The characteristic properties of functional groups and the methods for interconverting them are the foundations of organic chemistry. All first year, undergraduates in chemistry cover this essential subject. Current information on functional groups can be found in modern texts, however these are often long and a student wanting information on a specific area is often faced with twenty or more page references. To work through this number of references without guidance is daunting and often overwhelming for the student. The object of this Primer is to overcome this difficulty by presenting the chemistry of the in a concise and systematic form.