Reagents for Organic Synthesis

Reagents for Orgranic Synthesis is an alphabetical listing of reagents that describes the more significant uses of these reagents in organic synthesis. Many of these reactions were originally described in the journal Organic Sytheses. The multi-volume set, originally compiled by Louis and Mary Fieser of Harvard University, provides both an index of reagents, an index by type of reaction in which various reagents have been employed, and an index to the authors of the articles in the primary literature describing these reactions. For example, under the entry Friedel-Crafts Reaction in the Index of Reagents According to Reaction Types, we find titanium tetrachloride listed as a reagent. Turning to the Subject Index under titanium tetrachloride, we are directed to pages 1169-1170, where the catalysis of the alkylation of benzene with tertiary alkyl halides by TiCl₄ is described. Other uses of TiCl₄ as a reagent, e.g., its use in forming intermediates and assisting in the reductive coupling of alcohols to form a hydrocarbon, are described in the same section. References to the primary literature are provided at the end of the descriptive material. At the beginning of the entry on titanium tetrachloride some synthetically useful physical properties and a list of suppliers for the reagent are given. A key to the list of suppliers is located in a Suppliers Index. Where reagents are not readily available from commerical suppliers, the prefered methods of synthesis are described.

Assignment Notes:

Reagents for Organic Synthesis uses its own abbreviation system for journal titles, which often does not conform to more standard abbreviations, such as that employed by Chemical Abstracts. For example the Journal of the American Chemical Society is abbreviated J. Am. Chem. Soc. in Chemical Abstracts and J. Am. C. Soc. in Reagents for Organic Synthesis.

References:

Reagents for Organic Synthesis, Fieser, L. F. and Fieser, M., John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.