Organic synthesis is a vibrant and rapidly evolving field; we can now cyclize amines directly onto alkenes. Like its predecessors, this reference leads readers quickly to the field's more important recent developments. Two years of Douglass F. Taber's popular weekly online column, "Organic Chemistry Highlights", as featured on the organic-chemistry.org website, are consolidated here, with cumulative indices of all four volumes in this series. Important topics that are covered range from powerful new methods for C-C bond construction to asymmetric organocatalysis and direct C-H functionalization. This go-to reference focuses on the most important recent developments in organic synthesis, and includes a succinct analysis of the significance and applicability of each new synthetic method.

Douglass F. Taber is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware. Professor Taber has published more than 200 articles in the organic chemistry field, and has authored eight chapters and several books. His research interests include the stereoselective synthesis of natural products, new methods in synthetic organic chemistry, and computational organometallic chemistry in organic synthesis.

Organic Functional Group Interconversion and Protection 1. Best Synthetic Methods: Functional Group Transformations May 17, 2010 2. Functional Group Transformations : The Castle Synthesis of Celogentin C October 25, 2010 3. Organic Functional Group Conversion March 28, 2011 4. Advances in Organic Functional Group Transformation May 16, 2011 5. Organic Functional Group Transformation October 31, 2011 6. Best Synthetic Methods: Reduction February 22, 2010 7. Best Synthetic Methods: Oxidation March 8, 2010 8. Best Synthetic Methods: Oxidation and Reduction May 24, 2010 9. Oxidation and Reduction May 23, 2011 10. Organic Functional Group Protection March 15, 2010 11. Functional Group Protection: The Kraus Synthesis of Bauhinoxepin J September 13, 2010 12. Functional Group Protection November 8, 2010 13. Organic Functional Group Protection September 12, 2011 14. Organic Functional Group Protection and Deprotection November 14, 2011 Flow Methods 15. Flow Methods for Organic Synthesis October10, 2011 C-H Functionalization 16. C-H Functionalization: The White Synthesis of 6-Deoxyerythronolide B September 27, 2010 17. C-H Functionalization: The Chen Synthesis of Celogentin C March 21, 2011 18. Functionalization and Homologation of C-H Bonds September 26, 2011 Carbon-Carbon Bond Construction 19. New Methods for Carbon-Carbon Bond Construction March 22, 2010 20. Best Synthetic Methods: C-C Bond Construction May 31 , 2010 21. New Methods for C-C Bond Construction February 21, 2011 22. New Methods for C-C Bond Construction: The Burke Synthesis of (-)-Peridinin February 28, 2011 23. Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation May 30, 2011 Reactions of Alkenes 24. Best Synthetic Methods: Reactions of Alkenes March 29, 2010 25. Alkene Reactions: The Dabdoub/Baroni Synthesis of (±)-Dihydroactinidiolide September 20, 2010 26. Reactions of Alkenes March 14, 2011 27. Functionalization and Homologation of Alkenes September 19, 2011 Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis 28. Advances in Alkene Metathesis: The Hoveyda Synthesis of (+)-Quebrachamine January 11, 2010 29. Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis: Navenone B (Cossy), (+)-Asperpentyn (Daesung Lee), (-)-Amphidininolide K (Eun Lee), Norhalichondrin B (Phillips) January 18, 2010 30. Progress in Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis: (+)-5-epi-Citreoviral (Funk) and (±)-Poitediol (Vanderwal) June 28, 2010 31. Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis: Grandisol (Goess), 8-Epihalosilane (Kouklovsky/Vincent), (+)-Chinensiolide B (Hall) January 17, 2011 32. Alkene and Alkyne Metathesis: (+)-Anamarine (Sabitha), (±)-Pseudotabersonine (Martin), Lactimidomycin (Fürstner) June 27, 2011 Enantioselective Construction of Acyclic Stereogenic Centers 33. Enantioselective Preparation of Alcohols and Amines: The Suh Synthesis of (-)-Macrosphelide J January 25, 2010 34. Enantioselective Construction of Alcohols and Amines July 12, 2010 35. Construction of Oxygenated and Aminated Stereogenic Centers January 24, 2011 36. Enantioselective Preparation of Alcohols and Amines: The Lam Synthesis of (+)-Tanikolide July 11, 2011 37. Enantioselective Construction of Alkylated Centers: The Maier Synthesis of Platencin February 8, 2010 38. Enantioselective Construction of Alkylated Stereogenic Centers July 19, 2010 39. Construction of Alkylated Stereogenic Centers January 31, 2011 40. Enantioselective Preparation of Alkylated Stereogenic Centers July 18, 2011 41. Construction of Arrays of Stereogenic Centers: The Zhang Synthesis of (+)-Podophyllotoxin February 15, 2010 42. Enantioselective Construction of Arrays of Stereogenic Centers: The Breit Synthesis of (+)-Bourgeanic Acid July 26, 2010 43. Stereocontrolled Construction of Arrays of Stereogenic Centers: The Mullins Synthesis of (-)-Lasiol February 14, 2011 44. Establishing Arrays of Stereogenic Centers: The Sato/Chida Synthesis of (-)-Kainic Acid July 25, 2011 Construction of C-O Rings 45. Stereoselective C-O Ring Construction: The Jamison Synthesis of (-)-Gloeosporone April 12, 2010 46. Stereocontrolled Construction of C-O Rings: The Seeberger/Hilvert Synthesis of KDN November 29, 2010 47. C-O Ring Construction: The Theodorakis Synthesis of (-)-Englerin April 11, 2011 48. Synthesis of Naturally-Occurring Cyclic Ethers: Boivivianin B (Murakami), SC-D13-9-IsoF (Taber), Brevisamide (Panek, Lindsley, Ghosh), Gambierol (Mori) April 19, 2010 49. Stereoselective C-O Ring Construction: (+)-Pachastrissamine (Fujii/Ohno), Aspalathin (Minehan), (+)-Varitriol (Ghosh), Aspercyclide A (Spivey), Atnangien (Menche) January 10, 2011 50. C-O Ring Construction: (-)-Sclerophytin A (Morken), (+)-Dictyosphaeric Acid (Taylor), Goniothalesdiol (Xie/She), (-)-7-Deoxyloganin (Lupton), (-)-Apicularen A (Uenishi), L-783, 277 (Banwell) April 18, 2011 Construction of C-N Rings 51. Stereocontrolled C-N Ring Construction: The Takayama Synthesis of Lycoposerramine-C April 26, 2010 52. Stereocontrolled C-N Ring Construction: The Pyne Synthesis of Hyacinthacine B7 November 15, 2010 53. C-N Ring Construciton: The Zakarian Synthesis of (-)-Rhazinilam April 25, 2011 54. C-N Ring Construction: The Synthesis of Decursivinme by Mascal and by Jia November 21, 2011 55. Alkaloid Synthesis: (S)-Nicotine (Helmchen), (+)-CP-99,994 (Shi), (-)-Adaline (Yu), (-)-Securinine (Bayón/Figueredo), Alkaloid 223A (Aubé), (-)-Huperzine A (Fukuyama) May 10, 2010 56. Synthesis of C-N Natural Products: (-)-a-Kainic Acid (Helmchen), (+)-Tylophorine (Opatz), (-)-Lycoprine A (Rychnovsky), Fluvirucidine A2 (Suh), Complanidine A (Sarpong) November 22, 2010 57. Alkaloid Synthesis: (+)-Preussin (Britton), (±)-Xenovenine (Livinghouse), (+)-Subincanadine F (Li), (±)-Strychnine (Reissig), (-)-Virginiamycin M2 (Panek) May 9, 2011 58. Alkaloid Synthesis: Mearsine (Taylor), Cephalotaxine (Li), Cocaine (Shing), Quinine (Hatakeyama), Cleavamine (Bennasar), Strychnine (Vanderwal) November 28, 2011 Substituted Benzene Derivatives 59. Benzene Derivatives: The Tanino-Miyashita Synthesis of Zoanthenol June 14, 2010 60. Substituted Benzenes: The Saikawa/Nakata Synthesis of Kendomycin October 11, 2010 61. Substituted Benzenes: The Kirsch Synthesis of Cybrodol June 13, 2011 62. Substituted Benzenes: The Piers/Lau Synthesis of Hamigeran B October 17, 2011 Heteroaromatic Derivatives 63. Heteroaromatic Construction: The Jia Synthesis of (-)-cis-Clavicipitic Acid June 21, 2010 64. Heteroaromatics: The Mal Synthesis of Clausevatine D October 18, 2010 65. Heteroaromatic Construction: The Fukuyama Synthesis of Tryprostatin A June 20, 2011 66. Heteroaromatic Con…