Reddit mentions: The best analytical chemistry books

> Also what do you think is their motive behind lying to us about this

I don't think they are lying about it -- "they" being the vast majority of alarmist or alarm-leaning scientists in general. They mean well and are doing what the vast majority of everyone else in society does, which is to "go with the flow". There are certainly a few who are absolutely lying about it, but I'd estimate those are only 1 out of 10,000 or possibly even much less. Presumably they are motivated by greed and or power, but who really knows? They have prepared a very tricky path that is difficult to step off of.

Here is an example of what I mean by that in this book you can preview on Amazon, called Quantitative Chemical Analysis. (I am not suggesting the author is a liar or purposely misleading students, BTW) Read section 0-1, which is near the beginning. It is well written, easy to read, very interesting, enlightening, informative, technical, and mostly, educational. Put simply, it is great shit. This is what freshmen(ish) in college learn. Here's a quote near the end of the section (please excuse my typos and editing for brevity):

> The significance of the Keeling curve is apparent by appending Keeling's data to the 800 000-year record of atmospheric CO2 and temperature preserved in Antarctic ice. ... Temperature and CO2 have followed each other for 800 000 years. Burning fossil fuel in the last 150 years increased CO2 from its historic cyclic peak of 280 ppm to today's 380 ppm. ... which might significantly affect climate. The longer we take to reduce fossil fuel use, the longer this unintended global experiment will continue. Increasing population exacerbates this and many other problems.

Who is going to go home and truly contemplate the depth of what they learned from that? I'd say it'd be much easier to just take it at face value, not question the professor, and ace the test and move on with your life. It's not worth the fight. Is some freshman student going to research the validity of comparing against this "800 000-year record" that was mentioned? There is a deep rabbit hole to explore there. What about the more fundamental question of whether temperature follows CO2 or the other way around? The book says, "Temperature and CO2 have followed each other". That is a very clever dodge of a fact that has been long debunked. I mean, seriously, how much weirdness can we dig out of just this tiny broken excerpt of only ONE college textbook I extracted for you?

All I can do is offer you what I know as a middle-aged man who did college 25 years ago and have learned a lot more about society in general since then, and continue to learn daily: Your professors are people with opinions, just like everyone else, and the facts they present which are the basis of their opinions, while almost always factually based, are not necessarily based on the truth. That is, scientific fact and the truth are not always the same. I'm not saying scientific facts are lies, I'm saying they aren't necessarily the truth. If you forget about everything else, it is really important to remember that. For good measure, I should also mention the Dunning-Kruger effect, which tends to help college professor's and other "iamverysmart" people seem like they know more than they do (especially in subjects they are not educated in, for some reason), and Hanlon's razor, which tends to make the world a lot dumber when you think about it too much. Good luck!

I had a brief but exciting stint working in an electrochemistry lab and have spent some time reading about various topics in electrochemistry such as batteries, photovoltaics, and semiconductor materials. It seemed to me the gold standard in electrochemistry textbooks was Bard - it is still a goal of mine to save up the money to purchase the latest edition (though if you are savvy you can probably find a pdf online).

Another book that I've found interesting and thorough is Gretchen Bakke's The Grid . This book discusses the evolution of the American electric grid and the challenges that come with integrating various renewable technologies.

Lastly, if you are into batteries - check out flow batteries. I'm unnecessarily into flow batteries... especially ESS, Inc's All Iron Flow Battery . Energy storage is something that could change our future... I'd like to work in this field someday as well. Hopefully some of what I shared is valuable!

Stop second-guessing your choice of major. Keep your eyes on what you actually want, and remember that the steps along the way will all build there eventually. Check in on your plans when you're picking classes each semester, to make sure you're still on course and still want that ultimate goal. The REU and some lab time will all help.

Try reading some science-related books, not actual science but stuff about scientists themselves or stories about specific scientific discoveries. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Double Helix, Eighth Day of Creation, The Disappearing Spoon, and Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman. Your school should have copies of most of them, and they aren't textbook-heavy (though not quite as light as fiction novels).

Don't forget to stay at least a little rounded. Someone on just about every recruitment weekend for grad school will ask about your hobbies. I'm pretty sure they're required to do so :) Or you'll discover you and your interviewer both do ceramics and can chat about that, leaving a stronger impression than if you were yet another person talking about science. It's good to be done with the requirements, but make sure you keep up something outside your major, even if it's just ultimate frisbee.

