Advanced Organic Chemistry Reaction

Writing a textbook at any level is always a challenge. In organic chemistry, exciting new discoveries are being made at an ever-increasing pace. However, students of the subject still arrive in the classroom knowing only what they have been taught, often less. The challenge is to present appropriate review material, present venerable, classic chemistry while dealing with the latest results, and, most importantly, provoke thought and discussion. At the time this book was written, there was a need for an advanced text that incorporated these aspects of our science.

The German version of the text was designed for second- and third-year chemistry majors: 60–70% of the contents of this book address students before the “Diplomchemiker- Vorexamen,” while the remaining 30–40% address them thereafter. The German book is typically used one year after a standard introductory textbook such as that by Vollhardt and Schore, Streitweiser and Heathcock, or McMurry. Accordingly, in the United States, this text can be used in a class for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students. The curricula of other English-speaking countries should allow the use of this text with optimum benefit at a similar point of progress. A good understanding of the fundamentals of organic and physical chemistry will suffice as a foundation for using this textbook to its advantage.