![]() ![]() There is no presentation of chemical kinetics. Lack of problems, and of answers and references, is a serious deficiency for a topic in which practice is the sine qua non, and I found myself missing Lowry and Richardson’s extensive, fully referenced problem sets. The problems are good, but neither answers nor leading references are provided for most of them. There are not as many practice problems as would be desirable. The presentation of all this in only 11 chapters (including the two on heterocycles) means that, while the pace is rapid, it is not too rapid for a one-semester course for undergraduates. He then turns to the application of these principles to charged species: cationic rearrangements and nonclassical cations occupy two chapters, and two more chapters cover rearrangements and reactions of carbanions, free radicals, and 6-electron neutral species. ![]() However, students are not allowed to bask very long in this simple model, because they are immediately plunged into three chapters of electrocyclic and sigmatropic reactions, in which Miller introduces molecular orbital theory, orbital symmetry, and frontier orbital interactions. This leads to a discussion of Lewis structures and resonance theory. The first chapter presents a thorough discussion of what many students somehow don’t pick up during organic chemistry: how to push electrons. Advanced Organic Chemistry offers exciting, indeed almost breakneck, coverage of the most interesting topics in physical organic chemistry. Each chapter is extensively referenced to the primary and secondary literature. He wisely includes a two-chapter module on heterocyclic chemistry, pointing out that this topic is essential to biochemistry but typically neglected by introductory organic chemistry texts. Miller presents material in a nonstandard order, choosing to handle chemistry often neglected in basic organic courses first, and introducing bonding theory and concepts as they are needed to explain the reactions being discussed. ![]() The discussions are pellucid, and I found myself enjoying the book immensely. ![]() The pedagogic philosophy behind Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions and Mechanisms is pithily explained in Miller’s introduction: in order to maintain student interest, advanced topics are introduced early and theory is presented in context. These books fill a need not fully met by graduatelevel texts such as Lowry and Richardson’s Mechanism and Theory in Organic Chemistry or Carey and Sundberg’s Advanced Organic Chemistry. Recently several short texts on intermediate organic chemistry have been published, intended for use in one-term courses for advanced undergraduates and for graduate students who need more background before taking a graduate-level course. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998. Book & Media Reviews Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions and Mechanisms Bernard Miller. ![]()
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