The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to the characteristic properties of functional groups. It is written for first-year undergraduates.
The book is in four chapters. The first is devoted to a general considera-
tion of the bonding in functional groups, the classes of reagent and the
types of reaction. Functional groups may be divided into several broad
classes. The first of these are those functional groups in which the reac-
tions, mainly substitution and elimination, are those of the a-bond. The
chemistry of these functional groups forms the second chapter. A second
class of functional groups is those in which a rt-bond is a characteristic
feature. The initial step in many of their reactions is an addition. These
functional groups are described in the third chapter. The electrons within a
rt-bond may be symmetrically distributed as in an alkene, or unsymmetri-
cally distributed as in the carbonyl group. The aromatic ring plays a major
part in functional group chemistry. The final chapter is devoted to a
description of the interaction between functional groups and the aromatic
ring. Heteroaromatic compounds are considered in terms of the perturba-
tion of the rt-system brought about by the insertion of the heteroatom.