Among the various advancements in organic chemistry over the past 50 years, pericyclic reactions occupy a significant position. Extremely elegant, useful and manifold, these reactions are found in nearly every natural product synthesis and allow chemists to create complex molecules in a very simple way. As a result, the 1981 Nobel Prize was awarded to chemists who developed the theoretical background to these reactions. Based on fourteen years of teaching a graduate course, this long awaited textbook presents Diels–Alder reactions, electrocyclic reactions, sigmatropic rearrangements, ene reactions and their asymmetric versions, organometallic pericyclic reactions plus many more topics in a highly didactic way. Throughout the focus is on the important facts and aspects, with both classical and new examples explained in detail. Over 1200 references from the original literature are cited. The only up–to–date work of its kind on the market, this is an invaluable tool for students and...