[Jorriss]

I have taken the full organic chem courses (two courses in community college) offered for transferring to a university with a chem major. I'm fairly good at the subject and enjoy it too much lol. I've recently ordered the two part Carey & Richard books, now i want to learn independently (as much as I can) from them; does anyone remember/know which chapters/parts of the book they went over in university?


Thank you!

Do you also have Grossman's, The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms? That's a super book too.

As for Carey/Sundberg, just do what you like. If you want to learn about the structure and mechanism of nucleophilic substitution, check out chapter 4 of volume A, if you want to learn synthetic methods of the carbonyl group, check out that chapter in volume B. It's really upto you, you won't hurt yourself by jumping around.

Although, for volume A, I would go over chapters 1-3 no matter what because they a lot of foundational physical organic chemistry.

[Excelinthewall]

for study organic i use both Brown and Bruice, but I prefer the Bruice because the reaction mechanism is exhibit better. But i have a problem for organic book: none of this have got a resolution for the problem. Someone know  a good exercise book?

i'm so sorry for my bad english and thanks everyone for the help.

bye bye

[orgopete]

If you are already using Paula Bruice and what to practice reaction mechanisms, then I would like to suggest my book, A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms. I concede that it is a bit avant garde in some respects, but if all you wish to know is how do reactions take place, it does a very good job of that. The mechanisms are repeated at four levels. The first requires adding the curved arrow, the second every other structure is missing, and the third is similar to problems in an organic chemistry text. Then a complete solution is also provided. I guarantee you can do the problems. Because the problems are repeated at increasing levels of difficulty, you can learn complete mechanisms. There is a sampler page here.

[vehans]

Thanks for the aid Jorriss, I appreciate it!

[AWK]

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/4887071/used/Organic%20Chemistry

[MissPhosgene]

Can anyone offer opinions on the following texts?

Anslyn, Physical Organic Chemistry.

 or

Vollhardt, Organic Chemistry.

Thank you

The Anslyn book is one of my all time favorite reads. Don't know about Vollhardt.

[Jorriss]

Can anyone offer opinions on the following texts?

Anslyn, Physical Organic Chemistry.

 or

Vollhardt, Organic Chemistry.

Thank you

The Anslyn book is one of my all time favorite reads. Don't know about Vollhardt.

Vollhardt is an introductory book and not a great at that, imo. It's basically the same as Solomons but slightly less information as I recall, but I am not certain. And it is no where near as good as Solomons, Wothers, Smothers, etc, etc.

[LittleNovice]

Does anyone know of some good textbooks to study organic synthesis of natural products (i.e. polyketides) or practice synthetic pathways?

I've been using Solomons up till now and it doesn't do an in-depth enough job on the mechanisms/reactions involved in the natural and synthetic pathways to synthesize natural products.

[Diels_Alder]

Hi,

This is my first post in the forum and I would like to ask something about an Spectroscopy book.

I´m interested in buying "Introduction to Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy" from Kulthop, Daly and Wiberley (Academic Press) after reading the third edition (1990) of the book. Do you know what are the differences  between the Third and the second edition (1975)? Does the second edition lack interesting issues from the newest one?

Thanks in advance.

Does anyone know of some good textbooks to study organic synthesis of natural products (i.e. polyketides) or practice synthetic pathways?

I've been using Solomons up till now and it doesn't do an in-depth enough job on the mechanisms/reactions involved in the natural and synthetic pathways to synthesize natural products.

I´m not an expert on that topic but I can recommend you "Natural Products" ( J. Mann, S. Davidson, J. Hobbs, D. Banthorpe, J. H). The book is quite detailed in terms of mechanisms in my opinion and maybe suits you.

[physicianwebsites]

nother good one is "Structure Determination of Organic Compounds" by Pretsh, Buhlmann, and Affolter.  It doesn't have much theory of spectroscopy, but it has tons of reference data, such as where you would expect the 13C signals of an aromatic ring with a CF3 substituent (i.e., trifluorotoluene) and what all the JC-F coupling constants are.

[Åke]

The two volume set by Carey and Sundberg is apparently very popular but I found it really boring. Clayden/Greeves/Warren/Wolters is an excellent book to start off with and it's exciting too. More than a decade has passed since it has first been published and it's still the best.

