PREFACE
One of the most difficult problems facing chemists today is that of
"keeping up with the literature." For several reasons, the problem is
particularly severe for the synthetic organic chemist. Bits of information of
potential use are scattered throughout common chemistry journals and can
be found in any paper, not just those dealing strictly with synthesis. Thus,
synthetic chemists must read a large number of journals and must organize
and index what they read to make the information available for future
reference. All synthetic chemists do this, but the task is becoming more
difficult each year as the flow of information increases.
The problem, however, is shared to some extent by all. Most organic
chemists are at some time faced with the problem of synthesizing a desired
material, and for many the problems are formidable. Non specialists faced
with the synthetic problem are not likely to have kept pace with the
developments in synthetic chemistry that may well solve their problems, and
they will not have the necessary information in their files.
Thus, we felt that an organized annual review of synthetically useful
information would prove beneficial to nearly all organic chemists, both
specialists and non specialists in synthesis. It should help relieve some of the
information storage burden of the specialist and should enable the non
specialist who is seeking help with a specific problem to rapidly become
aware of recent synthetic advances. Ideally also, it should appear as
promptly as possible after the close of the abstracting period. As in the past
years, we have placed particular emphasis on keeping the abstracts as
concise as possible, while indicating the generality of the reactions involved.
We have tried to combine similar publications into inclusive abstracts. This
practice has allowed us to include a larger number of references without a
substantial increase in the book's length. It should be noted that where
multiple references are included in the abstract, the first mentioned refers to
the equation presented. The remaining references are similar but not
identical. To further aid the readers, we have tried to separate less similar
references from those represented by the graphic by the phrase "see also:".
We have allowed for two such separations per graphic. The year has omitted
from each reference as presumably all are from 1994. Any references from
IX
One of the most difficult problems facing chemists today is that of
"keeping up with the literature." For several reasons, the problem is
particularly severe for the synthetic organic chemist. Bits of information of
potential use are scattered throughout common chemistry journals and can
be found in any paper, not just those dealing strictly with synthesis. Thus,
synthetic chemists must read a large number of journals and must organize
and index what they read to make the information available for future
reference. All synthetic chemists do this, but the task is becoming more
difficult each year as the flow of information increases.
The problem, however, is shared to some extent by all. Most organic
chemists are at some time faced with the problem of synthesizing a desired
material, and for many the problems are formidable. Non specialists faced
with the synthetic problem are not likely to have kept pace with the
developments in synthetic chemistry that may well solve their problems, and
they will not have the necessary information in their files.
Thus, we felt that an organized annual review of synthetically useful
information would prove beneficial to nearly all organic chemists, both
specialists and non specialists in synthesis. It should help relieve some of the
information storage burden of the specialist and should enable the non
specialist who is seeking help with a specific problem to rapidly become
aware of recent synthetic advances. Ideally also, it should appear as
promptly as possible after the close of the abstracting period. As in the past
years, we have placed particular emphasis on keeping the abstracts as
concise as possible, while indicating the generality of the reactions involved.
We have tried to combine similar publications into inclusive abstracts. This
practice has allowed us to include a larger number of references without a
substantial increase in the book's length. It should be noted that where
multiple references are included in the abstract, the first mentioned refers to
the equation presented. The remaining references are similar but not
identical. To further aid the readers, we have tried to separate less similar
references from those represented by the graphic by the phrase "see also:".
We have allowed for two such separations per graphic. The year has omitted
from each reference as presumably all are from 1994. Any references from
IX