Essentials of Chemistry: General, Organic, and Biochemistry, Volume II is the second textbook in a two-volume series designed to furnish students with critical information and skillsets within the discipline.

The second volume begins with an introduction to organic chemistry, including coverage of functional groups, electron donors and receptors, and resonance. Additional chapters discuss alkanes, unsaturated hydrocarbons, functional groups of oxygen, stereoisomers, carbohydrates, lipids, amines, amino acids, peptides, proteins, biological catalysts, nucleic acids, and gene expression. Students learn about vitamins and minerals, biological receptors and the molecules that act on them, the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, and biological fluids.

Each chapter features a Threads from Previous Chapters section that highlights information from previous chapters that is necessary for full comprehension of the present chapter; a Setting the Stage section to prepare students to learn; learning objectives; a chapter summary; skill-check exercises; and end-of-chapter concept reviews. Appendices at the back of the book provide solutions to odd problems for all problem sets throughout the text.

Owen McDougal is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and director of the Food and Dairy Innovation Center at Boise State University, where he teaches courses in general, organic, biological, and food chemistry.

Richard Steiner is a professor emeritus of organic chemistry at the University of Utah, where he was associate chair for 35 years. He also taught at University of Western Ontario and Fort Lewis College.

Chris Saunders is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Boise State University, where he teaches a mix of general chemistry and biochemistry courses.

Eric Snyder has been teaching and tutoring chemistry and physics at the high school and university levels for over 20 years. He has a particular interest in chemistry pedagogy.