// VH

[sparta]

hi jameel plz name the best book for spectroscopy problems IR NMR C13 H1nmr

[Alexpride]

 

I'm taking organic chemistry 1 for undergrad.  The professor is probably one of the most intelligent professors I ever had.  But he is difficult to follow, and the topics discussed in class aren't really in a sort of order out of a textbook.

The required textbook by the university is the solomon's Organic Chemistry 10th edition.   I really dislike this textbook and the solutions manual as well; after using the both for a 1 1/2 month, I learned that the professor isn't using it himself and that he also dislikes it.  Not only that, the topics in the class aren't in the same order as in the book.  


Therefore I bought others.  Here is a list of what I have now.
Guides:
1.  Klein's Organic Chemistry ASL.  (really helped but not for everything, and especially will not for future topics).
2.  Instant Notes in Organic Chemistry.  (haven't used it much)

Textbooks and solutions manual.
1. Solomons 10th Edition.  (dislike)
2. Carey 6th Edition.   (fine, but not for all topics in class)
3. Morrison 5th.  (just received)

Since I'm having hard time finding the topics in the textbooks, are there any other guides or textbooks that I should look into?
  
The professor mentioned Bruice and Wade; would these be any different/better?

I have noticed that the professor isn't really using a functional group approach, but still not very much a mechanical approach as well.

What would be a good text or guide for finding topics discussed in class?

Would any of the following be beneficial?
The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student's Guide to Success
The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms
Vogel's Textbook of Practical Organic Chemistry
Pushing Electrons: A Guide for Students of Organic Chemistry

Thanks in advance!

[orgopete]

@Alexpride
Learning (organic) chemistry can be a challenge for students (and teachers). I took over a class using Solomons and Fryhle, a functional group based book. It seemed so 1960 to me. I switched to Bruice. This was in tune with my teaching. I changed to Brown and Foote seeking to lighten the load when the mechanisms become long and there was little reprieve if you really didn't know mechanisms. Then I went back to Bruice. We used the ACS organic exam to evaluate progress.

My summary. The lower quartile did better with Bruice than with a functional group based book. I reason that mechanism based books may give a better rationale for retention. Functional groups based books may leave students confused as to what should happen in reactions, especially if the student adage of "if confused or in doubt, memorize". (Since I emphasized mechanisms, I was generally disheartened when I saw students using flash cards as these students generally were not top performers, see student adage.)

I liked and disliked different books for what I would consider frivolous reasons. Really, old chemistry, is that a reason? Bruice had some discussion I liked in its solution manual. Many like Wade, but I couldn't get what he was try to say? Why were some reactions introduced when they were? What was the point? It seemed to jump around. I liked the more orderly approach of Paula Bruice.

I haven't seen a 'guide' that I liked. My analogy. If you wanted to learn a language, a guide that said it could teach you French with 200 or 2000 words might seem appealing, especially if it takes at least 5000 words. In the end, would you be fluent? Most of the guides I have looked at simply cut out material. It will be simpler. So is French is you limit your vocabulary.

My book was written generally around Bruice. I have learned that it also has a flaw. It is the flaw noted by Alexpride. I have discovered that even though I have a fairly extensive index and cross reference to reactions, many students cannot recognize an example if it is not THE example in their book even if it is the same mechanism. (I need to find professors that would like to use my book in their class and for me to adapt it to their textbook. Then students would be reassured that they are learning the exact example taught in their class.)

In the end, I don't think it is about the book at all. It is about how our brains work. If things make logical sense, we can remember them. That is why it is more difficult to memorize the Gettysburg address if with Chinese characters, for example. Mechanisms are a strategy to make sense of reactions. Each and every step should follow a rational path leading to a final result. That should be the objective in writing mechanisms. Memorizing can be shorter and faster, but in the end, if you are like most students, you will come to a point at which you will ask, is this reagent an oxidant or reductant (or something like that)?

[Alexpride]

Thanks for your reply!

I'm looking at your books now and I see different ones, a workbook and two guides; how are the guides different from one another?  Which one would you recommend for first semester?

Also, you mentioned that you used Bruice and Wade?  Have used any others that had the Mechanism approach?  ex....Hornback? Clayden?

Finally did you see differences between an older edition to a new one?

Thanks!!!