Acta Chimica 128. (1991)

2. szám - BOOK REVIEW - Nyitray József: General and Synthetic Methods, Vol. 11.

11* Acta Chimica Hungarica 128 (2), pp. 299—301 (1991) BOOK REVIEWS General and Synthetic Methods, Vol, 11. The Royal Society of Chemistry (1989), 700 pages. ISBN 0-85186-924-6 It is an everyday question in the life of an organic chemists how to construct a func­tional group at a given position of a complex molecule or how to convert a given functional group into another one in the presence of other functionalities. Besides the well-known mono­graphs (Houben — Weyl: Methoden . . ., or the Teilheimer series) the series Specialist Periodical Reports provides much help year by year on these and similar topics. This book has been brought out as a number of the Specialist Periodical Reports, and this report on General and Synthetic Methods covers the literature published between January and December, 1986. Interconversions between all the major functional groups are covered in five chapters (Chapters 1—5). The first chapter (saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons) deals with saturated hydrocarbons, olefins, conjugated and non-conjugated dienes and polyunsaturated system of various kinds. Chapter 2 is an excellent review of synthetic methods of aldehydes and ketones. Among the oxidative methods there are the use of new chromium-based oxidants, hydrogen peroxide and tert-butyl hydroperoxide in the presence of new catalysts, making possible to oxidize secondary alcohols in the presence of primary alcohols. Reductive methods, those involving umpolung and miscellaneous other methods are reviewed in the following part of this chapter. Chapter 3 is devoted to the new synthetic methods of carboxylic acids and derivatives. It covers carboxylic acid derivatives also containing various functional groups in the side chain (hydroxyl, oxo or amino). Chapter 4 is concerned with alcohols, halogeno compounds and ethers. Chapter 5 deals with amines, nitriles and other nitrogen-containing functional groups, such as nitro- and nitrosocompounds, hydrazines, hydroxylamines, hydroxamic acids, imines, carbodiimides, azides, azo-, azoxy- and diazocompounds, isocyanates and their thio analogues, nitrones, nitrates and nitrites. Carboxylic acid amides are covered both in Chapters 4 and 5. Utilization of organometallics in synthesis can be found in Chapter 6. It is divided into two parts (transition elements and main group elements). This chapter is the longest one in this hook. Owing to the limited space a number of review articles are only mentioned. This fact shows the growing importance of organometallics in modern organic synthesis. Saturated carbocyclic ring synthesis is reviewed in Chapter 7 and saturated hetero­cyclic ring synthesis in Chapter 8. “Highlights in Total Synthesis of Natural Products” is the title of the last chapter (Chapter 9) which covers new syntheses of terpenes, stereoids, alkaloids, prostaglandins, spiroacetals, ionophores and macrolides. In the appendix a list of review articles published in 1986 is given on the topics of general and synthetic methods. This hook fulfils the promise given in the introduction, as it provides “a summary and assessment of reactions and methods in organic chemistry which are new (or useful variants of existing ones) and appear sufficiently general to be useful in synthesis’*. Department of Organic Chemistry, Technical University, Budapest József Nyitrai Acta Chim. Hung. 128, 1991 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest

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