Introduction and Acknowledgements

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Introduction

My goal in writing this text is to help advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students learn key topics in organic chemistry that often don't come up in your Organic I and II classes. So, you can think about this as an Organic III text. My focus is on key reaction types that enable the construction of complex organic molecules: pericyclic reactions, transition metal catalyzed reactions, rearrangements, fragmentations, radical reactions, and carbene reactions. I hope that this text is a resource that helps you understand the mechanisms of these reactions and enables you to use these reactions in your own syntheses. I have provided a variety of mechanism and synthesis problems to help you practice these skills and make them your own. One of the main goals in my Organic Synthesis class is to engage deeply with current papers from the literature. I hope you will do the same and that this text will help you understand some of the concepts and reactions that often go unspoken in publications.

Acknowledgements

My most important acknowledgement is to my graduate research advisor, Rick Danheiser. Rick is one of the most passionate and dedicated teachers I have ever met. This text is based in large part on Rick's Organic Synthesis graduate class from my first semester at MIT. He was able to clearly convey the complex material encountered in his class and motivated me to learn it deeply. He also helped me see the beauty in organic synthesis and provided an important appreciation for the history of the field. Without the foundation from Rick's class, this text would not exist. Thank you, Rick!

I would also like to thank Kerry Barnett and Leslie Nickerson, who were teaching-research postdocs in my lab between 2017-2021. Kerry and Leslie each taught Organic Synthesis with me once during their time at Smith and both provided key improvements to the class. This text is definitely better thanks to the input of Kerry and Leslie.

Finally, I would like to thank all of the Smith students who have taken Organic Synthesis with me. I have taught this class every other year since 2001, and it is always a joy to teach. I am continually amazed at the enthusiasm and dedication that they all bring to the study of advanced organic chemistry.