81 I recently did a rather modest web design job for my boss and he has promised a rather modest reward in return -specifically a chemistry and/or drug design book. I have, I think, a few books which I consider to be absolute essentials to the organic chemist, though they are only a few. He’s give me a soft limit of about $150 but I’m sure he’d go higher. I’ve listed here books that everyone (IMHO) should own if they want to seriously consider themselves synthetic chemists (and/or organic chemists). So, I need book suggestions which are obviously not listed here. (You should buy these books if you don’t own them, btw. Hence the links.)
First and foremost, is a book on identifying shit in your spectra and for that I recommend,Structure Determination of Organic Compounds: Tables of Spectral Data.
Beyond that… I dunno what else to get.
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These are my favourite technique books:
Leonard/Lygo/Procter’s Advanced Practical Organic Chemistry, (2nd ed.) and
Errington’s Advanced Practical Inorganic and Metalorganic Chemistry
(Looking stuff up in Errington sure beat talking to my old boss.)
Laura
For name reactions, Kurti and Czako’s book is outstanding.
More importantly, though- for those of you materials-y folk that want to learn about the physical chemistry of surfaces and things like band structures (and band gaps), then I highly recommend Roald Hoffmann’s book Solids and Surfaces. It’s no longer in print but it’s basically two angewandte reviews that I’ll post the links to later.
You can find the links to those articles here
I second this. That book is AWESOME! If I ever meet the author, I might have to ask him to sign my forehead. <3
Roald Hoffman: 1. Excellent writer of solid-state chemistry concepts.
2. Poet and playwright.
3. Secret ninja.
YESSSSS!!! I KNEW HE WAS SECRETLY A NINJA!!!
He’s the keynote speaker at the Mid Atlantic Regional Meeting, Queens NY 17-21 May. Bring your Sharpie.
I second Kurti and Czako’s book – best named reaction book out there!!
Couldn’t agree more. Wish I came across the book before I passed my cumes (it would’ve made my life infinately easier)
My all time favourite general Org Chem book, probably little known in the US because it’s British, is “Organic Chemistry” by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers. I haven’t seen anything like it (and I have 10 other org chem texts at my place). This book presents organic chemical research as a cutting edge science of the present and future. Since it was first published in 2001, in this book you will find accounts of reactions and reagents that you will not find in any similar text. From Suzuki, Heck, and Sonogashira couplings to Grubbs’ olefin metathesis, it covers the whole gamut of current organic chemistry. Nucleophilic additions are covered before aliphatic nucleophilic substitutions, which seems more logical and important to me. Chapters on NMR and IR contain useful rules of thumb to remember chemical shifts and frequencies. The most important and fascinating aspect of the book is the almost countless examples of modern drugs, pesticides and other molecules that are presented to illustrate the reactions. In this, for example, one can find an example of how the simple concept of pKa of acids was used in the synthesis of the best-selleing Ranitidine. Or a separate interesting chapter on Sulfur chemistry and Asymmetric Synthesis as applied to important problems in Biology and Medicine. Conformational analysis is cogently treated, again using famous syntheses by Corey and others as illustrative examples. In fact, the whole approach is very much bioorganic as well as highly practical. From this book, we learn how organic chemistry is used by real life chemists solving real life problems. It truly conveys the excitement in organic chemistry as practiced today. The informal and honest style of the authors is almost too good to believe. Boxed material which contains key points and the colour used in the book make it a very attractive one. The book is a source of an incredible amount of information. The authors must have really spent a lot of efforts in writing it. Truly a book for the 21st century.
A book which in my opinion is an absolute must on the shelves of practicing chemists and students alike.
Another classic forgotten book is “A Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry” by Peter Sykes. Although the treatment is largely elementary, in no other book have I seen so much information so succinctly explained in such few lines. The chapters on aliphatic nucleophilic substitution and symmetry-controlled reactions are outstanding.
Anslyn and Dougherty is of course a fantastic book. For biochemistry, my recommendation would be Stryer, Berg and Tymockzco, but Lehninger is good too. For inorganic chemistry I like Huheey. Cotton and Wilkinson is an excellent reference. Another fantastic inorganic introductory text is “Concise Inorganic Chemistry” by J. D. Lee. For phys chem, my favourite is Alberty and Silbey, although Atkins serves its value as an early classic. For those of us who are 80 years and beyond, Samuel Glasstone’s extraordinary books on physical chemistry, thermodynamics, electrochemistry and most lucidly, his “Sourcebook on Atomic Energy” are all times greats.
transition metals in the synthesis of complex organic molecules
10 years old and reads like it was published this year
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transi.....amp;sr=8-1
Hegedus’s book is the ONLY book I know which expounds upon the fallacy of assigning oxidation states higher than one to transition metals. Bravo Louis.
