Customer Reviews

Organic Chemistry II as a Second Language: Second Semester Topics

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ordered this book after reading Mr. Klein's first Organic Chemistry as a Second Language book and was immediately content with my purchase upon arrival. This book clearly explains how to approach countless types of Organic Chemistry II problems and was a much more effective tool than stumbling through my textbook or messy lecture notes. If you work through the numerous example problems within each chapter, this book is the perfect supplement for any Orgo class. The best part is that you don't really have to work hard to memorize a list of reactions; this book shows you how to approach novel problems and understand why the reactions take place.

I highly reccomend this product to anyone who is taking an Organic Chemistry course or preparing for the MCAT.

I just finished my Organic Chemistry course. This book was a huge help, especially since all of the reactions were geared towards synthesis - the most challenging material of the whole year.

What it covered, it covered very well, BUT there was a LOT in my course that wasn't in this book. If you're looking for a great way to learn the basic concepts before you tackle your textbook, this is the book for you. But if your class doesn't have a textbook, or you're looking for a more condensed (and easier to read)version of your textbook, this isn't it. It's a good way to learn the basics, but don't expect it to get you through your class.

I'd recommend Organic Chemistry Demystified if you want a textbook replacement. There was only one reaction in my entire year of class that wasn't in that book, but it didn't break things down as well as Organic Chemistry as a Second Language.

This is the only reason I am getting an A in my second semester of organic chemistry. The lectures are okay, but the book simplifies the message and clearly explains the mechanisms and whats needed to understand them, not just memorization. Great buy.

----- READ FIRST ------
If you are taking the class, or planning to take the class, I think you will be better off reading from THIS BOOK as the PRIMARY resource, and your TEXTBOOK as your SECONDARY resource.
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I took my second semester of Organic Chemistry last semester, but didn't get such good grades. I was distraught at my poor performance that I just HAD to learn myself the subject again, especially because my major was so grounded on science. During class, we would learn mechanisms after mechanisms, but all I could do (possibly due to my laziness to study very deeply) was to memorize reactions after reactions.

This was my mistake. There was a limit to how much I could memorize without grasping the fundamentals of why reactions take place. During class, we would be taught about mechanisms of the reactions, but it was my fault for not paying much attention to those. Big mistake. That is definitely a big no-no in Orgo II unless you have the perfect memory that would allow you to easily memorize all reactions that you are supposed to know.

But after I purchased this book, I found myself paying much attention to the mechanisms, and trust me, it was so much more interesting than just memorizing reagents, catalysts here and there, and products.

This book is so organized, and presents the mechanisms of reactions so thoroughly and in a fun way. I'm considering retaking Orgo II, now that I have a much much much deeper understanding of Organic Chemistry, and thus I'm confident I will get an A if I do so. This is because I learned that organic chemistry is much more fun when you can UNDERSTAND.

----- EXTRA NOTE ------
If you are considering to take Biochemistry, I heard that if you do not understand organic chemistry well enough, this class will be mainly rote memorization. And again, rote memorization makes the subject extremely dull, and you will be better off trying to understand the mechanisms and concepts rather than trying to memorize them. Therefore, if you don't have a good ground on the fundamentals of organic chemistry, I suggest that you get this book and study from it. This book is so much smaller than typical textbooks, but very thorough in laying out the fundamental mechanisms that will, not just help you, but MAKE you understand.

this book was awesome...it really helps you understand the underlying concepts and details of the second semester of organic chem.
definitely helped me pass the class!

This book is good on the topics it covers but it doesn't have anything on mass spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Any guide to second semester organic chemistry should have all of those topics and I am perplexed as to why they were left out.

This supplement focuses on the sometimes alien and 'where the hell did that come from' reactions we can give to reaction mechanisms at times and clearing up the mess the main billion dollar textbooks simply couldn't get across without adding $200 more to the price tag. It was said that the advent of the reaction mechanism helped to minimize the amount of 'memorization' of reactions that occurred, so that students could apply their knowledge of the basic reactions to examples where they hide the basic functional groups, hiding acetals, hiding hemi-acetals in rings, etc. but it seems ineffective. In some ways, they have promoted a new breed of memorization by making there be less individual reactions to know, but never really EXPLAINING the mechanism in a way that could help the student develop and evolve a problem solving strategy/method. Add to this problems that are too easy, then jump to being too hard, having answer keys that do problems wrong, and don't focus on the bigger picture (especially on competing functional groups within a molecule, determining where the H+ will protonate, etc.) and that few hundred you shelled out for that big fancy OChem. book seems more and more like a waste every day.

