Chemical Education Today

The Systematic Identification of Organic Compounds,

7th Edition
R. L. Shriner, C. K. F. Hermann, T. C. Morrill, D. Y. Curtin,
and R. C. Fuson. Wiley: New York, 1998. xiii + 669 pp.
ISBN 0-471-59748-1. $28.95.

I have not seen an edition of this venerable book for some

time and am very pleased with the changes that have been
incorporated since then. This edition blends a nice mix of
traditional and modern methods into a very usable and useful
text. Since its arrival for review, it has not left arm’s reach of my
chair and has been handled many times to answer a variety
of questions—none of which were directly applicable to the
course it is directed to, Qualitative Organic Chemistry, because
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it has not been offered at my institution yet!

The beginning chapters present both macroscale and micro-
scale techniques of analysis and physical property determina-
tion. An analogous approach to the separation of mixtures
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comes towards the end of the book. Likewise, traditional wet

chemical analyses are presented and quickly followed by
spectroscopic analyses. Regardless of one’s philosophical approach
to teaching this class, everything one needs is presented in
this book. The presentations are all clear and concise. Tests
for the determination of the functional groups present, iden-
tification of the various salient features of these compounds,
and suitable derivatizations are written in such a manner that
even an introductory organic student could follow them.
Finally, appendices are available that contain any data
the student may need. I was particularly impressed with
Appendix I, which just about makes The Chemist’s Companion
redundant for a practicing organic chemist. In short, if you
are offering a course dealing with either traditional qualitative
organic chemistry or lean towards the use of spectroscopic
analyses only, this text will serve your needs well.
David Evans
Department of Chemistry and Physics
Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 76 No. 8 August 1999 • Journal of Chemical Education 1069