Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Favourite organic text

devongrrl - 1-11-2009 at 09:40


What is your favourite text on organic chemistry ?

My vote has to go to "Organic Chemistry" by Stuart Warren et al by Oxford Univ Press.

During my time at Exeter the recommended book was "Introduction to Organic Chemistry" by Streitweiser et al
published by Macmillan but I can't really recommend it.

Alas it spent much of my time there functioning as a truly wonderful doorstop. :D




entropy51 - 1-11-2009 at 10:22

The old versions of Fieser & Fieser are pretty good, as are the older versions of Noller. In the modern category, I vote for Il Finar, Clayden or Carey.

Daley's wins hands-down in the modern category because it is free online!

I have lots of favorites! Organic texts in general make excellent doorstops, but I have so many that I can't turn around without tripping over one of them.

aonomus - 1-11-2009 at 11:40

So far my vote is for Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warren, et al. by Oxford press. Pretty good book, but there are a few errors that my professors have picked out.

devongrrl - 1-11-2009 at 13:02

Quote: Originally posted by aonomus  
So far my vote is for Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warren, et al. by Oxford press.


Yep, that's the one I have. Very clear, very student friendly.
Good use of graphics & diagrams.

DJF90 - 2-11-2009 at 06:21

As a general organic text, that book is fantastic. However, I have found I often need a more specialised text, such as "Reductions by alumino- and borohydrides" by Seyden-Penne, or "Alcohols to aldehydes and ketones" by Tojo (two recent ones I have used; I'm in my second year of study for an undergraduate masters degree, MChem). For mechanisms, I find a couple of books on named organic reactions to be very useful. When looking for reagents that perform a specific transformation (as well as other transformations that reagent effects, with references), the Wiley series "Handbook of Reagents for Organic Synthesis" is very good. Finally (although I'm sure this is not a complete list by any means), March's textbooks are generally very good, covering aspects that are usually hard to find elsewhere.

Picric-A - 2-11-2009 at 06:34

Organic Chemistry by P.J.DURRANT. great 'light' read

JohnWW - 2-11-2009 at 09:54

Quote: Originally posted by aonomus  
So far my vote is for Organic Chemistry by Clayden, Greeves, Warren, et al. by Oxford press. Pretty good book, but there are a few errors that my professors have picked out.
I have uploaded that one, and there is a link for downloading it in the Organic Chmistry section in the References section. Along with the Organic Chemistry textbooks of McMurry, Solomons, Morrison & Boyd, Baily, Carey, March, Wade, and Wagner & Zook. And specialist books on mechanism in organic chemistry, organic vocabulary, IR and NMR spectroscopy, and practical organic chemistry.

JohnWW - 2-11-2009 at 10:00

Quote: Originally posted by entropy51  
The old versions of Fieser & Fieser are pretty good, as are the older versions of Noller. In the modern category, I vote for Il Finar, Clayden or Carey.(cut)
I have a print copy of the 5th and probably last edition of Fieser & Fieser's Organic Chemistry, 1962. When I find time, I will scan and upload it. It has a lot of practical details, and natural-products and biochemical material, not found in more recent textbooks.

See my previous post, above, re downloads of Clayden and Carey.