Educational Series: Best Free Chemistry Books

Chemistry Books

Chemistry is the study of the composition, behaviour and properties of matter, and of the elements of the Earth and its atmosphere.

All of the books featured below are released under an open source license.

	The Basics of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry By David W. Ball, John W. Hill, Rhonda J. Scott (1236 pages) The authors designed this book from the ground up to meet the needs of a one-semester course. It is 20 chapters in length; just the right breadth and depth for instructors to teach and students to grasp.
	Introductory Chemistry By David W. Ball, Cleveland State University (855 pages) Introductory Chemistry is intended for a one-semester introductory or preparatory chemistry course. Throughout the chapters, the author presents two features that reinforce the theme of the textbook, that chemistry is everywhere.
	Chemistry By OpenStax (1347 pages) Chemistry is designed for the two-semester general chemistry course. For many students, this course provides the foundation to a career in chemistry, while for others, this may be their only college-level science course. As such, this textbook provides an important opportunity for students to learn the core concepts of chemistry and understand how those concepts apply to their lives and the world around them. The text has been developed to meet the scope and sequence of most general chemistry courses. The book also includes a number of innovative features designed to enhance student learning. A strength of Chemistry is that instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. This is a full-color textbook.
	Chemistry: Atoms First By OpenStax (1361 pages) This title is an adaptation of the OpenStax Chemistry text and covers scope and sequence requirements of the two-semester general chemistry course. Reordered to fit an atoms first approach, this title introduces atomic and molecular structure much earlier than the traditional approach, delaying the introduction of more abstract material so students have time to acclimate to the study of chemistry. Chemistry: Atoms First also provides a basis for understanding the application of quantitative principles to the chemistry that underlies the entire course.
	Organic Chemistry Laboratory Techniques By Lisa Nichols, Butte Community College (364 pages) The goal of the project was twofold: a) to create a free electronic laboratory resource for students, b) to show greater step-by-step detail for organic chemistry lab techniques than is usually shown in print textbooks, so that students could come to lab with greater confidence.
	General Chemistry: Principles, Patterns, and Applications By Bruce Averill, Patricia Eldredge (2365 pages) The overall goal of the authors with General Chemistry: Principles, Patterns, and Applications was to produce a text that introduces the students to the relevance and excitement of chemistry.
	Organic Chemistry With a Biological Emphasis Volume I By Tim Soderberg (464 pages) Organic Chemistry With a Biological Emphasis is a textbook for a two-semester, sophomore-level course in Organic Chemistry in which biological chemistry takes center stage. For the most part, the text covers the core concepts of organic structure, structure determination, and reactivity in the standard order. What is different is the context: biological chemistry is fully integrated into the explanation of central principles, and as much as possible the in-chapter and end-of-chapter problems are taken from the biochemical literature. Many laboratory synthesis reactions are also covered, generally in parallel with their biochemical counterparts – but it is intentionally the biological chemistry that comes first.
	Organic Chemistry With a Biological Emphasis Volume II By Tim Soderberg (448 pages) Organic Chemistry With a Biological Emphasis is a textbook for a two-semester, sophomore-level course in Organic Chemistry in which biological chemistry takes center stage. For the most part, the text covers the core concepts of organic structure, structure determination, and reactivity in the standard order. What is different is the context: biological chemistry is fully integrated into the explanation of central principles, and as much as possible the in-chapter and end-of-chapter problems are taken from the biochemical literature. Many laboratory synthesis reactions are also covered, generally in parallel with their biochemical counterparts – but it is intentionally the biological chemistry that comes first.
	cK-12 Chemistry By Utah OER DOE (22 pages) This book offers a brief introduction to Chemistry.