Comments on: Book Review: Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis

By: Natty

Natty — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:25:13 +0000

I totally agree! I used this book all throughout my Advanced Organic Synthesis class and it paid off. I love the format of the book – understanding the mechanism and actually seeing the reaction in action (sorry, I know how cheesy that sounds) are two very important aspects of learning synthetic chemistry.

By: Grace

Grace — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:12:39 +0000

oh man, this book is amazing. i got myself one a few years back and i keep it on my desk for reference at all times. its so easy to read and very well referenced. Its even fun to browse. My favorite is the Chichibabin reaction. we liked it so much we named our chemistry volleyball team after it.

By: Kwaku Kyei-Baffour

Kwaku Kyei-Baffour — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:06:17 +0000

i’m going to get myself one… i hope it would be worth it.

By: umesh

umesh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:42:44 +0000

Hey,

Thanx for the review of the book,will insist my company fellows to buy this one..

By: Hap

Hap — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:59:12 +0000

I liked this book a lot – I saw it at DC ACS in 2005 and got it for work – it seems pretty useful and cheaper than any of the alternatives. It’s pretty, too.

The (Warren and lots of others) organic textbook is actually pretty good too – it’s not a lab reference but it has lots of useful stuff summarized.

By: excimer

excimer — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:34:46 +0000

As someone who spent his hard-earned money on it, I agree with azmanamanomafnioegnior3ketc. fully. Kurti and Czako is the most useful reference book I have. I’d add Pretsch’s “Structure Determination of Organic Compounds” for NMR/IR as well.

By: azmanam

azmanam — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:24:41 +0000

Ha, someone in lab asked me that, too. I do not. In the spirit of full disclosure, I received a complimentary media copy of the book, but was under no direction to write a glowing review. I really just think the book is that good. I have another named reaction book I got when I started grad school, and I’ll probably never open it again. I can’t think of a situation where my first instinct wouldn’t be to reach for Strategic Applications.

At the end of the discussion with my lab mate, we agreed that the three most indispensable books for the serious organic graduate student are Grossman’s The Art of Writing Reasonable Organic Reaction Mechanisms, Greene’s Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis, and Czako/Kurti’s Strategic Applications (not necessarily in that order). If you have those, you’re well set.

By: sam

sam — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:02:38 +0000

Thanks for this great review! Do you have any conflicts of interest here? Just checking.