Books in the Postgraduate Chemistry Series series

This volume provides, at postgraduate student level, an accessible introduction to a topic of central importance in organic synthesis. It covers the main functional groups requiring protection in organic synthesis, explaining why a particular protecting agent works and how an agent should be chosen.

The development of new asymmetric catalytic methods is of fundamental importance to industrial synthetic chemistry. The demand for optically pure synthetic intermediates and the drive to adopt greener methods of synthesis have stimulated a growing interest in biocatalysis as a selective and environmentally benign synthetic technique.

Photochemistry of Organic Compounds: From Concepts to Practice provides a hands-on guide demonstrating the underlying principles of photochemistry and, by reference to a range of organic reaction types, its effective use in the synthesis of new organic compounds and in various applications.

This volume provides, at postgraduate student level, an accessible introduction to stoichiometric asymmetric synthesis. The authors focus on stereoselective C-C bond formation in acyclic systems, with an emphasis on the use of chiral auxiliaries and reagents.

Carbohydrates offer a ready source of enantiomerically pure starting materials. This book provides a broad understanding of the use of carbohydrates in organic synthesis, at postgraduate student level. It places emphasis on retrosynthetic analysis, with discussion of why a particular synthetic route has been chosen.

Asymmetric synthesis has become a major aspect of modern organic chemistry. The stereochemical properties of an organic compound are often essential to its bioactivity, and the need for stereochemically pure pharmaceutical products is a key example of the importance of stereochemical control in organic synthesis.

The jump from an understanding of organic chemistry at undergraduate level to that required at postgraduate level or in industry can be difficult. Many advanced textbooks contain hundreds of examples of various reaction mechanisms, in a level of detail which obscures the essential framework underling and uniting those reactions.