Organic Chemistry- Fourth Edition - Structure and Function Description:

Organic Chemistry, Fourth Edition : Structure and Function review:
5 stars (The best book for chem majors) - After one term of having this book, I decided to become

a chemist. It grabbed me really hard and made me realize

the complexity and wonder of chemistry (something I hadn't experienced with freshman chem.) If you are a chemistry major, this is definitely the book you will want to use. If your prof is using a different text, I'd definitely keep a copy of this one to use as a second opinion, at least. It is extremely well-written and it's written at a high level. In other words, it

doesn't just string you along and give you the basics...

it delves deeply into reaction mechanisms and what is

actually happening in each reaction. Product yields for

many reactions are included, and this is quite useful.

The writing style makes you learn a new way of thinking - that of a scientist. At times, the syntax is a little "brainy"

(they refer to acetone by its IUPAC name, "propanone",

for instance, and they refer to ethylene oxide as "oxacyclopropane".) I had an earlier version of this book in class when I took organic many years ago, but the revisions are mostly in presentation and in the problem sets. True, the problems in each chapter are not always good. If your instructor is good, they will provide their own problems to supplement the book's. But my suggestion is to go ahead and just do a web search for old exams and problems given by profs at other schools. Many of these are great and will give you tons of insight. For those who have already graduated, this is a good and up-to-date book to keep with you in your graduate studies or in the lab if you work in such a capacity.
5 stars (I Love Vollhardt) - After perusing several other texts at different colleges, I have come to the conclusion that the Vollhardt book is indeed a well done text. Although more examples would have been nice, I feel that the reactions are done in a straightforward manner and the Chemical Highlights provided are fantastically interesting. The Viagra synthesis presented was very helpful in discussing yields of pharmaceutical drugs. Overall, I'd give this book a B+/A-
4 stars (Straightforward and Clear) - I used this text for my introductory Organic chem class, and found it both easy to read and helpful. It seems well-organized and has plenty of clear examples and good chapter-end summaries. However, I would highly recommend purchasing the study guide and solutions manual as well. Many of the problems are challenging, and having this resource available is very helpful. However, at the time of this writing, the only version of this study guide available on Amazon is that for the 3rd edition, which is little good for use with the 4th edition textbook, so be sure find the proper study guide for the textbook you purchase.