Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Third Edition (Brown, William H

Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Third Edition (Brown, William H.) Jerome E. Gurst. J. Chem. Educ. , 1984, 61 (9), p A247. DOI: 10.1021/ed061pA247...
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use it. 1Gs neeessarv to-have 6 4 ofkemorv ~ ~, ( a language card,, hut the progran, contes as an autuhwting disk. A word of caution: the program may not work correctly with some 80-column boards. Only a blank screen was obtained in the autorotate facility when the oroeram was run on an Aonle IIe with the 80-klumn board. and on a fly with a oooularh a r d there was no display in an). of the drawing n d n e s . In both czvs removing the board solved the problem. The program also comes in an IBM PC version that runs in the UCSD-P system format. Currently, one must have the to run the oroUCSD-P ooeratine.. svstem . gram. The &hon plan romnvcn tc, the IRM L)OS so that there will k noneed to purchase t h e IICSD-P systcm separately. The 1R.M version has several enhancements over the Applc version. In the prrspectiw and spnrefilling drawing modes rulurcd circles represent thc d~fferentatoms. The atandard CPK color scheme is used. One can also rotate the molecule about any bond-defined axis and reflect about three orthogonal planes. Of more importance is the ability to rotate part of the molecule, for example, a methyl group, about a user-chosen bond. In addition the distance between any two atoms can be calculated. At present it is not possible to copy the screen to a orinter. Several aspecw of the IRM vermon proved ro hc dirappuinting. Although color adds to the beauty otthe display, it rign~firantlyincreases the time it takes to draw molecules. The program should allow one to view many orientations of several molecules quickly and easilv. .. hut the time soent waiting while the drawings arccontpletea maker m e I h c likely to cxplorr. Also, an initruutur wudd haw to ~

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disolaved f o i a classr&m demonstration. ~ b IBM ; drawings are made on a white background. Where atoms are labeled as C, H, etc., these labels come out as inverse characters that somewhat distract from the three-dimensional perspective. Also, in the oersoective drawines. where the reoresenta-

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small circles. To he successful in the use of color the circles would have needed some shading. The space-filling representations, however, have a spectacular quality and are quite beautiful and illustrative. Where the atoms overlap there is a fringe of the complementary color that significantly adds to the perspective quality. For a hard copy of these drawings one could take 35-mm color slides. The program is a useful tool for illustrating the shaoes of molecules. I t is best when used hy r h inzrn~rtur ~ asan aid in ilemumrrations. Impruvements in the gentrariun uf hard rupiesand in the entry d d n t n could make it quite useful to upper-level undergraduate research students as well. Leslie A. Hull Union College Schenectady. NY 12308

Capies of the Apple sueen to a Silentype winter fa (a) ATP as a line drawing: (b) Butane in Ihe anti conformation as a perspective drawing: (c) Chair form Of cyclahexane as a space-filling drawing.

Introduction To Organic Chemistry, Third Edition William H. Brown, Willard Grant Press, 500 pp. Figures Boston, MA, 1982. x and tables. 19.5 X 24 cm.

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Reviewers of the First Edition [J. CHEM. EDUC., 53, A323 (1976)l and the Second Edition [J. CHEM.EDUC.,56, A37 (1979)l have generally described this text as b e h i quite good but "too demanding for a short course" or "perhaps, a bit rigaurous" for its purpose. The book is intended for those "preparing for careers that require a grounding in the fundamentals of organic chemistry." I am not sure how the clientele served by this text differs from that expected to use the text (also in its third edition) "Introduction to Organic and Biochemistry" by Brown and a co-author (J.A. McClarin). The two hooks share a considerable number of chsotern. As earlier reviewers have done, I can describe this text as clearly written. I t is organized using the functional group approach following a review of the principles of bonding. The hook bas a number of chapters dealine with the cbemistrv of bioloeieallv .. signifimnt mnterial, and ir hae an a p p ~ n d ~ d chapter on spectroswpy which the teacher and students may ignore. Therearc a number of mini-essays designed to revive waning interest on the part of the student. This edition uses two-color printing as before but is said to include considerably more problems than earlier versions (both within the text and a t the end of the chapters). The number of illustrations has been increased. The first printing of this hook is not error-free: 2n2 = 32 when n = 4 and not 36 (p. 1)and there are a number of structural diagrams of ions or resonance structures in which charges are missing. In any text for a "short course," coverage must be very selective. (It must be very selective in a traditional course as well!) I am troubled, however, by some of the following. In Chapter 3, primary, secondary, and tertiary carbocations are discussed and examples are shown but l a , 2', and 3O are not defined (the indexdoes not have these terms listed). After an explanation of Markownikav's Rule, the student is told that hydrahoration will yield an anti-Markownikov product, but no explanation is offered. In Chapter 4, optically active amines are used for resolution, but no discussion of acid-base reactions in oreanic rhcmiitry has preceded this. Chapter 3 llrings out nu di;tinrtim hrtwcn busisit? and r y clcrtn,philinuclcophil:city