Organic Chemistry

Tadashi Okuyama is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hyogo, Japan, where his research has explored organic reaction mechanisms, acid-base catalysis, and heteroatom chemistry, and his teaching has included organic chemistry and advanced courses in physical organic chemistry. He has published a number of textbooks in Japanese, and has also translated a number of English language texts for the Japanese market.Howard Maskill is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Huddersfield, UK, having retired as Senior Lecturer in 2004. His research explores the mechanism of reactions of organic compounds in solution.

• 1. Chemical bonding and molecules ; 2. Molecular structure and shapes of organic molecules ; 3. Organic compounds: their functional groups, intermolecular interactions and physical properties ; 4. Conformation and strain in molecules ; 5. Conjugation, pi-electrion delocalization, and aromaticity ; 6. Acids and bases ; 7. Organic reactions and concept of mechanism ; 8. Nucleophilic addition to the carbonyl group in aldehydes and ketones ; 9. Nucleophilic substitution of carboxylic acid derivatives ; 10. Reactions of carbonyl compounds with hydride donors and organometallic reagents ; 11. Stereochemistry and molecular chirality ; 12. Nucleophilic substitution reactions of haloalkanes and related compounds ; 13. Elimination reactions of haloalkanes and related compounds ; 14. Reactions of alcohols, ethers, thiols, sulfides, and amines ; 15. Addition reactions of alkenes and alkynes ; 16. Enolate anions and their reactions ; 17. Enolate ions, their equivalents and reactions ; 18. Reactions of nucleophiles with alkenes and aromatic compounds ; 19. Polycyclic and heterocyclic aromatic compounds ; 20. Rearrangement reactions ; 21. Pericyclic reactions: cycloadditions, electrocyclic reactions, and sigmatropic rearrangements ; 22. Rearrangement reactions involving polar molecules and ions ; 23. Biomolecules ; 24. Chemistry of biomolecules ; 25. Structural determination of organic compounds

The structure and aim of the text is excellent. [It] begins with the fundamentals of molecular structure and introduces the concept of molecular orbitals early... it clearly maintains a direct link to understanding reaction mechanisms from their fundamental origins.