Preface

Ours is an age when an understanding of chemistry has become an increasingly important aspect of medicine. The third edition of General, Organic, and Biochemistry has been designed to help undergraduate health-related majors and students of all majors understand key concepts and appreciate the significant connections between chemistry, health, disease, and the treatment of disease. This text strikes a balance between theoretical and practical chemistry, while emphasizing material that is unique to health-related studies. It is written at a level intended for students whose professional goals do not include a mastery of chemistry, but for whom an understanding of the principles of chemistry and their practical ramifications is a necessity.

Key Changes to the Third Edition

In the preparation of the third edition, we have been guided by the collective wisdom of reviewers who represent the diversity of higher education experiences, including two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Over fifty different reviewers participated in the review process. We also received very valuable comments from a focus group of faculty who regularly teach this material.

New Organization

Recognizing that courses based on this textbook are organized in a variety of formats within a quarter and semester systems, we have reorganized the chapter sequence into three sections: inorganic chemistry (Chapters 1-10), organic chemistry (Chapters 11-16), and biochemistry (Chapters 17-24). The new organization will allow tremendous latitude in usage. The course may be taught in a traditional sense, following the new chapter order, within either the semester or quarter system. If you prefer the organization in the second edition, you may continue to teach using the different teaching order without affecting your student’s understanding of the material. Many users of the second edition choose to integrate the traditional organic and biochemistry and we have constructed the chapters to allow for alternate order of coverage. Frequent use of cross-referencing and reviewing of material discussed earlier in the book support this needed flexibility.

Clear Presentation

Today’s students have numerous demands on their time. Many students are non-traditional students, working full time, who have families. Students need to be able to identify important concepts quickly and easily. Each section of the book was reviewed with the goal of becoming more concise while retaining the intellectual rigor of a college textbook. Some of the ways we have accomplished this goal include:

New design facilitates access to information and engages student interest.
Key terms are bolded and are immediately defined
In-chapter problems provide stepwise guidance of problem-solving strategies.
New tables were created allowing easier access to information.
More headings allow students to find important material faster.

Key Features of the Third Edition
Engaging Applications

We believe that there are variety of factors in a text that can promote student learning and

facilitate teaching. It is important to engage the interest of the student, especially when the subject may appear difficult and does not seem directly related to their career goals. We have included a diverse array of applications to accomplish our goals.

Perspectives: We have added eleven new Clinical, Medical and Human Perspectives throughout the book. A list of Chemistry Connections and Perspectives is provided on page xviii-xix. These provide new and updated applications of chemistry to engage the students’ interest and help them understand chemistry in the context of their daily lives.

Learning goal icons: These icons help to alert the student to the important concepts covered in the text. An icon is placed next the to the textual material that supports the learning goal.

Integration of chemistry in all disciplines: Students must understand the inter-relatedness of the three sub-disciplines: general, organic and biochemistry. Students need to visualize chemistry as one interconnected discipline. Margin notes highlight the relationships between the areas.

Clear Approach to Problem Solving

Students often have trouble with quantitative problem solving. Consequently, we have increased the number of in-chapter examples dramatically and have made them more user-friendly by a careful step-by-step explanation of the logic needed to answer the question. We recognize that students need support in the development of problem-solving skills.

In-Chapter Examples, Solutions, and Problems: Each chapter includes examples that show the student, step by step, precisely how to develop problem-solving strategies. Whenever possible, the solved examples are followed by in-text problems that allow the students to test their mastery of information and to build self-confidence.

In-Chapter and End-of Chapter Problems: We have created a wide variety of paired concept problems. The answers to the odd-numbered questions will be found in the book, providing reinforcement for the students as they develop problem-solving skills. The students will be challenged to apply the same principles to the related even-numbered problem.

Critical Thinking Problems: Each chapter includes a set of critical thinking problems. These problems provide an opportunity for the students to integrate concepts to solve more complex problems. They make a perfect complement to the classroom lecture, since they foster in-class discussion of complex problems dealing with daily life and the health care sciences.

Dynamic Visual Program

Today’s students are much more visually oriented than any previous generation. Television and the computer represent an alternate mode of learning. Consequently, we have attempted to further develop these skills through the expanded use of color and illustrations. Chemical structures rendered by WaveFunction Inc.’s Spartan molecular modeling software are clear, engaging, and instructive.

New Design: The entire book has a new design that allows the professor and the student to easily see the different sections by color tab—general, organic, and biochemistry. The design helps the student to quickly recognize the in-chapter examples and questions.

Illustrations: Each chapter is amply illustrated using figures, tables, and chemical structure and formulas. All of these illustrations are carefully annotated for clarity.

Color-Coding Scheme: Because it may be difficult for students to understand the chemical changes that occur in complex reactions, we have color-coded the reactions so that chemical groups being added or removed in a reaction can be quickly recognized. In the organic chemistry section of the text, each major reaction type is highlighted on a green background. The color-coding scheme is illustrated in the "Guided Tour" section of this book.

Spartan models: The students’ ability to understand the geometry and three-dimensional structure of molecules is essential to the understanding of organic and biochemical reactions. We have used WaveFunction Inc. cutting edge molecular modeling software, Spartan, to render many of the molecules in the text.

Content Changes in the Third Edition

Chapter Three— Improved coverage of electron configuration and atomic structure; new Clinical Perspective on dietary calcium

Chapter Four—Improved coverage of covalent bonding; coverage of electronegativity moved to earlier in the chapter; improved coverage of Lewis structures and their role in portraying the bonding process

Chapter Five—New Clinical Perspective on carbon monoxide poisoning; new Medical Perspective on pharmaceutical chemistry

Chapter Six—Improved coverage of physical properties and ideal gases; new Clinical Perspective on autoclave and the gas laws

Chapter Eight—Improved coverage of physical equilibrium

Chapter Nine—Improved coverage of the Bronsted-Lowry acid-base chemistry; expanded coverage of oxidation-reduction reactions including a discussion of voltaic cells and their application; new Medical Perspective on turning the human body into a battery; new Clinical Perspective on electrochemical reactions on the Statue of Liberty and in dental fillings

Chapter Eleven—New comparison of the major properties of typical organic and inorganic compounds; new coverage of alkyl groups; improved coverage of geometric isomers

Chapter Twelve—Expanded coverage of aromatic hydrocarbons; deleted coverage of hydrations; new Human Perspective on life without polymers

Chapter Thirteen—Improved and added new examples; deleted coverage of dehydration

Chapter Fourteen—Expanded coverage of addition reactions

Chapter Fifteen—Expanded coverage of acid anhydride

Chapter Seventeen—Deleted discussion of Fisher projections; new Medical Perspective on monosaccharide derivatives

Chapter Eighteen—New Clinical Perspective on disorders of sphingolipid metabolism

Chapter Nineteen—New Human Perspective on collagen

Chapter Twenty—New Clinical Perspective on enzymes, nerve transmission, and nerve agents

Chapter Twenty-One—New coverage on the regulation of glycolsis

Chapter Twenty-Two—Coverage of the conversion of pigment to aceytl CoA (formerly in Chapter 21)

Chapter Twenty-Four—New and expanded coverage of DNA and RNA; new and expanded coverage on the polymerse chain; new Human Perspective on DNA fingerprinting

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