Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews
edited by
Edward J. Walsh Allegheny College Meadville, PA 16335
Invitation to Organic Chemistry by A. William Johnson Jones and Bartlett Publishers: Sudbury, MA, 1999. 701 pp. ISBN 0-7637-0432-6. $66.25. reviewed by Richard Helm
The book is directed at the one-semester organic course taught at most colleges and universities. Students in these classes are typically enrolled in agricultural, environmental, forestry, and health-related programs and need a basic level of understanding of organic chemistry principles for their chosen occupations (whether they realize it or not!). Oftentimes this class is taught without a lab and it represents the first and only time that organic principles are presented to these students. The text is divided into functional group–based chapters, as are most texts. However, Johnson believes in providing information on a “just-in-time” basis. For example, Chapter 1 (Carbon Compounds: Bonding and Structure) presents sp3 carbon hydridization and reserves complete discussion of sp2 and sp hybridization for Chapters 6 and 7. At this point the student has been exposed to the conformational aspects of cyclohexanes (Chapter 2), enantiomers (briefly, Chapter 3), and carbohydrates (Chapter 4). This format can be difficult to get used to. Discussing molecular shape in Chapter 1 without full knowledge of the hybridization and bond angles of double and triple bonds seems incomplete. However, on the plus side of such an approach, leaving out a lot of the “stuff I have to memorize” allows more room for the presentation of “reallife” materials such as carbohydrates, a subject of tremendous importance to the students enrolled in one-semester organic classes. Too often this material, along with nucleic acids, fats, and proteins, is given only cursory mention, if any at all. This is unfortunate. The chemistry of these compounds is precisely what should be emphasized to this audience! The interweaving of biochemistry and real-world examples into the text is good. Fifty-three vignettes entitled “Chemistry
at Work” provide commercial and biochemical examples of organic chemistry. Johnson has also attempted to help the student formulate a plan of attack when answering questions, with sections entitled “How to Solve a Problem”. These sections walk through the problem-solving approach in much the same way as one does when working examples in lecture. The “Conceptual Problems” at the end of most chapters are excellent, giving the student some pretty substantial and timely things to ponder. I also appreciated the inside front cover, which displays not only the important functional groups, but also the relationships between them. Like most textbook publishers these days, Jones and Bartlett provides a teaching “package” that includes an instructor’s toolkit (CD-ROM). They also maintain an impressive Web site (Organic Online) for users of the text, with icons indicating where appropriate material can be found within the site. The site contains Chime™ molecules, mechanism movies, quizzes, and information on chemistry-related careers. I think these sites should enhance the student’s understanding and appreciation of the subject matter. The solutions manual (also prepared by Johnson) adequately summarizes the material discussed in the text. There are relatively few mistakes in the book, considering that it is a first edition. The early discussions of enantiomers could be improved, as could the section on carbohydrates and polysaccharides. Also, there is no mention of aldol reactions. Finally, in my opinion, there is a bit too much emphasis on retrosynthetic analysis—something many students have trouble with. However, even when considering the above issues, if you can buy into the “just-in-time” philosophy, I believe this is a very good one-semester organic text, comparable to the others on the market. The response from my fall 1999 class was quite positive, the biggest complaint being the author’s tendency to refer to later chapters for more complete discussion of particular concepts (the major drawback of the just-in-time philosophy). Richard Helm is in the Fralin Biotechnology Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0346.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 77 No. 4 April 2000 • Journal of Chemical Education
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