Synthetic Approaches in Organic Chemistry

This work is designed as a comprehensive textbook for a course in organic synthesis. The book has been organized in the nine chapters. The first chapter introduces the subject of reaction intermediates with regards to their geometry, stability generation and their role in organic reactions. Chapter 2 discusses the wide spectrum of oxidation-reduction methods and the structure selectivity relationship of these reagents. Chapter 3 explains the usefulness of enolate anion as an essential tool in building the carbon-carbon bond. Because of the increasing importance of Organo-metallic reagents in synthesis they have been discussed in Chapter 4. Photochemical methods, which hold a special, position in the synthesis of strained ring systems form a part of chapter 5. The Diels-Alder reaction is treated with illustrated examples in Chapter 7 while Chapter 6 and 8 deal with the familiar reactions of addition to carbon-carbon double bond and aromatic electrophilic substitutions respectively, which are frequently employed in synthesis. The last chapter is concerned with timely and useful special topics and comprises the most recent techniques like ultrasound, electroorganic synthesis, microwave heating, reactions on inorganic supported reagents and phase transfer catalysis. Mechanisms of reactions have been emphasized where necessary. Several new developments in synthesis -Tandem Diels-Alder reactions, sharpless epoxidation, di ii methane rearrangement, distereoselections in the preparation of Grignard reagents, pericyclic reactions and reduction of prochiral ketones have been highlighted at the proper places. Included are recent bibliography, problems and references for further reading.