This classic textbook on mechanistic organic chemistry, characterized by its clarity, careful choice of examples, and its general approach designed to lead to a greater understanding of the subject matter. The book is aimed clearly at the needs of the student, with a thorough understanding of, and provision for, the potential conceptual difficulties he or she is likely to encounter. The books success in achieving these goals is reflected in the opinion of one reviewer who says, Sykes remains the bible of mechanistic organic chemistry for thousands of undergraduates, and there is certainly no English language publication of which I am aware which comes even close to challenging it in terms of clarity and coverage.Table of Contents: 1. Structure, Reactivity, and Mechanism. 2. Energetics, Kinetics, and the Investigation of Mechanism. 3. The Strengths of Acids and Bases. 4. Nucleophilic Substitution at a Saturated Carbon Atom. 5. Carbocations, Electron-deficient N and O Atoms and Their Reactions. 6. Electrophilic and Nucleophilic Substitution in Aromatic Systems. 7. Electrophilic and Nucleophilic Addition to C=C. 8. Nucleophilic Addition to C=O. 9. Elimination Reactions. 10. Carbanions and Their Reactions. 11. Radicals and Their Reactions. 12. Symmetry Controlled Reactions. 13. Linear Free Energy Relationships.