Reference works in organic chemistry

In addition to Beilstein, there are many other reference works in organic chemistry that are essentially compilations of data. These books are very useful and often save the research worker a great deal of time. In this section, we discuss some of the more important of such works. 

In compiling this book, the author has drawn freely from all sources of information available to him—research notes, original memoirs in scientific journals, reference works on organic chemistry, the numerous text books on practical organic chemistry, and pamphlets of manufac turers of specialised apparatus. Whilst individual acknowledgement cannot obviously be made—in many cases the original source has been lost track of—it is a duty and a pleasure to place on record the debt the writer owes to all these sources. Mention must, however, be made of Organic Syntheses, to which the reader is referred for further details of many of the preparations described in the text. 

He did not keep his word. The little girls referred to were Professor Winifred Cullis, Dr. Ida Smedley Maclean, and Hadda Hough. A year later Mary Philip and Hadda Hough attended also the Chemistry Department of the College, both for lectures and for practical work in Organic Chemistry.40... 

The page number, e.g., W. p. 736, after a journal reference refers to the page in the Volume A. N. Nesmeyanov, Selected Works in Organic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, 1963. 

A chapter of the book is devoted to detailed directions for carrying out the simpler operations used in laboratory work in organic chemistry. In order that the student may make use of this information when it is necessary, references are given throughout the book to the paragraph and page where the particular process to be employed is described. It is impossible to repeat... 

It is true that, for instance, one does not find under the keyword aldehyde the preparation of benzaldehyde (a) from toluene by way of benzyl chloride or benzaldehyde dichloride, (b) from benzene and hydrogen cyanide-hydrogen chloride (Gattermann-Koch) or from bromobenzene by way of phenyl-magnesium bromide and formic ester (Grignard), and (c) from stilbene and ozone or from 1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediol and lead tetraacetate but such a collection of syntheses is to be found in the systematic textbooks and reference works of organic chemistry, and the compass of the large reactions remains nevertheless substantially intact in our treatment. 

The supersextet of kekulene is also mentioned by Vogler (1986) in his semiempirical investigations. In a recent preparative work in organic chemistry (Bell and Jousselin 1991) it is made reference to kekulene. However, these authors were primarily interested in heterocyclic compounds, as is also the topic of other works, which are still more related to kekulene (Katritzky and Marson 1983 RanshoH and Staab 1985). Detailed treatments of these topics are outside the scope of the present book. 

We will recall briefly the different families of hydrocarbons without attempting to give a summary of a course in organic chemistry. The reader is particularly encouraged to refer to general reference works for information concerning the nomenclature and properties of these compounds (Lefebvre, 1978). 

It is appropriate that the present Introduction should contain a specifically historical section, particularly in relation to the nitro group, whose electronic effect played a distinctive role in organic chemistry long before it was recognized as such. In this section and in later sections references are often given to classical papers and texts, whose importance has been overlaid by more recent work. 

This review collects a part of the results of work on the thiazole-aldehyde synthesis that has been carried out over several years by various individuals whose names are reported in the references. One of us (A.D.) would like to express to all of them his gratitude and appreciation for their contribution. Financial support came from the Progetto Finalizzato Chitnica Fine e Secondaria n. 2 (Rome), the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR, Rome), the Ministero della University e della Ricerca Scientifica (MURST, Rome). One of us (A. M.) is grateful to the University of Ferrara for having been appointed as Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Engineering. 

J. Carboniiun Ions.—Carbonium ions are very important in organic chemistry " and many carbocations and carbanions have aroused the interest of theoreticians. A detailed report of work in this area has been given by Pople and Hehre, and space does not allow for further discussion here. However, we do refer to selected papers of interest which have appeared more recently. 

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