The Organic Syntheses series presents protocols for the synthesis of useful chemical compounds; for each protocol, safety warnings are included along with detailed experimental descriptions for the preparation, purification, and identification of the compound. Additionally, special reaction conditions are also detailed, along with the source of reagents, waste disposal information, a discussion of the results, references to the primary literature, and an appendix of nomenclature and registry numbers. Volume 78 in the series provides twenty-nine carefully checked and edited experimental procedures that describe important synthetic methods, transformations, reagents, and synthetic building blocks or intermediates with demonstrated utility in organic synthesis. The procedures in Volume 78 fall into four general areas:

1. reagents and methods for catalytic asymmetric synthesis
2. organometallic chemistry, ligands, and transformations of organometallic reagents
3. synthetically useful reagents and intermediates
4. useful synthetic transformations.

William R. Roush is Warner Lambert/Parke Davis Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.