Customer Reviews

Organic Chemistry

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm currently teaching a two semester organic chem course using professor Smith's book. In my opinion this is the best organic text currently available. The book and the accompanying solutions manual are almost totally free of typographical and conceptual errors. The organization and presentation are done with marvelous clarity; the book is visually beautiful; and the author communicates her enthusiasm and enjoyment of the subject in every chapter. My only minor criticism: I'd like to see a little more historical perspective and acknowledgement of the contributions of the 19th and early 20th century giants who created organic chemisty.

This book clearly teaches one how to do organic chemistry. I got an A in Organic Chemistry, but if I didn't have this book I would have failed. This book explains everything the professor didn't. It has a great study guide solutions manual, which gives details to the answers of all the problems.

Organic chemistry is extremely difficult but this book was written in a way that made it much easier to understand! There were excellent explainations and practice problems. I would definitly recommend this textbook.

This large text book covers a two-semester course in introductory organic chemistry. I did well in this course, and one contributing factor was the high quality of this book. The author understands that studying organic chemistry requires a lot of practice. There are dozens of problems accompanying each chapter. Some are within chapters, which helps you to understand what you are reading, and the challenging problems are at the ends of chapters. To tie your studies to the real world, there's a section in each chapter concerning a well-known chemical, drug, or family of organic molecules.

I highly recommend getting the study guide/solutions manual along with this text. You will need to know what mistakes you are making, because complicated reactions build on the basics.

The most challenging aspects of organic chemistry, mechanisms and synthesis, are covered well in this book. The mechanisms are drawn out step by step with curved arrows showing you the path of electrons over the course of a reaction. For synthesis, nothing beats a lot of practice, and there are plenty of problems in this book to help you essentially memorize a wide range of organic reactions.

No textbook is going to make organic chemistry easy, but a good one will encourage you to be patient with this difficult subject.

Subjects of each chapter:

1. Bonding, resonance, hybridization, electronegativity, and polarity

2. Acid-base chemistry

3. Introduction to organic molecules and functional groups

4. Alkanes

5. Stereochemistry

6. Introduction to organic reactions

7. Alkyl halides and nucleophilic substitution

8. Alkyl halides and elimination reactions

9. Alcohols, ethers, and epoxides

10. Alkenes

11. Alkynes

12. Oxidation and reduction

13. Mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy

14. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

15. Radical reactions

16. Conjugation, resonance, and dienes

17. Benzene and aromatic compounds

18. Electrophilic aromatic substitution

19. Carboxylic acid

20. Carbonyl chemistry, organometallic reagents

21. Aldehydes and ketones

22. Carboxylic acids and their derivatives

23. Substitution reactions at alpha carbon of carbonyl compounds

24. Carbonyl condensation

25. Amines

Several sample problems are worked out in every chapter after each new concept to illustrate the material covered. They are all very clearly explained.

In addition, there are also more than enough problems at the end of each chapter to help students better understand the topics covered, however the answers are not provided in the back of the textbook (this is precisely why the solutions manual is a must buy).

I have worked all the problems presented from chapter 1 to chapter 21 (to include the end of chapter problems), and I have encountered only two or three "bad problems" for which the answers were not explained clearly. Almost every answer to every problem is clearly illustrated - some concepts are even better explained in the solutions manual than in the textbook!

I'd wish the buyer good luck in this class, but I doubt any disciplined, devoted student would need it after using this text with the solution manual.

I purchased this for my Organic Chemistry I class, but it was used in both semesters of organic chemistry. It was very easy to follow with lots of figures, charts, and pictures. It was very easy to follow, especially since I had purchased the solutions manual and model kit along with it. Highly recommended textbook with very clear descriptions!

For me, Organic Chemistry is a dense subject. The book does an average job at explaining reactions. It doesn't help with putting the information all together like some of my other technical books do. Also, there are no answers to at least the odd problems in the back of the book. Instead, a student would have to buy a separate solutions manual. I recommend Organic Chemistry I Workbook for Dummies -- cheaper and better.

I have the 2nd edition of this book. First of all, this book is extremely well written and has a lot of visual help. It will explain ochem conceptually in a superb manner, HOWEVER. The practice problems are lacking. She does supply her notes in her solution manual, which is very helpful, but the problems are too easy. Condensed structures are used in problems even up to chapter 8, when really, it should all be line structures to be on par with problems on an actual test. No professor will baby you with condensed structures for mechanisms on a test. The book problems are catered more to give you the fundamentals, not actual challenges to prep you up for the test. I would highly recommend this book to UNDERSTAND ochem, and use Leroy Wades's to DO ochem. Leroy's unfortunately is not as well written, but the problems are very good. If these two writers could join forces, they would make the ultimate ochem book.

I know writing a review for a textbook is a little silly, as we (students) never have a CHOICE as to which textbook we use. However, perhaps some chemistry department head somewhere may be scanning these reviews when choosing a new Ochem textbook for their schools.

This is one of the best textbooks I have ever used. Everything is laid out in a beautiful, easy-to-follow format. The chapters are filled with examples and practice problems, along with a ton of practice problems at the end of each chapter. The diagrams are clear and accomplish the very difficult task of helping us visualize complex organic molecules.

Part of what makes this textbook amazing is the solution manual. It's the best solution manual I have ever seen or used. It LITERALLY lays out the solution for EVERY SINGLE problem in the book--all of the problems within the chapter, and every problem at the end of each chapter.

A good student could accomplish a lot with just these two volumes (text + solution manual) and no lecture!! For this, I would highly recommend these two books for those studying for the MCAT.

Plus, the author has chosen to live in Hawaii, so you know she's brilliant!!

As a student I find this text one of the best I have ever used. The easy to follow bulleted information format theme throughout the book is extremely helpful both in learning the material and studying for a test. Its beautiful cover, clean molecular graphics, and relevant aside images create a pleasant aesthetic that transfers to the material and enhances the learning process. Visualization is so important for organic chemistry and beautifully presented here. Chapter and page layouts make sense and are easy to follow as new subjects are presented. If you are a professor I would recommend you start using this text book to teach your O-Chem course, your students will benefit from it.

I needed to know Organic Chemistry by Janice Gorzynski Smith was THE book that was required for my class. Having the full cover image, author information, and ISBN displayed prominently saved me time, energy, and heartache.