This is the original book that was written with the
easy to follow curved arrows. That means you can understand
what bonds are made and broken from the schemes themselves.
(You can draw the products without consulting your
textbook.) The rules for curved arrows are limited and
exact. It doesn’t mean one in one case and something else
in another. If a curved arrow ends between two atoms, a
bond is formed between them. If a curved arrow ends on an
atom, a bond is broken. No other uses are made or implied.
This book uses multi-tiered example-based teaching. With
this approach, problems are presented at different degrees
of difficulty. Success is a required element in learning,
so it is important that everyone can do the problems. In
Part A, only the logic of a problem is presented so
everyone do it. Then the same problem is repeated in Part B
in which the problem is made incrementally more difficult
by removal of pre-bonds and every other intermediate. If
you understood the chemistry of Part A, you should be able
to complete Part B. Finally, in Part C, you must solve the
problem as written in a manner similar to your textbook.
Because I believe that our brains are pattern matching
machines, patterns have value in learning. The mechanisms
have been written to use and repeat patterns. Using and
repeating pattern can also have a profound influence on
reaction mechanisms. It is difficult to suggest a different
role for a chemical solely because the electrons it reacts
with are delivered by a different nucleophile.
This is the book that I used in my classes in which they
were was able to make the improvements noted on the ACS
organic chemistry exam.