Introduction to Organic Chemistry [Hardcover]

William H. Brown (Author), Thomas Poon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0471444510 | ISBN-13: 978-0471444510 | Edition: 3

This book enables readers to see the connections in organic chemistry and understand the logic.

• Reaction mechanisms are grouped together to reflect logical relationships.
• Discusses organic chemistry as it is applied to real-world compounds and problems.
• Electrostatic potential plots are added throughout the text to enhance the recognition and importance of molecular polarity.
• Presents problems in a new “Looking-Ahead” section at the end of each chapter that show how concepts constantly build upon each other.
• Converts many of the structural formulas to a line-angle format in order to make structural formulas both easier to recognize and easier to draw.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The flower of the passion fruit, Passiflora edulis, showing 3-fold and 5-fold symmetry in its styles and stamen, respectively. Symmetry and the lack of symmetry are important features of organic molecules. For example, a fascinating distinction between the yellow and purple passion fruit was found when studying compounds occurring within the species. 2-Heptanol, for example, is found in both the yellow and purple passion fruit but, whereas the R enantiomer predominates in purple fruit (92%), the S enantiomer predominates in yellow fruit (82%). Just as the passion fruit and its' flower illustrate important concepts at work in organic chemistry, this text enables students to make the connections between organic chemistry in the classroom and the world around them.

About the Author

William H. Brown is Professor Emeritus at Beloit College, where he was twice named Teacher of the Year. He is also the author of two other college textbooks; Organic Chemistry 3/e published in 2002, and General, Organic, and Biochemistry 7/e coauthored with Fred Bettelheim and Jerry March, published in 2004. he received h is PhD from Columbia University under the direction of Gilbert Stork and did post-doctoral work at California Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona. Twice he was Director of a Beloit College World Affairs Center seminar at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. In 1999, he retired from Beloit College to devote more time to writing and development of educational materials. Although officially retired, he continues to teach Special Topics in Organic Synthesis on a Yearly basis.

 Thomas Poon is Associate professor of Chemistry in the Joint Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges, three of the five undergraduate institutions that make up the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California. He received his B.S. degree from Fairfield University (CT) and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles under the direction of Christopher S. Foote. Poon was a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow under Bradford P. Mundy at Colby College (ME) before joining the faculty at Randolph-Macon College (VA) where he received the Thomas Branch Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1999. He was visiting scholar at Columbia University (NY) in 2002 (and again in 2004) where he worked on projects in both research and education with his friend and mentor, Nicholas J. Turro. His teaching duties include organic chemistry, forensic chemistry, and upper level courses in photochemistry and advanced laboratory techniques. his favorite activity is working alongside undergraduates in the laboratory on research problems involving the investigation of synthetic methodology in zeolites, zeolite photochemistry, and reactions of singlet oxygen.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 736 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (September 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471444510
• ISBN-13: 978-0471444510
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable and well-written tool, March 18, 2006

By 

J. Kidd - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to Organic Chemistry (Hardcover)

This text is a valuable and well-written tool for any person that may have little familiarity with organic chemistry but is interested in learning. Text is accompanied by diagrams and pictures that provide visual aid to help in understanding. Throughout the chapters, sample questions are included along with descriptive answers that help understand the solution's process. Each chapter has questions pertaining to the material covered that are objective as well as questions that may be meaningful in a real-life context. Solutions to problems only exist in the text for odd-numbered questions. Even-numbered questions will require the solution manual.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to understand, 3D chemistry book, October 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: An Introduction to Organic Chemistry (Saunders golden sunburst series) (Hardcover)

There are a lots pictures in the book, and explain theories very well. However, solutions for problems are not in this book, have to buy seperately.

3.0 out of 5 stars Before you buy a used copy..., November 13, 2011

By 

jkell - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Introduction to Organic Chemistry (Hardcover)

The textbook is OK. My instructor disagrees with it quite often, so it's not a bible for the class I'm taking, which is kind of a bummer. But it's an OK chem textbook.

The real problem with it is WileyPlus, which is crap. I got a used textbook, so it didn't come with a WileyPlus code, so I had to buy it separately. It was $95. (!!) It gives me access to an electronic version of the textbook and homework problems. The homework in there is totally impossible--drawing molecules with their program is guaranteed to frustrate me, and I spend way more time trying to learn the stupid thing than actually learning organic chemistry. Also, the textbook is in frames (Frames!), so I cannot read it on my iPad because half of the text is off in outer space. WileyPlus is just plain awful.

So, before buying a used copy of the textbook, find out if your instructor is going to require WileyPlus and then figure out which is more economical because a bunch of people in my class ended up spending way more than they needed to when they got the used book and then had to buy the WileyPlus separately.