which organic chem book to buy?
OK, so you're considering which book to get for 2 semester intro organic chemistry. Just buy the assigned text for the course, right? well, maybe.
You should know there are 2 basic approaches to the teaching of organic chem: The functional group approach and mechanism approach. By far, the former is much more commonly used and the way organic chem has been taught for decades. The problem is this approach promotes tedious memorization and you can be overwhelmed by the volume. Also, most organic chemists don't think in terms of functional groups. They understand their subject by organizing/systematizing reactions according to mechanism and reaction type as governed by a few basic principles.
The number of books that support the rxn./mechanism approach are few in number. They are (this list may be incomplete):
Organic Chemistry by Marye Anne Fox, James K. Whitesell (ISBN 0763721972)
Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warren, Wothers
A Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry (6th Edition) by Peter Sykes
A Primer to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry by Peter Sykes
Organic Chemistry by Joseph M. Hornback (ISBN 0534389511)
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For the the functional group approach:
Just based on its sheer size and completeness, the best book has to be Organic Chemistry (now in its 6th Edition) by Morrison & Boyd (ISBN 0136436692). It's the gold standard by which all other functional group books are judged.
2nd best is probably Organic Chemistry by G. Marc Loudon (ISBN 0195119991).
All the rest - Ege, McMurry, Solomons, Wade, Carey, Bruice, Vollhardt, Maitland Jones Jr., Streitwieser/Heathcock, Brown/Foote - they're just clones of one another. The exceptions might be Bruice and Jones Jr. which employ a quasi-mechanism/functional group approach.
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For those of you who want to start off with "just the facts" before tackling these organic tomes try: "Organic Chemistry: A Short Course" by Hart/Craine/Hart/Hadad now in its 12th edition.
The 2 books by David R. Klein are also recommended: "Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language: Translating the Basic Concepts" and "Organic Chemistry II as a Second Language: Second Semester Topics".
Another good intro: The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry: A Student's Guide to Success by Joel Karty
For the lab portion get "The Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual: A Student's Guide to Techniques" by James W. Zubrick
Check out my other reviews for other chemistry books.
P.S. I should really mention Solomons since I am "reviewing" his book. It's very average and middle-of-the road. there. done.
Amazing book!
GREAT BOOK! If your professor chooses this book, you are really really lucky. I am a second year college student, and I am half way into the semester. To tell you the truth, the professor told us that after using this book, the overall scores on exams went up higher than previous years. I myself was horrible at the orgo part of general chemistry. However, after using this book to study, I'm currently acing orgo!
This is a great book, has detailed explanations, clear and easy-to-understand illustrations, and VERY HARD review questions. If you want to get good at organic chemistry, this is the book to get even if you are using another book!
Good enough - undergrad review
This is a basic text for organic chemistry. Alot of the review questions seem TOO hard and there arent enough details in the solomons and fryhle answer manual. Chapter 5 is explained terribly and I dont like the nucleophile/substrate way of learning. I prefer the nucleophile/electrophile way of learing in the orgainic chemistry by Seyhan Ege. I believe this book to be superior in most ways.
About Organic Chemistry detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #13140 in Books
- Published on: 2007-02-16
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 1280 pages
Organic Chemistry Description
The Ninth Edition of Organic Chemistry continues Solomons-Fryhle's tradition of excellence in teaching and preparing students for success in the organic classroom and beyond.
Students are often overwhelmed by the early rigors of organic chemistry. Solomons-Fryhle prepares students for these early rigors by introducing acids & bases--topics they know from general chemistry--early, followed by chapters on structure and stereochemistry. Next, a discussion of ionic reactions gives students a foundation for the vast majority of reactions that they will encounter. The Ninth Edition continues to introduce IR spectroscopy in chapter 2 (after functional groups) and Carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy in chapter 4, providing synergy with most lab courses and, again, reinforcing learning.
The new edition of Solomons-Fryhle also has a completely revised WileyPLUS course to help students and instructors reach their full potential. WileyPLUS provides instructors with the most robust online homework solution in organic chemistry. This revision of WileyPLUS meets students where and when they learn and provides them with a learning platform that offers real learning solutions that complement their approach to managing and mastering organic concepts.