Come again now? This is something that might actually make me want to take a look at that book, even if only for an hour or two.
Okay, it’s true. The actual real charge on the metal center doesn’t very by two during a Rh(I)/Rh(III) cycle. By that argument, it would be pretty stupid to assign a full negative charge to the ligand as well. So what, we’re stuck with saying Rh(0.2)/Rh(0.65) cycle? That’s just stupid and confusing and doesn’t help you get a handle on the mechanisms or the design of catalysts. Are all the ‘Complex Organic Molecules’ in that book made by Lewis Acids? What the hell man!?
i dont know what the hell he’s talking about either
Well, I’m just asking with a bemused, jovial tone. Exclamation marks come across very poorly in written conversation. Also, it should be ‘vary’ instead of ‘very’, in the second paragraph of my comment.
Formal oxidation states are not real oxidation states, but getting too carried away on that by looking at practical insights is a recipe for disaster for an applied chemist. It’s a matter for physicists and Moessbauer spectroscopists. I don’t know why Hegedus would want to throw out something like that in a practical synthesis book.
From a practical standpoint it does not make a difference but from a theoretical standpoint it is fiction and it’s worth pointing that out. For example,
Rant: http://ashutoshchemist.blogspo.....-in-1.html
Paper:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.....8/PDFSTART
But it’s like the last ‘anonymous’ person said in their comments on your blog, you ‘conveyed the idea incorrectly’. There is no fallacy in assigning metals oxidation states for applied chemists. Even the quote you have from Hegedus in your blog doesn’t state that it’s a fallacy to assign oxidation states higher than one to metals. Because, I imagine to do so, would make most of his book unreadable.
I agree there is no fallacy in assigning the states, but there is one in thinking there is an actual charge of +3 on Cu +3, just like there is a fallacy in thinking that bonding in such complexes is wholly ionic. The problem is with assuming a direct correspondence between formal charge and d-electron populations as is mentioned in Snyder’s reply (second link in the post).
Sorry, I meant to say formal oxidation states there
Well, you missed March’s Advanced Organic Chemistry. It’s the other SciFinder. I’ve often used it to find alternative synthetic pathways when SciFinder and my own memory didn’t do the trick.
http://www.amazon.com/Marchs-A.....0471585890
Beyond that, I’ve got an undergrad textbook in case I forget something simple. I don’t know how Carey and Sundberg is… but March’s is very, very different from any other Organic textbook. It’s more of an encyclopedia. At least the 4th edition was.
The reason I used to like March is that the first 200 pages or so of the book serve as a good textbook-like reference while the next 800 pages are true reference-type pages. It’s sort of like two books in one.
It’s definitely more of a reference than a teaching textbook. For both parts of the book. It does the reference part better than anything else I’ve seen though. It is indispensable for me today.
I highly recommend “Guide to organic stereochemistry, from methane to macromolecules” S.R. Buxton & S.M. Roberts.
Is that one handy for those of us who can’t distinguish left from right?
I second the Hegedus “transition metals in the synthesis of complex organic molecules” as it has come in handy several times.
However, if you want to have a great reference volume on organometallics it is hard to miss with “Organometallics in Synthesis” edited by Schlosser. It is a massive book and it includes representative experimentals as well.
ps. I’ll 3rd (or 4th) the Kurti & Czako book as well. It is written in a very clear and concise manner.
March’s is great, but impossible to read (good for a reference). So is Greene’s (which finally, after several editions in teal, dark blue, now, is actually GREEN).
An essential for scientists is The Feynman Lectures on Physics, which is a great read, but a terrible reference. However, you probably ought to buy that yourself, since your boss won’t pay for it (not a synthesis/medchem book).
That Atkins pchem book is fucking horrible. Worst. Book. Ever.
I won’t say it’s the worst book ever but I would agree it’s highly overrated. Which one do you like?
McQuarrie and Simon is good for a beginning pchemist
I remember the Quantum McQuarrie book as the one that made me finally understand everything when I was an undergrad. The textbook used in class was atrocious, and I had to go to the library to get the quick reference McQuarrie (you had to sign it out every hour), to be able to get a good grad in that class. I spent a lot of time in the library that semester.