Students at my school do a fair bit of qualitative analysis in one of our courses, and we use a book by Slowinski and Masterton.

http://www.amazon.com/Qualitative-Analysis-Properties-Solutions-Saunders/dp/0030312345

Most of the book covers the qualitative separation of metal cations, but there is a section on anion chemistry as well. Sadly, it isn't cheap (although it is cheaper than the main textbook). Perhaps your library has a copy? I imagine there are probably other similar books out there, but I don't know of them.

Note that there is a big difference between a separation and a "spot test." A "spot test" tests for the presence of one analyte often in the presence of other things. Many times, two or more analytes react similarly to a certain reagent and a true separation is required. For example, darn near everything precipitates with silver, so seeing a precipitate with silver nitrate tells you very little. However, if you treat with barium ions (e.g. barium nitrate or chloride), many ions will precipitate leaving others behind. Separations are typically necessary for cation analyses, although anion analyses typically rely on a series of spot tests with few, if any, separations. Still, beware of designing a spot test that may have interferences by something else that may be present.

Ask your teacher about the details or scope of your project. If the field of possible anions is very large, you will NEED a well thought out, systematic procedure. If you are only trying to identify ions from a relatively short list, you can probably get away with some simple spot tests. Sometimes, a project like this is structured such that you gain experience with reactions in one week and then design an analysis later. Did you do anything in the last few weeks that would help you recognize characteristic reactions of the anions, which may be present? If so, you may be able to use that as a basis.

I'd pick up an instrumental analysis textbook. If you're at a university, their library may have one in circulation, saving you a few bucks. I've used Skoog's text.

That said, I'll give a few pointers to get you started. Of course, a little context on the details of the separation you're trying to accomplish would focus this discussion some. Maybe this is just a classroom exercise. That is, maybe you're not actually trying to perform a separation in the lab. Regardless, I'd follow TurkFebruary's advice and google it. Wikipedia has some good info, too.

• Column/stationary phase type. Depending on the nature of the analytes you're separating, the choice of column packing material is an important one. It seems that reverse-phase is becoming the standard, as it takes advantage of relatively polar mobile phases, in which case water is one of your components. Anyway, you can get polar (normal phase) and nonpolar (reverse phase) columns. Further, if your analytes can be easily separated by size, you may choose a size exclusion column. Also, ion exchange columns are particularly useful for separating charged species or species with charged moieties.
  
  
• Column size. HPLC columns generally fit into 2 categories depending on the scale of the separation to be performed: analytical and prep scales. Analytical columns are shorter, narrower, and as such, contain a smaller volume of stationary phase. Analytical columns provide higher resolution, but have low sample loading capacities (micrograms or even nanograms of solute). Preparative columns are used for larger-scale separations, are greater in length and diameter, and are may effect up to gram-scale separations. The terms are not mutually exclusive, and there are grades between, sometimes called semi-prep.
  
  
• Mobile phase composition. Generally, whether employing normal or reverse phase, some time must be spent developing a method with regard to mobile phase composition. In either of these 2 phases, you're taking advantage of differences in affinity of solutes to both your stationary and mobile phase. If your mobile phase is too strong, all solutes will elute simultaneously, effecting no separation. If you mobile phase is too weak, you'll get effective separation, but will waste time. In some cases, gradient elution is used, which takes advantage of a a proportioning valve and a time program, and begins a separation with a relatively weak mobile phase, and gradually alters the composition to provide improved resolution of early eluting components, and speed up elution of late eluting components.
  
  
• Analytical wavelength. Most HPLC systems use a UV-Vis absorbance detector. Obviously, you need to select a wavelength at which your analytes absorb. This can usually be determined by gathering a UV-Vis spectrum of standard samples of your analytes before beginning any chromatography. Of course, if you're using a photodiode array detector, you can gather a full spectrum of analytes as they elute from the column, generating much richer data. I should note that other detection methods exist, like fluorescence detection. In some configurations, HPLC eluent feeds directly into a mass spec, which is a powerful method for separation and identification.
  
