very popular with our students...the text is very comprehensive and covers key areas in a very attractive and user friendly way. Thank you to OUP for publishing the book at a really good price". Dr Don Green, University of North London.

Customer Reviews

The best organic chemistry teaching aid written I've seen
Listen. And listen hard. There are many organic chemistry textbooks aimed at undergraduates. Many of them entitled "Organic Chemistry". The thing is, though, that of all of them this is the best one if you're going to be an organic chemist by trade. It is written with the student in mind. It is written so that the person that knows nothing, can come out with understanding something. It is also written for the expert as a refresher text. It is simply THE BEST organic chemistry textbook that I've come across. It is worth the money no matter how far along the organic chemistry learning spectrum you are, unless you're Corey. Then I think you probably don't need it. The book itself is split up into over more than 50 chapters, each of them tackling a different aspect of organic chemistry. I did my undergrad at Bristol and found that no other text matches the organic requirements of my course better than this book. You cannot fail but learn from it. It is written in an easy to digest style, thereby outstripping its outdated competition. Forget Vollhardt and McMurry. If you're an undergrad this is the book for you. It is NOT faultless, though. There are some things in it that are over simplified, as there are in ALL textbooks. For example, the mechanisms of catalytic cycles are not accurate. But then again, they are not accurate in any of the teaching texts available. Things like that only become important if you get involved in in-depth research. Otherwise, this book is almost perfect. There are 2 things to bear in mind. Firstly, the reactions within aren't referenced, which becomes annoying for the advanced undergrad/postgrad student, and secondly, the book selectively criticises/applauds the reactions it sees fit without justifiably judging it according to, say, yield and selectivity (for instance, reactions of interest may be cited as interesting but not have a note next to them saying that they go in pathetic yield). However, this is not a text that has any decent competition hitherto, as a teaching aid. Get it. It will be indispensible. If you can afford to, get the Problems & Answers book as well. It will be of great help. I should say that the book's co-author is Stuart Warren, a man reputedly pedantic about the accuracy of reaction mechanisms. Thereby, you should expect accuracy for most of what you find within the pages of the book. However, I think some people would have an issue with this in regards to the catalytic cycles. But that aside, this book is essential if you're an undergrad, be you in your 1st or 4th year. GET THIS BOOK. Don't be fooled by imitations. There is nothing that competes with this. This book is a MUST for the trainee organic chemist.

The best undergraduate organic chemistry book ever written
This book manages to present the fundamentals of organic chemistry in such an engaging and clear manner that it is an absolute joy to use.

The questions reinforce the material wonderfully and provide a steady learning curve, first building confidence and then stretching the student.

The companion solutions text is definately also worth considering if you are using this book as a tutorial.

All in all, one of the best books you will come across as a student of chemistry.

Fantastic. An undergraduate's dream book.
The authors have taken the job of detailed explanation very seriously and so annotations are abundant throughout the book to ensure the reader is never far from help on a topic. Unlike other textbooks Organic Chemistry does not shy away from producing a plausible mechanism for virtually every reaction and is thus a very comprehensive text. Ordered usefully into subject chapters with interelating footnotes the book encourages a holistic approach for which this reader was very grateful. I suspect that this is the first text which has successfully combined the mechanistic accuracy of Sykes' masterpiece (a guidebook to mechanism in organic chemistry) with the descriptive pleasures of Kemp&Vellacio's work. Organic Chemistry is a strong rival to March's book by the same title.