Customer Reviews

Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions, Mechanisms, and Structure

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book simply is "the bible" for organic chemists - it is clearly organized and has the most powerful index I have ever seen in a book. It serves well not only as a reference guide for the working chemist but also is a good book for students.

As a big fan of the 4th edition, I jumped for joy when the 5th edition came out. I purchased it immediately, and I was not disappointed. It's hard to imagine beating the comprehensiveness of the past editions, but somehow Jerry has done it again! Certainly there is a lot of redundancy, but there are so many more reactions and references added that March's 5th is another must have for any serious organic chemist.

Updated for the continuing growth of the field, Jerry March had simply written one of the most comprehensive works in organic chemistry. The huge, thick volume might not serve as a text but rather a desktop reference. It was chosen as a course bible for my organic synthesis class.

The first part of the book deals with strcutures in organic chemistry. It serves as a prerequisite to understanding of reactions and mechanisms. This section contains information about some of the most ambiguous organic intermediates (species) such as nitrenes, carbenes, carbocations, and tautomers. One can also find detailed discussion on cis-trans isomerism and structural reactivity relations.

Part II of the volume discusses organic reactions and types of reactions in depth. Representative reactions include nucleophilic substitution, electrophilic substitution, rearrangements and radical reactions. Though March's work is self-containing as a sole reference, it is also meant to serve as a companion to major texts such as Miller's "Advanced Organic Chemistry", the double volumes of "Advanced Organic Chemistry" by Carey and Sundberg and any undergraduate introductory texts.

March's book distinguishes itself in discussion of organic named reaction such as Susuki reaction, Wolf-Kishner reduction, Swern oxidation, etc. One might often encounter difficulty in looking up named reactions. Jerry March's book will ease much of the trouble. Organic chemists and students should not miss this treasured work. Highly recommended.

As usual, March's brings tens of thousands of reactions and structures to the desktop. While used as a text by graduate courses everywhere in the US, it remains one of my favorite desktop references as a working chemist. For a chemist doing analytical, physical, environmental, or nearly any kind of chemistry that deals with organic reactions and/or molecules at one time or another, you can barely afford to be without it, unless you work at a library. Best of all, March's gives you an excellent set of references for more depth on any reaction. Just the same, the mechanistic side tends to be a bit short or sometimes not illustrated as well as elsewhere. Also, the paper is way too thin, giving bleed through if I copy it for reference to give someone else when trying to prove or illustrate a point. Its also a bit fragile and sometimes harder to read because of that. It really should be better paper and two volumes by now. Softcopy would be even better. I haven't used this new edition enough to be certain, but I think there are more typos and so forth in it than I remember seeing in my earlier edition. Just the same, it is extremely useful and packs a lot of info. into a small package. Which I had it in softcopy, though. It has saved my several trips to the library in the month I've had the new edition.

I agree with the other reviewers. I'd like to add that this book is also phenomenally useful as a reference for all chemists, not just organic chemists. It is undoubtedly the most complete work in terms of useful organization of cited references going back nearly a century. Its usefulness has led me to dedicate a recent article to Jerry March. Since Jerry's death in 1997, it will be up to Wiley to find a suitable coauthor to update this volume. I can only hope for a choice as good as Jerry. Along with Cotton & Wilkinson's Adv. Inorg. Chem., Jerry's book is a must for every chemist's ready-reference library.

this book has been with me for the last 8 yrs.i like this book as all the info is imparted with the minimum usage of words,almost complete in itself,has references to original literature & with stunning clarity.if u are short of money go for it.it is the most complete ,self sufficient book available in the market.

This is by far the best text I have found. Although it is considered a text book, it is more handy as a reference tool. I have seen no other book that contains more information than March's. This book is actually worth the price.

I paid more for my 4th ed. new, and find it to be worth even more. It is not a cookbook per se, but it is a very comprehensive textbook that details general reactions by functional group. It outlines every way known to remove, add to, or otherwise modify every functional group. There is as much commentary as is needed, if not more, and every pathway is mentioned regardless of how exotic or primitive and low-yielding. The corresponding OS synth refs for specific cpds. are given for each type of reaction, along with a total of 15,000 other refs in footnotes. This was cutting-edge in 92, with much updating of the 3rd ed. The index will take you to the section that shows how to make the manipulations you want - if it doesn't, it probably can't be done.

This is far and away the most useful book to own for anyone involved in organic synthesis. Nothing else comes to "Jerry" for completeness, accuracy, and ease of use. I also highly recommend "Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis" by Greene. These books are the two "must-haves" in any organic chemist's library.

I'm pretty sure that you _must_ have this book if you are studying advanced organic chemistry. Maybe it's not the best one to use as a study guide, but it's extremely helpful as a reference book both for undergrads and graduate students. However, one can argue that this edition is a bit out-of-date.