  
• Flow rate. Generally, this will be determined by your column choice, as columns typically have suggested maximum flow rates. Larger columns can typically handle faster flow rates. The concern here is pressure. Faster flow rates require larger system pressures. High system pressures may overtax the mobile phase pump and lead to shorter pump life. In addition, theoretical plate height, and therefore resolution, depends on flow rate. The Van Deemter equation and plot can be used to determine the optimum flow rate for a given column.
  
  This is what comes to mind off the top of my head.

Cotton's "Chemical Applications to Group Theory" is pretty much the basis for all undergraduate classes that teach group theory. It's expensive though, and probably not the first book you'll want to read on the subject.

I would recommend Bertolucci's "Symmetry and Spectroscopy". It has a lot of great info, and is only $15.

Some good online sources (not all notes are about group theory, so pick and choose what will help you):

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-04-principles-of-inorganic-chemistry-ii-fall-2008/lecture-notes/
http://chemistry.caltech.edu/courses/ch112/syllabus.html
Under "Symmetry in Chemistry"

You should also have a working knowledge of matrix algebra. If you want to look into the subject deeper, a good understanding of linear algebra will help.

For a fun read, I love The Disappearing Spoon.

For a while, I've been meaning to read Salt which is another fun read.

I also just love the Periodic Table of Videos YouTube channel for other fun stuff.

Textbook-wise, you can't beat Stumm and Morgan or Metcalf and Eddy for your water chemistry/water treatment needs.

So if you find this even mildly interesting, you must read “The Disappearing Spoon”. It’s basically the stories behind the elements and their discovery. Before you yawn and move along, it reads like a badass Indiana Jones novel and is a page turner. The name is from Gallium which was used in a tea party and shaped like spoons. When the patrons stirred their tea the spoon disappeared and everyone was delighted (health concerns?). Anyways, you’ll never look at elements the same way:

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316051632/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XCUVDbVXGT9JM

My favorite science-related leisure reading is Derek Lowe's blog In The Pipeline. He covers new developments in chemistry/biology, the drug discovery industry, and occasionally some other stuff. He writes it in a way would be interesting to anyone that like chemistry and biology regardless of their level of education. I always look forward to reading it over lunch.

​

If you are looking for a book, The Disappearing Spoon is a great set of true short stories about chemistry that is a really fun read.

I would highly HIGHLY recommend Understanding NMR Spectroscopy by James Keeler. It breaks down the physics of NMR really well and explains how many experiments work. It's also written really well and it's almost funny at times. Keeler does a good job of writing it as if he's talking to you personally. And the author provides a link in the foreword to a free PDF of the solutions manual! This was the book used in my Biomolecular NMR grad level class.

This is very good as a basic text book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foundations-Spectroscopy-Oxford-Chemistry-Primers/dp/0198503350/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346620809&sr=8-1

This is a bit more expensive but covers things in great details, especially UV-Vis

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spectroscopic-Methods-Organic-Chemistry-Williams/dp/007711812X/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346620854&sr=1-12

EDIT: Using ChemDraw to predict NMRs is also quite a good way of getting used to the sort of shifts to expect from certain groups.

just some of my standard answers.


The Disappearing Spoon- yes, it's chemistry but I found it very interesting.


Abraham Lincoln's DNA- if you have a good background in genetics you might already know many of these stories. Read the table of contents first.


New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers- disease based biology. There is a follow up book if it turns out you like it.


Stiff- more than you wanted to know about dead bodies.


And by the same author but space based... Packing for Mars.

I hope these help... Cheers.

Hey, girl in chemistry here. First I wanted to comment on the beaker glasses idea. If you do get something like that, go with a beaker mug and try to pick something with thicker glass. Regular beakers heat up easily and if she pours hot beverage, it will get too hot to hold in a few minutes even if there is a handle (this was tested out in a field by many chemists). Does she like to read? If so, get her The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean (http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417607692&sr=8-1&keywords=disappearing+spoon). It's a book full of true, fun and sometimes weird stories about many elements. Any chemist would appreciate that. Also, anything periodic table will be appreciated, in addition to shower curtain idea there are fridge magnets. T-shirts are tough since most of them are really cheesy. Recently I came across this one which is not bad http://www.amazon.com/Never-Everything-Science-Unisex-T-shirt/dp/B00HWEHM6M/ref=pd_sim_a_32?ie=UTF8&refRID=09FK7M4D48KR5RD8K80H. Anything with moles and avogadro will do, example http://www.amazon.com/CafePress-Mole-Problems-Mug-Multi-color/dp/B00INLA6RU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1417609281&sr=8-8&keywords=avogadro+number. Can't really think of anything else right now, but if you want to run a specific idea by me, feel free to do it.

