All rights reservedNo part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher v VI PREFACE TO PART A whose work fell into this category, we extend our apologies and request their understanding of our attempts to produce a working text, rather than to review the historical development of various concepts and techniques.This volume is a companion to Part B, Reactions and Synthesis. Part B emphasizes the synthetically important organic reactions. It adds some further mechanistic information, but is aimed primarily at introducing to students the available repertoire of organic reactions and providing an opportunity to develop a background in synthetic methodology.We believe that Parts A and B used sequentially as texts in a one-year advanced course will prepare the student to turn to the extensive review and monograph literature and to the primary journals with a thorough exposure to both the mechanistic and synthetic areas of organic chemistry.