After nose-diving my own grade in a summer class test on organometallic, ketone, and aldehyde reactions (arguably, the most struggled with material of the semester by many students because of the sheer number of small details and reactions presented)-- also, I had a whopping eight days between 'this is an organometallic' and 'so ketones and aldehydes do this' and 'here's you're exam' so, it was a bit tougher to master than had I been in a normal semester-- I had sought an aid to help rescue my grade to better reflect the effort I have been placing into this $800 semester. My professor recommended a book known as 'Pushing Electrons' which focuses on mechanisms, but I found it to take an approach similar to my textbook. I happened upon this page, was delighted to see the book was split up by semesters, hoping the split would allow for better focus on the nitty gritty of carboxylic acids, derivatives of carboxylic acids, aromatics, etc. and immediately ran out to the store to grab it.

Now, by no means am I too stupid for this class, I just can't work with the approach my professor, or the book take to this second semester. My interests and strengths lie in equations and formulae, which organic is about as void of as a stereotypical desert is of water so I really wasn't finding much in the class that appealed to my strengths. I managed an A in the first semester and ripped right through spectroscopy, but landed square on my face in the ketone/aldehyde chapter. I practically long for inorganic and physical chemistry nowadays. So, anyways, taking the aforementioned into account, I am simply looking for a way to better relate the material to my own needs as a student (looking for a practical methodology for tackling these problems starting with the basics and culminating in a problem set that spans from the easy ones to get you understanding the mechanisms and then later throwing hard ones at you to really test your mastering).

Current subjects for the next test include carboxylic acids, their derivatives, and the return of enol and enolates, etc. So, here is where my evaluation would truly begin.

Carboxylic acids themselves (preparation of and reactions of) are not separated into their own chapter like you may find in most textbooks, in fact, these guys are basically crammed into the last bit of the chapter on the derivatives, with the Fischer Esterification being the transition from derivative to carb acid reactions. The beginning of this chapter presents you with a 'golden rule' for nucleophilic attacks on carbonyls (you actually learn this in the ketone/ aldehyde chapter) and this golden rule truly is a work of genius. Using this simple rule, which simply outlines a basic 'thought process' for your mechanisms, then providing you the theory to competently go about writing accurate mechanisms, this supplement brought a new level of understanding for me to these mechanisms. This rule is presented in such a way that parallels the equation y=mx+b in understanding lines--without it, you are simply memorizing relationships and patterns, and some may do fine like this, but if you are like me... yikes.

This one rule was applied and demonstrated time and time again to not only get you to be able to switch between the derivatives, but perform EVERY reaction they can do (some reactions in your textbook may be missing from here, but that's the point... it works elsewhere as well) and they explain 'cross-over' reactions where you go between carboxylic acids (and derivatives) and ketones/aldehydes well too.

As a strategy, I've employed reading and studying this supplement and using it to gain familiarity with the subject material before attending class. This way I can focus on the actual chemistry going on and not busying my brain with remembering every detail of every mechanism. As far as this rule goes (just this chapter), you won't need to memorize a single fully drawn mechanism, only where to attack, what attacks, and if you need to (de)protonate--you know, the stuff your OChem teacher actually wanted you to know.

This book is a perfect complement to texts that cut back on their mechanism budget to load up on excessive molecular models in the early chapters and such and for those of you who are more equation-learning based who need to gather from a source a collection of tips and tricks that develop an actual problem solving technique instead of lulling you into the 'memorization' deathtrap. This of course, by consequence of the aforementioned statement, means that the book gears itself towards helping the student perform well on exams laden with synthesis after synthesis by being able to navigate each reaction clearly without getting lost in the amalgam of reagents and byproducts.

One will find a host of information from a standard Organic Chemistry textbook, but more often, a student shall view these reactions as separate and different and then find the subject overwhelming. Organic Chemistry As A Second Language II is EXTREMELY valuable in that it makes the student see how similar or different the reactions are. It also makes the mechanisms seem very simple-- the electron pushing and diagrams are so easy to understand, and best of all, accurate.

I am unaware as to the quality of David Klein's other titles, but I assure you that this one is a must-read for survival. I had even impressed the professor with a Baeyer-Villiger reaction that she did not cover in class.

Whereas this book has helped me to do well in my second organic chemistry class, I might have done better in my first orgo class had I encountered Organic Chemistry As A Second Language sooner.

Btw I don't know about the other guy, but Klein responded to my email.

If you haven't taken Ochem II yet, I'll tell you right now, it's about 90% reactions from this point on. We've had two tests so far, and both were essentially asking mechanisms of reactions, predicted products, etc.

What this books covers, it explains well. However, it only has a few reactions in it. I can't believe how many are skipped over in this book, as it seems like it should be the core of the information covered.

I have both the Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, and the Second Semester topics addition. I find both very useful tools for understanding OCHEM. The first semester book has useful nomenclature section, which is not covered at all in the second addition. I think a nomenclature section for the benzene section, and to show how Carboxylic Acid and other carbonyls are named and numbered would be helpful practice, although some of it may be review. However, the explanations for benzene ring mechanisms and modificaton is indispensable. This series of books are only supplements, and cannot replace the text, or lecture because there are topics not covered in the "language" books, and some reactions that are included in the Second Semester book may not be required in a specific course. You can not go wrong by investing in these books and working the practice problems.