Product Description

Since its original appearance in 1977, Advanced Organic Chemistry has maintained its place as the premier textbook in the field, offering broad coverage of the structure, reactivity and synthesis of organic compounds. As in the earlier editions, the text contains extensive references to both the primary and review literature and provides examples of data and reactions that illustrate and document the generalizations. While the text assumes completion of an introductory course in organic chemistry, it reviews the fundamental concepts for each topic that is discussed.

The two-part fifth edition has been substantially revised and reorganized for greater clarity. Among the changes: Updated material reflecting advances in the field since 2001’s Fourth Edition, especially in computational chemistry; A companion Web site provides digital models for study of structure, reaction and selectivity; Solutions to the exercises provided to instructors online.

The control of reactivity to achieve specific syntheses is one of the overarching goals of organic chemistry. Part B describes the most general and useful synthetic reactions, organized on the basis of reaction type. Together with Part A: Structure and Mechanisms, the two volumes are intended to provide the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student in chemistry with a sufficient foundation to comprehend and use the research literature in organic chemistry.

The 4th Edition is still available. To purchase your copy, please contact Springer Customer Services.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #123864 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1322 pages

Customer Reviews

Strong graduate-level text
While a bit dated (1990), it is nevertheless a comprehensive overview of organic synthesis suitable for upper-level undergraduates or graduate students in organic chemistry. Unlike reference works like March, it is more of a textbook - however, a good number of references (with few mistakes) are provided. Along with part "A" of the series and a more reference-oriented work such as March, it provides a solid foundation and entry point to the literature for advanced students of organic chemistry.

Magnificient in its own essence
I found this book extremely easy to read and makes a great addition to the library owned by an organic chemist. Certainly, this book deserves much attention and I believe that it describes many concepts in a simpler manner when comparison to Jerry March's book is called upon. The book is well-written and is exactly what undergraduate students interested in organic chemistry need to read if they want to expand their knowledge of the field without getting into a complex text right away. Definitively, I recommend this book in the shelf of any practicing and non-practicing chemist.

5th Edition Misses the Mark--Loaded with Errors
This review is specifically meant to refer to the latest edition (5th ed.) of this book. The earlier editions were quite good, but the 5th edition completely misses the mark. Ordinarily, one would think that a book such as this would get better and better with each new edition. Not so with this book. For some reason, the 5th edition is loaded with mistakes.....many of these appear to be typesetting errors (e.g., atoms in the wrong place, pentavalent carbons, nonsense intermediates within reaction pathways, etc.). It is terribly disappointing. I do not know what happened at the publisher this time, but, in good conscience, they really should not have released this book the way it is. It does not appear to have been the authors' fault, but rather it was likely the fault of Springer (the publisher). This looks like an example of the mindless side of capitalism....large publishing companies who have already taken over much of their competition also have ridiculous deadlines to meet quarterly earnings goals, so they rush through the publication process and end up turning out garbage. The only way that these companies ultimately avoid getting into a heap of trouble with the FTC or other consumer advocate agencies is by issuing online addendums filled with corrections to the myriad of errors. Ask yourselves, is that why you want to buy a new book..... so that you have to download a 50-page corrections addendum to fix all of the errors that the publisher missed or opted not to correct in the first place? This sort of thing is happening more and more these days in the publishing industry, even with software. And the larger and larger these publishing companies become, the more we see it. I recommend that you DO NOT BUY the 5th edition of this book; it should have been recalled by the publisher, and everyone who bought it should have received a refund. However, if you really want to buy Carey and Sundberg's book, then buy the 4th edition used; you will be much happier. Apparently, Springer scaled back on qualified staff and/or hired a bunch of publishing flunkies sometime between the release of the 4th and 5th editions of this book.