Plus, it was also just a good read, and I found myself flipping to other chapters once in a while. Especially in Quantum 2, when I understood more of what all the other chapters were about.
For Pchem though, I don’t remember using a particular textbook. In fact, I think that hyperphysics helped me out on that one. Definitely hyperphysics as an essential refrence for Nukelar Chemistry.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.g.....frame.html
There is one big sin to Macquarrie and Simon — it is too narrow and too thick. Physically, that is. It was always an annoying lump in my backpack until I stopped carrying it around, and consequently, stopped learning PChem.
Atkins’ books are terrible. They are filled with so many errors it’s like the editors didn’t do their jobs.
Ugh, I hated that book. Wait. Did I just merely hate that class? No. I definitely hated that 400 lb book. The class was just a poor bystander.
Another good one is “Advanced Organic Chemistry : Reaction Mechanisms” by Rienhard Bruckner.
And let’s not forget the all-time stereochemistry classic Stereochemistry of Organic Compounds by Ernest Eliel
Clayden sure looks good, I checked the first chapter as a sample text in Amazon and the style reminds me one glorious old german book of home experiments the name of which I already forgot.
I liked the thin Kirby booklet-like “Streoelectronic effects” because it is short and very much to the point.
And I have “Strucna Chemicka Prirucka” on my shelf which is a Czech translation of a russian mini-handbook from Rabinovich and Chavin. It contains data on common inorg and organic compounds and I use it frequently to look up things like solubility of inorg salts in organic solvents or water and pKa values of organic acids. There must be some english reference book equivalent
The one of the most awesomest reference books is the multi-volume compendium of organic reagents from Paquette, it dwarfs the Fieser series and is more up to date. I am also fond of Greene protecting groups and Larock reference book on functional group transformation (even though the later one is a bit dated)
I second the Eliel book as a must have. March is useful as a quick check before hitting scifinder. I really like Crabtree’s inorganic book because it is short, sweet and to the point. Don’t buy Greene, steal it from a friend.
Eliel and WIlen is brilliant. Anyone dealing with any aspect of stereochemistry must have at least access to this book. Contains information not available by any other source (ie references to lectures given in budapest in the 70’s etc). Points out errors in the literature/common mistakes/ compares contrasts different points of view.
I have Part B of Carey and Sundberg because when I was helping to move our Chemistry Department, one of the organic professors decided it was too useless to bother making someone else bring it over to the new building.
Funny, I always referred to Part A of Carey and Sundberg as the useless half. B is awesome.
Classics part one is a god damn beautiful book. Kurti and Czako a MUST. I think these are my favorite books at the moment. I third Hegedus organometallics book. I wish I was taught out of that book than Crabtrees shit pooper of a book.
any comments/reviews of Hudlicky’s fairly recent “The way of synthesis”?
Hudlicky is the best Czech chemist of his generation. He wrote Houben-Weyl like monoghraps in czech on stuff like Diels-Alder, complete with selected experimental procedure examples. Too bad he left after 68.
(the next great Czech organiker is Kocovsky, now in Glasgow. It went downhill, from then on)
As a place for learning synthetic chemistry strategy, I don’t think it’s as good as either of the Classics in Total Synthesis books. The style is more interesting, though – the book tends to have a fair amount of Hudlicky’s opinions (I don’t know whether they are his coauthor’s as well), and that’s less usual. He also has short notes in many cases from the actual people who did the synthesis, both professors and graduate students/postdocs, which is nice. (He also tends to focus more on non-American synthetic chemists, which is nice as well.) It’s more like a long version of the “Strategies in Total Synthesis” series, although much cheaper than them (overall), which makes it fun and interesting to read. I don’t know if it’s a good reference, but it is a good book.
I recently got books from work with a similar capped amount, and I ended up getting Hudlicky’s book and the new Warren synthesis book. The Warren synthesis book is incomplete without the workbook, which I don’t think has been published yet, so it’s a little disappointing. He seems to cover a broad swath of synthetic chemistry (and more recent chemistry), so when the workbook actually exists it should be good. (It was a little over with the discount for online, but not much.)
Concur that March is great for reference/quick refresher. Also like Vogel (Textbook on Practical Organic Chemistry) and Tietze/Eicher (Reactions & Syntheses) for experimental details. Larock Comprehensive Organic Transformations is one I wish was around when I was in grad school to ferret out cites although now online/structure searches probably are best means now if have tools/access.
In Physical chemistry, I would recommand , even though I don’t know the Anslyn’s one.