Bard and Faulkner is truly the greatest single source of electrochemical fundamentals.

As an addendum, you might also want to look into Handbook of Electrochemistry edited by Zoski. HoE is more of a practical guide that compliments B&F well.

Another good book is Electroanalytical Techniques... edited by Kissinger and Heineman. Also very practical.

Yes, that's a very good book to read.

I think something like Classics in Total Synthesis would also be a good introduction to a bunch of reactions and the art/science/whatever of advanced synthesis to a budding Organic Chemist. I'd say it a bit less dry than your standard textbook too, but I may be biased there. You can almost definitely rent it at a university library. If you don't want to do that, there are tons of reviews that have similar themes.

But if you have tons of time during a summer, the best thing to do would be to get involved in research. You might even just sit in on some group's group meetings if you live near a research university. And then ask to be more involved.

HA! interesting, I'm in the opposite position... everywhere I'm looking wants a chemical engineer, not a chemist! We should... mind meld.

Short of that though, I highly recommend Chemical Analysis. The book is clear and well written with lots of pictures and diagrams. Give advantages and disadvantages of each different technique. I've got a PDF copy of the book somewhere. PM me if you want it.

A great book that mentions this and many other interesting facts regarding discoveries is The disappearing Spoon.

It covers the discovery of each of the elements in the periodic table. It is truly a fascinating collection of stories.

See a gallium spoon melt. It would seem to disappear in black coffee.

The textbook my organic chemistry class (undergrad) uses is the one by Bruice. It's pretty good at explaining the mechanisms and relevance of most things and it also has quite a lot of practice problems. There were a few things my professor would complain about like using bromomethane as a reagent at room temperature (which was him just being nit-picky), but it does well as a resource for organic chemistry.

My analytical class used the Harris book which seemed like a good resource. I only read through two of the chapters in it so I can't say much for the entire contents.

I have both books sitting in my room if anyone has any questions on them.

http://www.amazon.com/Symmetry-Spectroscopy-Introduction-Vibrational-Electronic/dp/048666144X

This book does a great job explaining the methods for predicting active vibrations in IR and also has great stuff on electronic absorption spectroscopy.

Pretch's textbook is pretty useful (it was recommended for a Spectroscopy class I took). It gives approximate values for various types of molecules, as well as coupling constants.

I have James D Murray's Mathematical Biology which is quite good (although I must confess I haven't read all of it) but perhaps out of the scope of what you'd be looking for.

I've looked up the recommended reading in a mathematics module for a biology degree at my university and they recommend Paul Monk's Maths for Chemistry: A chemist's toolkit of calculations so perhaps that might be useful for you (although it seems from the title it would be more geared towards chemists, yet that's what they reccomend).

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean

Kean borrows from Mendeleev, the Father of the Period Table, and structures his book based on the table itself. Using it as a map, each chapter is centered on a group of common elements - "The Poisoner's Corridor", "The Galapagos of the Periodic Table" - and peeks at some aspect of their backstory. Where one chapter examines the competition between scientists to find a specific element, another exposes the history of those used as medicine, giving the book a great sense of variety. I wrote a little bit more about the book on my blog.

Purchase: The Disappearing Spoon on Amazon

Number of nitrogens comes into play, functional groups, ionization method, mass resolution...

You need a book. I recommend Mass Spectrometry: Analytical Chemistry by Open Learning. Its a little pricey, but I used it in class, and still use it as a desk reference. Also, every other book in this series that I have read has been awesome!

Here are my top three textbook choices:

This is a great book for how to actually do organometallic syntheses. I've followed several procedures in the book, and they work well / are quite descriptive.

I''ve taken two organometallic courses that use Crabtree. So I think this is a great book to learn organometallics. Definitely more organometallic than Miessler and Tarr.

