Book excerpt: Houben-Weyl is the acclaimed reference series for preparative methods in organic chemistry, in which all methods are organized accor ding to the class of compound or functional group to be synthesized. The Houben-Weyl volumes contain 146 000 product-specific experi mental procedures, 580 000 structures, and 700 000 references. The preparative significance of the methods for all classes of compou nds is critically evaluated. The series includes data from as far back as the early 1800s to 2003. // The content of this e-book was originally published in 1970.