$71 for the paperback?! Jesus Christ. No book is worth that.
Levine is good. His quantum chemistry book is great too. It was all I needed to study QC.
The two volume set by Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu, and Laloe is a real good quantum text.
I fucking hated that book! Any idea how much rum I had to drink to get through thermo?
Quantum, on the other hand, was super awesome.
As Arnold Sommerfeld said:
“Thermodynamics is a funny subject. The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you any more.”
If you intend to carry on working in a lab I’d go for Purification of Laboratary Chemicals – now in its 5th ed. (we still call it “Perrin and Perrin” from the authors of its first editions)
now covers organic, inorganic and I think some bio materials even
http://www.amazon.com/Purifica.....0750675713
Another good suggestion as defintely contains much useful data for everyday lab work (MP/BP of compounds, cold bath recipes, miscible solvents etc.)
Hudlicky’s “The Way of Synthesis” is quite good. There’s a lot of “insider information”…one of the coolest parts of the text is that there are personal recollections from many of the chemists whose work he covers. These stories are fascinating and give you a really good insight into the work that went into the syntheses. He also covers organic synthesis in a historical context and also challenges facing synthetic organic chemists today, including ethics. The book is huge, but not really that expensive compared to other texts.
There is a large concentration of Hudlicky syntheses, but these are always compared to other syntheses of the same target. Overall, I was really impressed. I don’t believe there’s anything else like it out there. Whereas “Classics” covers the most well-known syntheses and chemists, “The Way of Synthesis” does a great job of presenting syntheses from a wide variety of chemists and a wide variety of targets. Neither is better than the other, they are just different. “Classics” is written in a very formal style, whereas “The Way” is much more laid back. I’ve enjoyed both immensely. I would definitely recommend “The Way of Synthesis”
I second most of the organic text references but the thing I could really use is references for books on medchem/drug discovery/etc. Milkshake?
bad wolf – most my med chem books are now outdated and never found overly outstanding reference (best to learn from skilled mentors) but there is thread of comments in Derek Lowe’s blog that has a few suggestions http://pipeline.corante.com/ar....._fangs.php
I dont have any good medchem book – I read J Med Chem articles related to kinase inhibitor projects (while disregarding those from small academic groups).
How about a good heterocyclic chemistry book? Any favorites from anyone?
For heterocyclic I always loved the one by Paquette although it’s a little old now.
Another fine general book especially for medicinal chemists which I have always had on my bookshelf is Richard Silverman’s The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action
I have a copy of Michael B. Smith’s “Organic Sythesis” that I have taken with me through several moves now. I guess I like it because it was the textbook we used in Org. Synth. class at my undergrad institution.
It seems comprehensive, but the first section on retrosynthesis seemed incomprehensible to me, and I couldn’t get anywhere trying to read it. Another person where I work used and hated it.
His drawings suck a lot – his idea of perspective drawing molecules from different angles is good, but he seems to have done his flat drawings in cubist style (arbitrary angles and bends all over the place). When I looked at a newer edition at ACS in Boston it was $140 (with little apparent improvement), and I don’t imagine it’s gotten cheaper (though it may have been improved since then).
I have Michael B. Smith as my organic chem professor. He’s easy to learn from in lecture.
I’d go for Kurti and Czako: Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis
(I use this everyday, all the time. If I’m reading a paper and I don’t know a reaction or mechanism, I reach straight for this book. I use this much more than any of the others.)
I also like:
Zweifel, Nantz: Modern Organic Synthesis, An Introduction
Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers: Organic Chemistry
Li, Name Reactions in Heterocyclic Chemistry (expensive)
(This is the heterocyclic chemistry book I like best. But I haven’t found any really good heterocyclic books yet).
Organic Synthesis Workbooks (I, II and III) (cheaper)
Fleming: Pericyclic Reactions (smaller, cheaper and more approachable at first then Frontier Orbitals and Chemical Reactions).
Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis is essential.
Absolutely awesome text.
In my PhD days I was sitting in what was then our temporary lab office reading “Organic Chemistry” by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers, when Stuart Warren walked in looking for someone in his group. In passing he commending me “Nice to see you reading a quality book”. It is the best general organic chemistry text by a country mile.
March I find impossible.
Larock I used to use a lot.
Greene would be a solid choice.
Two books which have not been mentioned yet:
for real-life info about protecting groups, I think the Kocienski is much more useful than Greene & Wuts..
For heterocyclic chemistry, I am recommending the Hauptmann.