A few of my friends have the new Hartwig book which looks awesome. I haven't read it yet, but in my opinion its going to surpass Crabtree as the textbook of choice for organometallics classes in the next few years.

Standard solutions are prepared in their approximate concentrations and are then standardised against recognised primary standards.

The primary standards are all very pure chemicals that can be further purified by drying in an oven and cooling down in a vacuum desiccator over phosphorus pentoxide.

Primary standards for acids, alkalis and oxidising agents are anhydrous sodium carbonate, potassium hydrogen phthalate anf potassium iodate. In industry you use these so frequently that you get to know their molecular weights by heart.

Once you have standardised solutions of acid, alkali and sodium thiosulfate you use these to standardise other working solutions, so that you have a hierarchy of standards, with the primary standards being the most reliable.

Edit: reference Vogel's Textbook of Quantitative Chemical Analysis, the bible when I was educated.

I will recommend The Disappearing Spoon if you have a serious interest. It was a fantastic read and gives a brief account of the history or relevance of each (most?) element and the race to discover and name them.

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632 has every thing you listed in a single book. It is a fantastic read that covers the usage of elements and stories of their discoveries and the scientists behind them. I love it and going to finish it while overseeing exams in the coming weeks.

I took an NMR heavy course as a senior that used this textbook: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471393622

its not totally amazing, but it was a pretty good reference for NMR and other spectrometric methods.

What kind of organometallics?

This is a great book on why this happens

http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

and about a million other remarkable trivia

I highly recommend this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Symmetry-Spectroscopy-Introduction-Vibrational-Electronic/dp/048666144X

My inorganic professor recommended it when I took the course and it was a great investment.

A good upper-level undergraduate textbook with plenty of practice problems is Symmetry and Spectroscopy: An Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy by Daniel C. Harris and Michael D. Bertolucci. This book is pretty thorough in its explanations, so if you work through it start to finish, it may help you better grasp some areas that are currently not clear.

I took an entire course focused on this topic. A link to the textbook we used is below. It is an excellent book that explains each analytical technique as well as how to interpret the resulting spectral data.

http://www.amazon.com/Spectrometric-Identification-Organic-Compounds-Silverstein/dp/0471393622

If you're into chemistry, or even slightly interested in the subject, I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of The Disappearing Spoon.

It's like a year's worth of chemistry TIL's in a book, with full explanations and anecdotes that will put you on the floor in your own personal chemistry-laughter coma.

First of all, I loved Harris's book.

Secondly, take a look at Skoog, Holler and Crouch's Principles of Instrumental Analysis.

Tip: It's not worth buying at its current price ($258). It should be available in good condition in your department's library.

You should read The Disappearing Spoon. Fascinating read on the elements, how they were named, discovered, and the intrigue behind them. It's a lot more interesting than I'm making it sound...

I enjoyed Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded by Simon Winchester.

Also, and this one isn't strictly geo, but it's awesome, The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean. Basically a history of the periodic table. And it's really funny too.

If any of you are interested in learning more about the table, I highly enjoyed this book

http://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319233233&sr=8-1

I read that over the summer. This was one of the stories in it. If you guys are into nonfiction and science, you might want to check that book out. Full of amazing stories about chemistry. This story was cool, but there are a lot of cool stories in that book.

Reddit's acting wonky and showing me some comments, then removing them. But I thought I would answer your question as best I could.

Basically, they had figured out spectroscopy. If you put a gas in a tube with metal plates at each end you can sent an electric current through it and the gass will glow. You get different colors based on what is glowing. My 7th grade science teacher did this and it was cool as hell. Here's a cool video that shows some gases (it uses a Tesla coil to excite the gas). If you send the light through a prism, you can separate out the colors. Depending how you do it, you either get a rainbow with some parts missing, or just the missing colors. Here's a wikipedia article with the spectral lines of a bunch of elements. Apparently a guy named Fraunhofer did this in 1802.

There was a solar eclipse in 1868 and they did a spectral analysis of the sun. They found some lines that didn't correspond to anything. Meanwhile, Mendelev didn't publish his periodic table until 1869. His table didn't include Helium. There were a decent number of elements and the periodic table went through several revisions. In addition, Helium is a noble gas so it doesn't really react with other elements. It's also pretty rare on earth (although common in the universe). So it took scientist a while to find it on Earth.

