Organic Chemistry Laboratory Techniques
The organic lab manual provides detailed and comprehensive material of general organic laboratory techniques and instrumentation. It contains information about most instruments, and provides detailed explanation of their use. Having pictures alongside the text is very helpful, and it could have been supplemented with links to videos if available. Safety is very important in the lab, and when working with students in organic labs, often they have very little information about safe techniques or disposal. Some lab manuals provide that info, which is also helpful for the instructor. I liked that this manual also provided details on safety. Also, each lab or topic ends with a short summary, which is very useful for students when they just need a quick refresher, especially for returning students. The lab manual also compares different techniques, and highlights their use in specific cases, which is great if the students are involved in independent work or research.
The lab manual accurately describes and explains the major laboratory techniques and instrumentation. There may be some differences on how certain procedures should be performed, but it is mostly a question of style and/or preference. Minor differences in techniques are expected even in different institutions and/or labs.
The organic lab techniques are not going to change drastically in the next 20-30 years. It is possible that the instruments will get a news and easy to use interface, but having an understanding of the scientific principles behind the techniques/instruments is essential for students’ learning. Also, if green solvents are introduced into the experiments, some techniques might change, but not to the extent that the entire textbook needs to be revised.
The writing style was very pleasant and easy to read. Having pictures certainly made it very enjoyable. The terminology was properly used as well.
The text was consistent, as you would expect from a single author work. The sections were arranged similarly throughout the manual making it easier to navigate and locate information.
The manual is well-organized. It is also easier to use when other textbooks, so it would be very useful for returning as well as new students- from introductory to advanced levels.
The organization follow from basic to advanced techniques. Some instructors might not follow the same order of experiments but that applies to basically any textbook.
This manual, like most OER textbooks I have looked at, was converted from a word document to pdf, and it would have been helpful to link the experiments in the Table of Contents to the page of the experiment. Otherwise, I had to scroll through many pages to go where I want. Jumping to the page did not always land where needed.
There might have been some grammatical mistakes, but I did not notice while reading it.
Not applicable since this is a technical document.
Excellent resource for introductory as well as advanced chemistry students.