"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..."

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.

TEXTBOOK

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.

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.

2008-01-06 Truly Organic!

I bought this book in January 2007 for my MChem course at a much higher price (£59.99) from a well known University bookshop. Although I paid way too much for it I have to say it's the best investment I ever made as I found it to be very useful throughout the duration of my Masters. The book starts off in a very basic to almost A Level standard manner. The reader does not have to have any prior understanding of organic chemistry as the book begins with a section on "What is organic chemistry" and then leads onto organic structures and how to determine structures using different spectroscopic instruments. In total there are 53 chapters which include: Organic reactions, Delocalisation and conjugation, Acidity, Basicity and pKa, Equilibria, Stereochemistry, Retrosynthetic analysis, Fragmentation, Radical reactions, Asymmetric synthesis, Organometallic chemistry and Polymerization. This book helped me score 89% on my Masters. I'm now in my 1st year of my Chemistry PhD and I'm still referring to it! I would recommend every organic chemist (whether undergrad, postgrad or even postdoc) to own a copy of this book. It's a truly organic gem!!!