This book was recommended to me by a senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry at a Scottish university: A fine British gentleman – and a fine recommendation.
I have valued this book’s clarity ever since and return to it again and again, although my current scientific work involves little organic chemistry. The book’s presentation is hugely considerate to beginners and sympathetic of their problems. Even advanced chemists will appreciate its clear and insightful presentation of the logic behind organic reaction mechanisms.
Peter Sykes’ book is certainly a model of clarity and to my mind perhaps the best book ever written on this vast subject. It is certainly my favorite organic chemistry book: All the explanations are clear and helpful; one is never (or very rarely) left dangling at the end of a presentation wondering just what in the world is going on, as seems to happen too often in other texts.
Sykes starts at the basic level of structure and reactivity, proceeds to acid/base equilibria, and addresses subsequent chapters to electrophilic, nucleophilic, radical, carbanion/carbocation reactions, Hammett plots, etc.
Really a wonderful read and an outstanding short reference. Certainly an excellent investment for anyone interested in organic chemistry. How odd most Americans are unfamiliar with it.
(If you value Sykes’ presentation, the Royal Society of Chemistry used to have several audio cassettes of his presentations on organic chemistry.)
020 a Guidebook to Mechanism in Organic Chemistry – Peter Sykes
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