Organic Chemistry, 8th edition

The central message of chemistry is that the properties of a substance come from its structure. What is less obvious, but very powerful, is the corollary. Someone with training in chemistry can look at the structure of a substance and tell you a lot about its properties. Organic chemistry has always been, and continues to be, the branch of chemistry that best connects structure with properties. The goal of this text, as it has been through seven previous editions, is to provide students with the conceptual tools to understand and apply the relationship between the structures of organic compounds and their properties. Both the organization of the text and the presentation of individual topics were designed with this objective in mind.

The text is organized according to functional groups—structural units within a molecule that are most closely identifi ed with characteristic properties. This organization offers two major advantages over alternative organizations based on mechanisms or reaction types.

1. The information content of individual chapters is more manageable when organized according to functional groups.

2. Patterns of reactivity are reinforced when a reaction used to prepare a particular functional group reappears as a characteristic reaction of a different functional group.