Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Help getting into organic chemistry

Dragonjack12 - 17-5-2019 at 07:18

I am more of a inorganic chemist but I want to lean some more in-depth organic chemistry. Is there any good online books or something I have limited funds for books and such as I’m still pretty young.

SWIM - 17-5-2019 at 07:41

For starters there's a library attached to this site just full of chem books both organic and inorganic.

I don't recall if they have general O-chem textbooks, but I bet they do.

For labwork they have a number of lab manuals like Organic Experiments by Feiser and Feiser, the one I started out with.

These manuals are handy for learning basic procedures, and have various experiments appropriate for the novice.

Maybe a few regulars here with more knowledge of the library here can recommend a few good books for starting out?

I learned organic before the internet was so useful, so I bought used books.
Pavia's organic chemistry, a microscale approach was a good one for learning about lab equipment and such even though the actual experiments were all in those tiny microscale setups.

Try going to library sales or visiting any charitable organization that sells donated products like the goodwill stores in the USA. They usually have books somewhere in the back for nugatory prices and textbooks don't sell fast so they often have a few knocking around. Flea markets can pay off too, but are more hit and miss.


Ubya - 17-5-2019 at 08:25

SM library has a few organic lab books but i don't remember a book about the theory. i have the pdf version of "John E. McMurry Organic Chemistry ninth edition", it's the book i used for my O-Chem classes at university. the file is 74Mb, if i can find the download link i can PM it to you, otherwise i'll try to compress it and send it to you via email

wakanat - 17-5-2019 at 14:38

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya  
SM library has a few organic lab books but i don't remember a book about the theory. i have the pdf version of "John E. McMurry Organic Chemistry ninth edition", it's the book i used for my O-Chem classes at university. the file is 74Mb, if i can find the download link i can PM it to you, otherwise i'll try to compress it and send it to you via email

Could you also send it to me too? I would like to read it

Tkuze - 17-5-2019 at 15:21

What I found helpful, and beneficial to improving chemistry knowledge in general, was forming a sort of club. Every week a diffent memeber is assigned the task of finding an interesting ACS paper and sharing it with the group. Everyone reads it and at the end of the week, the assigned student summarizes the papers finding and expands on its use and importance. Everyone else offers constructive critisizm and helps to expose any information thay was glossed over or misunderstood. Surround yourself with like minded individuals. Personally, the best way I learned organic chemistry was to learn on paper in class and then do a simple synthesis or experiment in lab related tp the topic. Im a hands on learner and this allowed me to visualize and relate the mechanism and reaction schemes on paper to actual reaction conditions on tests. I had a small home lab and was doing research in undergrad so i was able to do this. I got the highest grade in class because of doing this and i am by no means a genius.

Dragonjack12 - 17-5-2019 at 19:02

Thank you all so much didn’t even know about the library!

Keras - 18-5-2019 at 01:02

I only skimmed over Mc Murry's book and it's certainly nice, full of high quality illustrations and figures, high quality and clean layout, highly attractive. Can't tell about its contents, but I would be surprised if it wasn't up to snuff. I personally own the Clayden Organic Chemistry book (because, eh, British English :p) which I find very good, but it is certainly less visually attractive than Mc Murry's.

Other authors of well-known organic chemistry books include Carey, Solomons and Brown. You can also get March's Advanced Organic Chemistry by Smith.

That's for theory. For lab work, there's Vogel's Textbook of Pratical Organic Chemistry, for example, or Modern Organic Synthesis in the Laboratory by Li et al..

PirateDocBrown - 22-5-2019 at 00:40

I learned out of Morrison and Boyd.
In grad school, Carey was the standard, I learned from his 2 part Advanced Organic Chemistry, and also taught out of his undergrad text.
There's nothing wrong with the McMurry available here. Read it, it's as good as any other.
For lab, start with the Vogel, even though it's 60 years old.
Weygand and Hildetag is a good supplement.

Sigmatropic - 22-5-2019 at 09:04

After already learning general chemistry I took up the task to read Claydens, Greeves, Warren and wothers 1500 page book called organic chemistry. By the time I studied most of that book, I was well on my way of understanding the theory behind organic chemistry. At that point I realized practical organic chemistry is more of an emperical science... A good organic chemist is really just a good experimentalist.

beta4 - 22-5-2019 at 13:48

Not long ago I found this website with freely downloadable chemistry books:

https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Remixer_University/Downl...

but I can't recommend one in particular as I've just downloaded a couple and haven't yet read them.

Keras - 23-5-2019 at 00:30

Quote: Originally posted by beta4  
Not long ago I found this website with freely downloadable chemistry books:

https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Remixer_University/Downl...

but I can't recommend one in particular as I've just downloaded a couple and haven't yet read them.


Nice resource!

zed - 23-5-2019 at 14:33

Personally, I think it is best to start with the text for an Organic Survey Course. Become familiar with Nomenclature and the basic overview of O-Chem ( functional groups etc.) First, grasp the basic lay-out of the forest; later the elaborate details regarding individual trees.

In my day, the Linstromberg book was OK.

Lotsa folks took O-Chem at my college. Those that plunged headlong into Morrison and Boyd, struggled mightily. Often working really hard, to comprehend very little. Basics first.

Couldn't see the forest, on account of the focus on individual trees.

This cover looks familiar, though there might be cheaper copies around.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1658242633...



[Edited on 23-5-2019 by zed]

[Edited on 23-5-2019 by zed]

[Edited on 23-5-2019 by zed]