Although I don't remember it covering the discovery of Helium, I'd recommend The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean that is a fun, but informative, book on the elements.

This is the book we're using in my applied spectroscopy course right now. It seems pretty helpful.

For pleasure:

• The Disappearing Spoon
  
• Periodic Tales
  
• Stuff Matters
  
• Molecules of Murder
  
• The Elements of Murder
  
• The Elements
  
• Molecules
  
• Molecules that Changed the World
  
• The Chemistry Book
  
  Undergraduate
  
  
• Organic:
  Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, The art of writing reasonable organic reaction mechanisms
  
  
• Inorganic: Inorganic Chemistry, Molecular Symmetry and Group Theory
  
  
• Analytical: Principles of Instrumental Anlsysis, Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry
  
  Graduate
  
  
• Organic: Advanced Practical Organic Chemistry, March's Advanced Organic Chemistry, Greene's Protective Groups in Organic Synthesis, Purification of Laboratory Chemicals, Strategic Applications of Named Reactions in Organic Synthesis
  
• Inorganic: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

"The Disappearing Spoon!"

It's a wonderful and engrossing read about all the elements from the periodic table! What each one is and does, where they were found/discovered, what for and how they are used in the world today.

I would say many of the stories about many of the elements beginnings in society are so entertaining that they could be turned into a film!

This book is engrossing.

Snyder and Dolans book is the best hands down for practical LC that ive come across

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Modern-Liquid-Chromatography-Snyder/dp/0470167548/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539197125&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3AJohn+W.+Dolan&dpID=41v7myfHeQL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

How about The Disappearing Spoon and The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean. They are great books about chemistry and genetics.

Classics in Total Synthesis: Targets, Strategies, Methods Paperback
by K. C. Nicolaou
http://www.amazon.com/Classics-Total-Synthesis-Targets-Strategies/dp/3527292314

Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach Paperback – December
by Stuart Warren
http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Synthesis-The-Disconnection-Approach/dp/0470712368

And the best collection of total synthesis what is found on the internet: http://chemistrybydesign.oia.arizona.edu/app.php

Introduction to Spectroscopy is an amazing reference. It is not as useful in first year, but in upper years it has an extraordinary amount of information on IR, UV, NMR and mass spec, there might very well be more in there, but that is what I have used it for.

If anyone is looking more elemental oddities, [The Disappearing Spoon] (https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0) is a great read for all ages.

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

I loved Principles of Instrumental Analysis by Skoog et al.

There are a few books, such as The Organic Chemistry of Drug Design and Drug Action by Silverman (a medicinal chemistry textbook) and Classics in Total Synthesis by Nikolaou and Sorenson that would be very specific things. Silverman is very what are inhibitors, what does LD50/ED50 actually mean, SAR analysis, combi-chem, etc. Nikolaou and Sorsenson cover the classic synthesis of things such as erythronolide B, progesterone, strychnine and cocaine (the inactive enantiomer, of course).

There are obviously other resources, but I do really appreciate these texts as they are a part of my personal library.

Source: I have a BS in medicinal chemistry and am a PhD candidate in chemistry (focus in bio-organic for drug design)

This book is fantastic.

My undergrad research advisor reccomended this book when I asked him a similar question. It's incredibly useful.

There's a lot of good questions in there. As far as determining the structure, that has changed a lot over the years. I suggest you read up on Woodward's cholesterol synthesis, or check out the book Classics in Total Synthesis for more detail into how these molecules are discovered and then synthesized. If you're at a university, that book should be available in the library.

Hi, while your description of redox chemistry is good, it is necessary to include sources other than yourself for answers in /r/askscience. Bard and Faulkner or even wikipedia are sufficient for your redox equations and to explain what overpotential is.

You beat me to it. As soon as I saw the question, I thought of that book. Another good one might be The Disappearing Spoon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316051632/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I agree about Carey's books: lots of good information, and there are journal references to the problems. I'd also suggest Silverstein's Spectroscopy text http://www.amazon.com/Spectrometric-Identification-Organic-Compounds-Silverstein/dp/0471393622
You can find an older edition for less money, and learn much more about spectroscopy than what's in most organic texts.

