Dedication and Preface
This 10th edition of Organic Chemistry is dedicated to the memory of my son, Peter McMurry, who passed away in 2019 after a lifelong struggle with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). He was brilliant, strong, and truly the kindest person I have ever known.
12/10/1968 – 12/12/2019
Just about every first-year medical student at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Medical Center knew and admired Peter, who was asked every year to meet and speak with incoming students about his experiences as a patient. He always enjoyed talking to the students, kidding them about their having had to take organic chemistry in college, and asking them if anyone recognized his last name from their O-Chem textbook.
If Peter were still alive, I have no doubt that he would want me to work on this 10th edition with a publisher that would give the book away free to students rather than with one that would charge a large amount. So that is what I have done. To make this possible, I am not receiving any payment for this book, and generous supporters have not only covered the production costs but have also made a donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help find a cure for this terrible disease. Anything that readers of this book might donate in Peter's memory to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation would also be much appreciated.
John McMurry
Organic Chemistry was originally authored by John E. McMurry, and published by OpenStax, Rice University. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). The original work is available at openstax.org. This version has been adapted for use in the Universal Open Textbook Initiative.
From the author—About Organic Chemistry
Organic Chemistry, like previous editions, is intended for a two-semester introductory organic chemistry course. I recognize that many students in this course are biology or pre-med majors so, when appropriate, I bring in biological examples. Color is used consistently through the texts and illustrations. Problems are categorized (see below) and vary in level. My goal is to be as economical as possible with changes so that the overall length of Organic Chemistry does not increase.
Coverage and scope
Organic Chemistry, like previous editions, is intended for a two-semester introductory organic chemistry course. The tenth edition retains the functional group approach of prior editions and the table of contents is retained.
Pedagogical foundation and features
- "Why This Chapter?" is a brief section that appears before the introduction to every chapter and tells students why the material about to be covered is important.
- Worked Examples includes a strategy and a detailed solution and is followed by problems for students to try on their own. The tenth edition has more than 1800 in-text and end-of-chapter problems.
- Visualizing Chemistry Problems occur at the end of each chapter. The problems offer students an opportunity to see chemistry in a different way by visualizing molecules rather than by simply interpreting structural formulas.
- Mechanism Problems are grouped together at the end of each chapter.
- Summaries and Key Terms lists help students by outlining the key concepts of each chapter.
- Summaries of Reactions at the ends of appropriate chapters bring together the key reactions from the chapter in one complete list.
Comprehensive art program
The art program is designed to enhance students' understanding of concepts through clear, effective illustrations, diagrams, and photographs.
About the author
John E. McMurry
John E. McMurry is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University. He holds an A.B. degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. McMurry has authored over 100 research papers and is well-known for his contributions to the field of chemistry, particularly the development of the McMurry reaction. This reaction involves the coupling of two molecules of ketone or aldehyde to produce an alkene when treated with titanium(III) chloride and a reducing agent like Zn(Cu). The McMurry reaction has found extensive use in the laboratory synthesis of complex organic molecules and in the commercial synthesis of various drugs by the pharmaceutical industry.
McMurry was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1985 and received a Max Planck Society Research Award in 1991. Apart from his scientific contributions, McMurry is also a prolific author in the field of chemistry education. He has written 45 undergraduate chemistry textbooks, which have been translated into 12 languages and used worldwide. Among his notable works, Organic Chemistry, first published in 1984, stands as his most popular textbook.
Reviewers
Mohammed Abrar Alam, Arkansas State University
Pamela Auburn, Lone Star College
Han Baocheng, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
David Bergbreiter, Texas A&M University
Alfredo Castro, Felician University
Alice Cherestes, McGill University
Daniel Collins, Texas A&M University
Evon Ford, Community College of Baltimore County
Kevin Francis, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Micheal Fultz, West Virginia State University
Mariusz Gajewski, Arkansas Tech University
Bryant Gilbert, Zane State College
Stewart Hart, University of the Ozarks
Alaa Hashim, University of South Florida
Kjir Hendrickson, Arizona State University
Paul Hudrlik, Howard University
Ekaterina Kadnikova, Hamline University
Bee Kelley, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Nicholas Leadbeater, University of Connecticut
Thomas Lectka, Johns Hopkins University
Saundra McGuire, Louisiana State Univeristy
Evy McUmber, Southwestern College
Ellen Moore, University of Missouri
Jennifer Muzyka, Centre College
Jacqueline Nikles, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Allyn Ontko, Arkansas State University
Justin P'Pool, Franklin College
Phuong-Truc Pham, Penn State Scranton
Vijayakumar Ramalingam, SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Jia Sheng, University at Albany, State University of New York
Ike Shibley, Penn State Berks
Jason Tien, GPCR Therapeutics, Inc.
Coran Watanabe, Texas A&M University
Zhou Zhou, Queensborough Community College
Additional Resources
Instructor and student resources for this book include a Study Guide and Student Solutions Manual (both openly licensed and free in digital formats, authored by Susan McMurry), and Diversity and Inclusion Modules developed by Dr. Rhett Smith (Clemson University) providing a more complete, diverse, and inclusive picture of organic chemistry research. Additional instructor resources are available through the OpenStax instructor resources page for this book. Instructors can also find and share community-created teaching materials at oercommons.org/hubs/OpenStax.