"Hydrocarbon Thermal Isomerizations" summarizes rearrangements which are induced by heating neutral hydrocarbons under non-catalytic conditions in the vapor phase or in non-polar solution. This subject has attracted the interest of mechanistic organic chemists and theorists in the last quarter century because it is one of the few fields workable by state of the art techniques of both camps. This work collects together most of the crucial rate and stereochemical data in a single volume, along with a critical analysis of each of these reactions.
Unlike reviews or other books in this area that focus on reaction types, e.g.. electrocyclic reactions, or Claisen rearrangements, this volume is organized like the Chemical Abstracts Formula Index, but with an important exception: all of the relevant derivatives of each parent compound are discussed with the parent and not in their logical formula index positions. As it is not always obvious what is a parent material and what is a derivative, detailed cross-references are included throughout.
An important aspect of this edition is the inclusion of calculational results that provide insight, often more than was anticipated, into these relatively simple reactions
-Energetics of thermal isomerization reactions
-Stereochemistry of thermal isomerization reactions
-Organization to facilitate and integrate global analyses
-Comparison of experimental and theoretical results