The undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory course has changed significantly since I took it more than four decades ago. Reactions unknown then are frequently run today. The use of standard taper glassware is the norm. Options for running reactions at full, small, and microscale are available. NMR, IR, and other spectroscopies, hardly known even in the research setting then, are routinely used in the current undergraduate laboratory. This is likewise true with various kinds of chromatography such as GC and GC/MS. Because a lot more is demanded of students, much peripheral help that was unknown 40 years ago is also available, including laboratory lectures, films, computer programs, and supplementary texts whose purpose is to describe in great detail the theory behind the techniques and reactions, the construction and use of apparatus, and the collection and interpretation of spectra with understanding and facility. I believe the book under consideration is best characterized as just such a supplementary text, although, as suggested by the authors, it has several other roles as well.

The book is structured like most current lab manuals, but without the experiments. It is divided into three sections. The first and by far the largest section is divided into fourteen chapters on the nuts and bolts of carrying out organic reactions and purifying products. Everything that one is ever likely to encounter in the undergraduate laboratory is discussed in detail. Other topics such as safety and the lab notebook are also found in the first section. The second section has three chapters on chromatography describing thin layer, gas, and liquid chromatography, while the third section is concerned with the most commonly encountered spectroscopic techniques: infrared, ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass.

To give the reader a sense of the organization of chapters, I will describe a typical chapter—the one on recrystallization—in a little detail. The chapter consists of sections on the theory of recrystallization, selecting a solvent, seeding, things to consider in carrying out a successful recrystallization, removal of impurities by gravity filtration through fluted filter paper, the use of decolorizing charcoal (a procedure I have never liked) and techniques for miniscale and microscale recrystallization. The chapter also includes tables, safety precautions, a large number of clear drawings, a “how to” on fluting filter paper, and a concluding set of questions to test the student’s mastery of the material. Everything an undergraduate needs to know to carry out a successful recrystallization is presented in thorough, clear, and error-free narrative. Nonetheless, no specific recrystallization is described.

The four authors bring considerable previous experience in writing lab manuals to bear on this one. The writing is seamless. I could not tell where one writer ended and the next one began. The book as a whole is well organized and free of errors, and each topic is presented in a thorough and clear manner. The drawings of apparatus, equipment, and spectra are likewise clear and easy to follow. I do have one caveat, however. A few apparatus setups looked unstable to me; additional clamps should have been attached to the glassware.

I am uncertain exactly how this experiment-free book is supposed to be used. I can suggest a few possibilities, however. It could be used as a primary text if the experiments are presented separately, perhaps to an honors class. It could supplement the authors’ more traditional lab manual or any other lab manual. It could also serve as an instructional manual for inexperienced, and often insecure, students, helping them get confidence and skill in carrying out the myriad activities in the organic laboratory. I will use this very nice book as a reference the next time I teach the laboratory course.