reviews
Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions, Mechanisms,
a n d Structure, Fourth Edition
Jerry March. Wiley: New York, NY, 1992. xv + 1495 pp. Figs.
and tables. 16.2 x 24 cm. Cloth $59.95.
The first edition of this monumental and scholarly one-volume
text of principles and examples of the reactions, useful far access
to the current literature of organic chemistry, appeared in 1968.
Subsequent, and steadily popular, editions have appeared in 1977
(1328 pp.), 1985 (1346 pp.), and 1992. While the organization and
level of topic treatment is designed for *. . . Students who have had
the standard undergraduate organic and physical chemistry
-.
courses". it is useful for anv nrofessional who wants to review a
stnndnrd topic in the field. Contemporary review and summary
artdrajudged tu be useful entrees to the field arc rrfrrrnmd, ns
are important citations from the last five y m s . Over 5110(1 new
references have replaced citations in the third edition.
The structure and approach of this text has not essentially
changed since the second edition: 19 chapters divided into two sec-
. . deals with the structure
tions. The first section. of nine chanters.
of organic compounds'(five chapters, including one introducing
five reactive intermediates: earbacatians, carbanions, free radi-
cals, carbenes, and nitrenes). The second part, 10 chapters, deals
with major mechanistic patterns: five chapters of substitution r e
actions (aliphatic, aromatic, and free-radical varieties), two chap-
ters on additions (to carhon-carhan, and carbon-heteroatom
multiple bonds), and one chapter each on eliminations, rearrange-
ments, and oxidation-reduction mechanisms. Two important ap-
pendices remain: a brief, but current and useful, introduction to
chemical literature, and a very useful summary of reactions clas-
sified for use in synthesis.
~ ~
r
~ ~~~
utilitv* in oresentations
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~~~ - ~
~ ~~
of a wide varietv
~~ ~ ~
-
Mareh has been uncomnmmisine in his search for elaritv and
, of essential organic
~~~~ ~~ ~~
~ ~~~~
rhemlstry. It remains an accessihlc and uarful rod for hnth spe-
cialistsand nonspecialistsin the field. It does anexcellenrjub both
as a text far first-year graduate students and a handy reference
for others
Bruce E. Norcross
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY 13901
Reviewed in this Issue
Jerry March, Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions,
Mechanism, and Structure, Fourth Edition
John Emsley. Series Consultant, The Periodic Table
and the Human Element (a videocassette series)
James M I , 1001 Things Everyone Should Know about Science
MikuliiS Teich with Dorothy M. Needham, A Documentary
History of Biochemistry 1770-1 940
Mary Ellen Bowden a n d Theodor Benfey. Robert Bums Woodward
and the Art of Organic Synthesis
Carl Djerassi, The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse:
The Autobiography of Carl Djerassi
Tobern Bergman (Editor) and J. A. Schufle (Translator), Chemical
Lectures of H. T. Scheffer
David Knight, Ideas in Chemistry: A History of Science
T h e Periodic Table a n d t h e Human Element
Six 28min. VHS videocassettes. A co-production of BBC Con-
tinuing Education & Training and Films for the Humanities & Sci-
ences, 1991-92. Series consultant, John Emsley, Imperial Col-
lege. Distributed by Films for the Humanities, P.O. Box 2053,
Princeton, NJ 08543-2053. To order or for information call toll
free 1-800-257-5126. Purchase $149 each, rental $75; pur-
chase $795 for the entire series.
This series of personal stories, narrated by working scientists,
successfully provides the human perspective so often lacking in
many accounts of science, in general and chemistry, in particular.
Suitable for science and chemistry classes as well as far a general
audience, it was inspired by the late Primo Levi's popular book,
The Peridic Table. Each videaeassette is prefaced by the declara-
tion, %very element has a set of properties that distinguishes it
from all the others. But for the chemist, each element is often dis-
tinguished by a personal story."
Two programs are of particular interest to chemical educators,
for they deal with topics ordinarily considered in most general,
organic, or biochemistry courses, while adding a biographied-his-
torical dimension usually neglected in standard textbooks. In The
Atom That Makes the Difference (Carbonj Carl Djerassi, Professor
of Chemistry at Stanford University, 1992 Priestley medalist, nov-
elist, poet, art collector, and, in his own words, the mother of "the
pill," explains to viewers the conduct and goals of synthetic or-
ganic chemistry, the nature of steroids, and the relationship of
structure to properties.
Who Found the Missing Link? (Umniumj is a veritable one-
woman show for Ruth L. Sime, Professor of Chemistry a t Sacra-
mento City College. This program is the only one in the series to
have only one narrator. For the last 15 years, Sime has carried out
~
research on Austrian physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968), who
played a crucial role in the discovery of nuclear fission, which
changed forever the world in which we live.
In her account of the research leading to nuclear fission, Sime,
~~.~~ ~ ~ ~.
who sneaks from various Eurooean Locations where the work was
enrrird out, not only tells Mcitner's story hut also relaks the con-
t r ~ b u t w nof~ Plantk, Einstein, and Fernmi a s well as of Hahn and
- .. --....- ....
The remaming pruwams in this highly recommended series are
The S r r n l of hhupuleon's Hbllpoper ,Arsenio, fi.'xplorion on the
Reviewer
Bruce E. Norcross
George B. Kauffman and
Laurie M. Kauffman
George B. Kauffman and
Laurie M. Kauffman
George B. Kauffman
George B. Kauffman
George B. Kauffman and
Laurie M. Kauffman
George B. Kauffman
George 3. Kauffman
Volume 70 Number 2 February 1993 A51