I took a grad course on the history of chemistry and we used The Development of Modern Chemistry by Ihde.
Another comprehensive (but style-wise a little hard to read) is
Crucibles:The Story of Chemistry from Ancient Alchemy to Nuclear Fission.

I have yet to read The Disappearing Spoon, a pop-sci read on the history and stories behind discoveries of elements.

Read something interesting about this recently from The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Keane. Won't answer the question but it's food for thought:

"Every amino acid in every protein in your body has a left-handed twist to it. In fact, virtually every protein in every life form that has ever existed is exclusively left-handed. If astrobiologists ever find a microbe on a meteor or moon of Jupiter, almost the first thing they’ll test is the handedness of its proteins. If the proteins are left-handed, the microbe is possibly earthly contamination. If they’re right-handed, it’s certainly alien life.

[...] All of our carbohydrates have a right-handed twist. Regardless, Pasteur’s main point remains: in different contexts, our bodies expect and can only process molecules of a specific handedness. Our cells would not be able to translate left-handed DNA, and if we were fed left-handed sugars, our bodies would starve."

--The last bit confuses me, I always thought that DNA twisted to the left.. ?

What kind of information are you looking to bone up on? Do you have instrumental operation questions, are you looking for a clue on data interpretation, or are you wondering more about sample preparations? Do you want to know how people used to do chemical analysis before ICP-OES/AA or are you content in knowing that it used to be a fucking chore? Or are you more concerned with how to prepare the statistics for a background curve, or the proper way to apply a least-squares regression? A general analytical chemistry/instrumental analysis book (like Harris in the sidebar or Skoog ) would give you an overview but I doubt that you'll get much depth into any one of those topics. (I have used both, and would recommend them.)

I really liked Spectrometric Identification of Organic Compounds. It has sections on basic MS and IR interpretation, but most of the book covers all of the 1D and 2D NMR techniques you'd come across (unless your a structural protein chemist).

Here is the mobile version of your link

The Disappearing Spoon is a Brysonesque look at the history of the Periodic Table.

Bard and Faulkner

This book got me through my sr capstone and grad school.

https://www.amazon.com/Spectrometric-Identification-Organic-Compounds-Silverstein/dp/0471393622/ref=nodl_

Anybody else ever think of complex nmr as Sunday paper puzzles?

The Disappearing Spoon?

I dont find "invisible Spoon" is maybe The Disappearing Spoon ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632 ) ?

The example of a $400 textbook is not at all extreme. Consider Principals of instrument analysis, which is $381 new, $120 used, and the previous edition can be found for $9.

This is intended for junior and senior level chemistry students, and covers concepts that have been largely unchanged for the past few decades.

Here is a couple, the first two are Pop-sci and may be more of what you are looking for. The third is probably the most dense.

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https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

http://home.theodoregray.com/bookproducts/the-elements-autographed-copy

https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Tree-History-Chemistry-Science/dp/0393320685/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=chemistry+history&qid=1574340632&sr=8-16

Gallium disappears.

https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Madness-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632

I would rather refer you to bard : electrochemical methods and applications for more relevant definitions.

Have a look at this book.

Sorry Skoog A chem book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0495012017?pc_redir=1412086803&robot_redir=1

The New Kings of Nonfiction is a collection of longform journalism edited by This American Life's Ira Glass.

I'm currently reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It's really interesting, here's part of the synopsis:

>Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

>Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

The Disappearing Spoon is about fascinating stories from the history of the periodic table of elements.

The Invisible Gorilla - about how our perception and memory can deceive us.

The Disappearing Spoon - stories about the periodic table of elements.

Chemistry is largely based around what the electrons in the outmost shell are doing, and those shells are described by quantum mechanics. So chemistry had this organizational structure built up around experiment then quantum mechanics comes in and gives a full description of why those experiments worked the way they did. In addition to be much harder to work with than chemical laws, quantum mechanics comes with a lot of baggage that people at the time were uneasy about. It meant we lived in a much more probablistic universe than some people wanted to admit, and that the building blocks of the universe were chaotic to some degree. If you are interested in this I suggest checking out The Disappearing Spoon, as it does go into how chemistry and physics intersected.