Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry (Hardcover)

by John E. McMurry (Author), Eric E. Simanek (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Written for the short course–where content must be thorough, but to-the-point, FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Sixth Edition, continues to provide an effective, clear, and readable introduction to the beauty and logic of organic chemistry. McMurry presents only those subjects needed for a brief course while maintaining the important pedagogical tools commonly found in larger books. With clear explanations, thought-provoking examples, and an innovative vertical format for explaining reaction mechanisms, FUNDAMENTALS takes a modern approach: primary organization is by functional group, beginning with the simple (alkanes) and progressing to the more complex. Within the primary organization, there is also an emphasis on explaining the fundamental mechanistic similarities of reactions. Through this approach, memorization is minimized and understanding is maximized. The sixth edition brings in new content that applies organic chemistry to students, for example all of the chapter openers have been changed and incorporate a model and photograph of an application of organic chemistry such as Taxol from the pacific yew tree. The book introduces a running application in the Interlude boxes and in the problems relating agricultural chemicals intended to unify the subject further for students. All of the problems have been reorganized by topic to make easier to assign and review. New problem categories have been added. The new problem categories are "In the Field with Agrochemicals" and "In the Medicine Cabinet" to reinforce the focus on applications.

About the Author
John E. McMurry received his B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. at Columbia University. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Foundation Fellow. He has received several awards, which include the National Institutes of Health Career Development Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, and the Max Planck Research Award. In addition to ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, he is also the author or coauthor of ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, A BIOLOGICAL APPROACH, FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, THE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY OF BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS, CHEMISTRY, and FUNDAMENTALS OF GENERAL, ORGANIC, AND BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY.

A new co-author, Eric Simanek of Texas A&M University, has expertise in both biochemistry and organic chemistry. Dr. Simanek received his B.S. Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University, where his advisor was George M. Whitesides. He was most recently featured in the Journal of Chemical Education's October edition with an article on dendrimers. Dendrimers are polymers named for trees that show snowflake-like perfection. In 2000, Eric's group introduced dendrimers based on melamine. These architectures are unique in a variety of ways and subsequent reports from his group have addressed synthetic aspects of these architectures. He is also involved in improving science education the state of Texas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 6 edition (March 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0495012033
• ISBN-13: 978-0495012030
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,722 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Does it really cut it, May 4, 2005

By	A. Shankar "blue ego" (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry (Hardcover)

This book is an OK introductory organic chemistry text however I wanted more. I personally needed a book which gives a clear understanding of the basics and advanced concepts. I found two books which if used together produce the best results.

March's advanced organic chemistry and Organic chemistry by wade (6th edition).

These books are of tremendous help to me in understanding the fundamentals and also the more advanced concepts of organic chemistry. I also wanted to save money as I am doing further organic synthesis and other carbon chemistry subjects later on so I needed a book that is particularly good for reference.

If you are prescribed this book then go for it but I personally feel it doesnt really cut it for me. (I will edit this soon)

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the cost of the textbook, June 24, 2009

By	S. - See all my reviews

This book presents a lot of information but falls short on several points.
1. For an overview course the organization is terrible. Different classes of reactions are scattered all throughout the book. I found two ORGANIC CHEMISTRY books that were easier to understand than this overview text.
2. One example of information overload is Chapter 10 Carboxylic acids which not only features the reactions that pertain to the chapter but tries to fit a multitude of reactions into one chapter.
3. The bits and pieces scattering of information is aggrevated by most reactions featuring Benzenes rather than Hydrocarbon chains and Benzenes both are needed when being introduced to organic chemistry.
4. This book is not worth the 150 dollars buy a second hand copy and use what you save to purchase a first year Organic Chemistry text for reference.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear and concise for difficult subject matter., December 5, 2007

By	C. Steed - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is smaller than most textbooks, but packed with information. This book very clearly shows the mechanisms for different reactions, which helped me out tremendously. I highly recommend this book!