Organic Chemistry at another level...
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Retrosynthesis is an incredibly logical, but yet incredibly abstract concept. For somebody who has studied organic syntheses forward to then be told to switch into reverse is quite an effort. I was dreading it. I found this book in concert with the Warren, Wothers, Greeves and Clayden text book to break it down into a logical sequence of steps and train of thought. The examples given in this book are mostly drug molecules and natural products giving this book a very applied feeling, as ultimately that is the point of learning mechanisms. The explanations are concise, but simple. Well written, detailed and informative. This book does assume prior knowledge of organic chemistry at a fairly basic level (first or second year undergraduate).
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Useful for improving synthetic chemistry skills
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Working through "The disconnection approach" aids the user to gain useful analytical skills for synthetic chemistry as well as helping the user get a general feel for useful reactions used over and over again in organic sythesis.
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This book facilitates the application of retrosynthesis
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Retrosynthetic analysis is the process of developing a strategy for the synthesis of an a particular chemical (the target). The process essentially involves the repeated use of (known) useful patterns (the jargon is 'disconnection') until a potential viable synthetic procedure from available starting materials to the target is proposed/discovered. E.J. Corey (Noebl prize winner in organic chemistry) first described a formal methodology for the retrosynthetic analysis in the 70's. That is, he described a strategy in which '(retro)synthesis patterns' could be applied. This was great work and others started to think in the same fashion after Corey published his ideas. However, the field really took off after the publication of this book in 1982. The reason for this is that Warren was able to teach others how to use(!) the retrosynthetic methodology. He did this by: 1) Knowing the skill level of his audience (3rd level univeristy student + post-graduate) 2) Highly structuring the material so that the reader progressively develops an understanding of the subject; and very importently 3) provide a number of very clear and useful examples (and an associated workbook completely filled with worked examples). A great way to learn about this detailed subject. A classic!
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