Organic chemistry has long been recognized as an essential ingredient in the education of scientists in a wide range of fields, particularly in the life sciences. Indeed, as more and more disciplines come into contact with organic chemistry, new connections are constantly being forged. By extension, a career in medicine-an applied life science-is also becoming more and more dependent on organic chemistry, and not just because medical schools these days take special notice of the grade in organic! The practice of medicine nowadays increasingly requires a knowledge of the behavior of molecules. The molecular basis of pathogen action and of therapeutic agents are two obvious examples. These are developing areas at the moment, but there can be no doubt that the physician of tomorrow will have to be even more of a scientist-an organic chemist, among other things-than his or her predecessors. Accordingly, this book is written not just for the chemistry major, but is aimed instead at the person who wants a broad, yet modern introduction to the subject. General principles are stressed, because it is impossible to memorize all the details of this vast subject these days. One can, however, learn to make connections and to apply widely a set of organizing general principles, and that helps to render the prolific detail more manageable.