Introduction by Prof. Armin de Meijere (Volume Editor):

May this volume of Science of Synthesis, which covers the chemistry of compounds all having the formal oxidation state of carboxylic acids, help the research chemists in industry and academia to understand and creatively apply the vast knowledge in this area that has been accumulated in the last 125 years. Most of the subclasses of these compounds with formally three carbon¾heteroatom bonds gain their importance from being valuable synthetic intermediates en route to more complex organic molecules which may show beneficial biological activity or have important materials properties. Thus, the four classes of compounds in this volume (allenes with two geminal heteroatom substituents, alkenes with two geminal heteroatom substituents, acetylenes with one or two heteroatom substituents), which are subdivided into up to 19 subclasses, do not only compile the most important methods for the preparation of all the subclasses, but also discuss their applications as synthetic building blocks. Wherever necessary, relevant examples of such further synthetic transformations are presented at the end of a given section. This is intended to guide the user in finding totally new applications and furthering our chemical inventory.

The links below provide further information about Volume 24:

• Detailed table of contents (pdf).
• List of authors.