0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Pretty good., 2007-11-10
Whats nice about this book is that the labs actually work, quite a change from gen. chem for me. All you need to know is included and you're not left confused about anything.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Good content, poor construction, 2006-11-09
Having owned the previous version of this book, I would have to say that the layout in this new version is much more linear and easy to follow. In addition to new experiments, the instructions are clear for a beginning organic lab student. That being said, however, the material that the book is constructed from is sub par...the pages are very delicate, seeming to be made of tissue paper...Over all, I would recommend this book for its content, but not for the craftsmanship.
0 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Book in great shape, 2005-09-19
Book is flawless, not even scratches on the cover, cannot remember promptness of delivery.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
AN ABSOLUTE TREASURE!, 2001-07-25
Pavia et al's Organic Laboratory Techniques (2nd Ed) is an astonishingly excellent book for the beginning student. In great (yet delightful) detail it describes a series of 60 varied experiments designed to acquaint the reader with a plethora of laboratory techniques, from Measuring Volumes and Weights up thru Chromatography and Spectroscopy.
Particularly good are the many exceptionally clear drawings of laboratory apparatus, and rational behind the instrumentation. (Eg, do you know why you should put a trap in the aspirator hose, or for that matter how the aspirator (vacuum) works?) Sprinkled throughout are hints on how best to perform this, that or the other thing.
A thorough reading of this gem will make you right at home in the organic chemistry laboratory, and indeed will practically make you an organic chemist in spite of yourself.
In fact, if you are thinking of going to college, you might ask whether this text is used in the college's Organic Chemistry Lab course. If not, and you are interested in science, find a school that uses it! And if you are already in a lab course with another text, you would be well advised to get this eminently readable treasure also.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Lab Text But Not Everyone Has To Buy It, 2000-08-29
Though a complete laboratory text with 50+ experiments, lab techniques, tables of unknowns and spectroscopy, the organic faculty prepare our own lab manual to be followed. Pavia text becomes a close handy reference for lab techniques and setup. The techniques section, which include filtration, crystallization, distillation (simple, fractional, and steam), chromatogrpahy (column, thin-layer, and gas)... should be carefully studied before conducting experiments for beginning students. Unless your organic lab course follows almost exactly the outline of experiments in this text, you can check it out from the library and read it.