The structures, tables, and figures are clearthroughout, although the lack of any significant color in thebook may bother some readers. I was pleasantly surprised to find so few errors in a bookof this immense size: just a handful in more than one thou-sand pages. There is a solutionsmanual, by Michael Sponsler of Syracuse University, to ac-company the textbook (1). Each of the 17 chapters concludes with a largenumber of interesting and often challenging problems onwhich students may hone their skills. Learning molecular orbital theorythe correct way will, however, lead to a more sophisticatedand hopefully more realistic way of understanding chemicalphenomena. Mod-ern molecular orbital theory is used extensively throughoutthe book, which may be off-putting to students at first be-cause they are usually exposed to the hybridization model atthe undergraduate level. Even when old, venerated subjects arepresented, they are illustrated with modern examples. An ap-pealing feature is the coverage of topics of current chemicalinteresttransition metal-catalyzed reactions, chemical bi-ology, materials, supramolecular chemistry, and computa-tional chemistry. I found the coverage to be sophisticated but not overlymathematical, which is a turnoff for many students. I can think of no significant topic that was omit-ted. A very large number of top-ics is covered in the book, each developed deliberately andcarefully. Hav-ing one author check the writing of the other, I suspect, aidedin making the exposition clear. The writing is very clear, at times conversational. The book, which has been designed for a one-year course, was written with young graduate students inmind. MPOC is genuinely a textbook although it may be usedin other ways. The book under review hasnone of these faults. Still others arenicely written but their coverage is not sophisticated enoughfor first-year graduate students. Others are researchtomes or encyclopedias rather than textbooks. A third is rigorously mathematical, thus notsuitable for beginning graduate students.
#Modern physical organic chemistry anslyn and dougherty pdf full#
Another is beautifully writtenbut is full of errors, not only in the first edition but in thesecond as well. One is well written but has beenout of date for many years. All have merit but aredeficient in some respect. I have two dozen or more volumes dealing with physi-cal organic chemistry in my office. Iam thus always delighted to see a new textbook on the subject,such as Modern Physical Organic Chemistry (MPOC) by EricAnslyn of The University of Texas and Dennis Dougherty ofCal Tech. I have also taught various aspects ofthis subject dozens of times at the senior and graduate level. I have spent most of my career doing research in whatorganic chemists call physical organic chemistry, the study oforganic chemical phenomena using the principles of physicsand physical chemistry. University Science Books: Sausalito, CA, 2006. University of TennesseeKnoxville, TN 37996-1600īy Eric V.
3 March 2006 Journal of Chemical Education 387
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