Arrow-Pushing in Organic Chemistry

Find an easier way to learn organic chemistry with Arrow-Pushing in Organic Chemistry: An Easy Approach to Understanding Reaction Mechanisms, a book that uses the arrow-pushing strategy to reduce this notoriously challenging topic to the study of interactions between organic acids and bases. Understand the fundamental reaction mechanisms relevant to organic chemistry, beginning with Sn2 reactions and progressing to Sn1 reactions and other reaction types. The problem sets in this book, an excellent supplemental text, emphasize the important aspects of each chapter and will reinforce the key ideas without requiring memorization.

Customer Reviews:

A valuable contribution

By James S. Nowick - November 10, 2008

This book hits the mark as a supplement for a typical sophomore-level college organic chemistry class. It is written by an MIT-trained Ph.D. organic chemist and teaches the all-important concept of using curved-arrow notation to understand organic reaction mechanisms. The book is very reasonably priced, explains concepts wel, and provides a rich array or problems for students to work. It is written at a more appropriate level for sophomores than a related book by Grossman, which is excellent for a higher level class. It goes into more depth than a related book by Weeks, which is aimed primarily at students in the first half of a one-year organic chemistry class and is considerably more expensive.

Great Supplement for Introductory Organic Chemistry Textbooks

By Toby Freedman "Author, Career Opportunities i... - October 8, 2008

I highly recommend this book for college students taking organic chemistry classes. Through the use of arrow pushing and an introduction to the acid-base properties of organic molecules, students are guided to an understanding of how organic reactions work.

In the first few chapters, an introduction to arrow pushing, organic acids, organic bases and the concept of nucleophiles are presented. These concepts are then used to describe how basic chemical reactions work. The chapters that follow cover the various important reaction subtypes introduced in organic chemistry textbooks.

Intended as a supplemental text for introductory organic chemistry courses, this book helps readers to understand the key steps in organic reactions by dissecting them into the basic building blocks of interactions between acids and bases. Through this approach readers will no longer need to memorize reactions and will be able to deduce routes and understand how electrons move, bonds form... read more

Great skill-builder text for mastering organic chemistry

By Laurie - July 23, 2012

The key to successfully learning (and teaching) organic chemistry is to identify the core themes and skills that are found throughout the entire year. It is the resulting unification of o-chem's seemingly unrelated topics that makes the subject a manageable one, rather than a giant, random list of things that are impossible to memorize. Since this book presents such themes and develops such skills, it is a valuable tool for students at all levels. Beginning students have the advantage of learning these skills early on, which they can then apply to all future material. But students who are already well into their organic courses, or are coming back for advanced coursework will also benefit from the book since it goes beyond being a simple introduction.

The book provides a very good foundation of such critical topics as resonance and acid strength. The discussion of bases and nucleophiles also touches on relative reactivity and solvent effects. The substitution chapters... read more