Since I am just selling stuff, it is time that all of you test your Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA to learn about your ancestry.
d.
oh yea….Evans pKa table on his website is a must have for quick reference. His lecture notes are also a good teaching tool and with some editing would make a good textbook, although having a free PDF is much better than shelling out cash for a book.
what kind of web design are we talking about here? i am the designated website lackey for our group, having forcibly removed all the garish Flash implemented by my predecessor (”A boring graph? Let’s make it spin! That’ll make it cool!”).
Quiet! Flash is amazing and it makes you jealous. Stop lying and fess up to it.
uggggh. weren’t you singing the praises of DOI? how would you like it if every article you wanted to link to was embedded in proprietary software? and then also played MIDI-style background music?
actually, that would be kind of funny if the authors got to pick the soundtrack to their paper. what would your theme be?
Something from Mega Man 3. It translates well into a MIDI file and it helps you read the article since slogging through it is like finishing off a Mega Man stage and shooting enemies and such without getting killed on spikes. And then you get to the boss, the conclusion, where you have to fight with it to see if it makes sense or is just a bunch of wishful and completely wrong crap (which means you lose and have to go back to the start of the conclusion; if you lose multiple times you have to go back to the start of the article or throw it away in disgust).
Reinhard Brueckner’s Reactionmechanism book is the best of its kind (though not mistake free either). I guess the 2nd edition also got translated into english, it has some further reading at the end of every chapter (I have to admit never looked at it).
Forget the name reaction book by Kurti and Czako. We use it in the name reaction of the week, and I gotta say, sometimes they just copy pasted from March.
Fleming’s “frontier orbital and organic chemistry” is quite good, even understandable for a non physical chemist with no math skills
“Organic Chemistry” by Clayden, Greeves, Warren and Wothers. Always good to have.
Any recommendations for a Wiley book for 150 Euro? still having a certificate from there, but anything I want is from another publisher…
An old book, but one of my all time favorites is Toshio Goto et al “Problems in Advanced Organic Chemistry”. Its worth finding in the library and working through all the problems.
David J. Griffiths “Introduction to Quantum Mechanics” I thought was the best for me to learn QM. A copy of Mary Boas “Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences” is good to have around.
I also thought Clayton, Greeves, Warren and Wothers was outstanding as well as Anslyn’s tome.
Old books found in the stacks still have their virtue.
Fascinating comments. If you started Jones last May and got halfway through it before serious family events (3 illnesses and deaths) supervened and have restarted it again after an 8 month absence and are 1/4 through it at this point would you continue, or would you stop reading Jones and buy Clayton et. al. which all of you like greatly, a real compliment since none of you are shy with criticism. Or would you finish Jones (whose conversational style I like, although a bit wordy) and then buy Clayton. Or would Jones be enough to read Anslyn (which I bought and scanned briefly — it looks juicy) — that was the next step in the plan before live supervened.
PS — I’m presently posting as Retread under Chemiotics on The Skeptical Chymist, and miss the back and forth I used to have when ChemBark was alive. It’s mostly about molecular biology (which I’ve watched grow up in the 46 years since I left organic chemistry) and some of the chemical and philosophical issues it raises. Have a look and feel free to comment.
I would strongly recommend to switch from Jones to Clayden et al. I don’t think any textbook comes even close to Clayden’s at the moment.
The combination Clayden/Anslyn is a winner.
Clayden seems very good. It’s the most expensive paperback I’ve ever bought. Not through much of it (just the first 4 chapters). Clayden clearly assumes the reader knows a lot more (electronegativity, lone pair or electrons, radical) than Jones does. This may be the difference between English and US educational systems. It’s definitely written for the aficionado. Back when I was posting on ChemBark, one of the early posts contrasted the textbook I used in ‘58 (English and Cassidy 2nd Ed.) with Jones. Probably something similar is in order after I get farther into Clayden. Anyway, thanks to all of you for the tip.
I love this book:
http://www.amazon.de/Introduct.....amp;sr=8-2
Wagner and Zook’s Synthetic Organic Chemistry
I would love to see comments about books in other areas of chemistry, such as analytical and biochem as well as more in inorganic. I am the compiler of a book on chem literature and need newer titles to upgrade my work, so any suggestions would be wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed and found very useful this entire blog about books in organic chem.
i have a great site, it is a Japanese site with spectra (1H, 13C, IR) of thousands of common molecules…not bad for the TA who needs to write an exam.
http://riodb01.ibase.aist.go.j.....me_top.cgi