Advances in the Chemistry of the Coordination Compounds
BOOK
Edited by Stanley Kirschner, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1961. xii 682 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 24cm. $15.
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REVIEWS
Mellor's Modern Inorganic Chemistry
Revised and edited by G. D. Parkes, Kehle College, Oxford University. Longmans, Green & Co., Inc., New 1024 pp. Figs. York, 1961. xxii and tables. 15 X 22 cm. $8.50.
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Earlier editions of Mellor's Modern Inorganic Chemistry me so well known to inorganic chemists thst the general plan and scope of the work scarcely need description here. Suffice it to say, for those who are not acquainted with this hook, that it is a text, somewhat more advanced and detailed than most American texts which are intended for college freshmen, but much less advanced and much less theoretical than those used in later courses in inorganic chemistry. Emphasis is laid on the descriptive and practical aspects of chemistry, and little attention is paid to the correlation of chemical behavior with atomic and molecular structures. Throughout the book, stress is laid on the historical development of chemistry-a valuable and interesting aspect of the subject which is too often neglected. The 1961 edition of "Modern Inorganic Chemistry" is not very different from the 1952 edition. The brief descri~tionof the atom, which was part of Chapter 2 in the earlier edition, has been somewhat expanded and made a separate chapter. A new chapter entitled The Outer Sphere
of the Atom-Valency (14 pages) is a modernized and slightly enlarged version of material which was part (10 pages) of the earlier chapter on The Constitution of Matter. The chapter on Nuclear Chemistry is entirely new, and the old chapter on Radioactivity and the Radio Elements has been dropped. Otherwise, the changes are minor. Comparison of the 1952 and 1961 editions shows that a majority of the paragraphs have not been changed a t all, but that some new material has been added; e.g., paragraph each on bond energies, bydrazine, radio-carbon d& ing, and astatine, and five pages on the lanthanons and the trans-uranium elements. There is nothing here to indicate that inorganic chemistry has been undergoing a revolution during the past two decades. In recent years, most American te& books of inorganic chemistry have emphasized the theoretical, rather than the descriptive, aspects of the science. Perhaps they have gone too far in that direction. Teachers who believe that this is rhr raw, arrrl rhosc who aish t n rupplernmt their lwtorrs with dwrriptive xral himrriral rnnrrrial, i l l find ">lellor's Modem 1norganic'~hemistr~" to be an interesting and well-written hook.
JOHN C. BAILAR,JR. Universily of Illinois U~bana
G. D. Parks, Editor, Mellor's Modem Inorganic Chemistry Stanley Kirsehner, Editor, Advances in tbe Chemistry of the Coordination Compounds John D. Roberts, An Introduction to Spin-Spin Splitting in High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra. CliffordA . Hampel, Editor, Rare Metals Handbook G. E. Codes, Organometallie Compounds Geowe M . Naimark, A Patent Manual for Scientists and Engineers L. P . Ribiero, E. Mitidieri, and 0.R. A f f n s o ,Paper Electrophoresis 8. C. Nyburg, X-Ray Analysis of Organic Stmeturea A. Taylor, X-Ray Metallography Mary A. Emery and Serge A . Emery, Scientific Russian Guide: Handbook for Students and Professionals Interested in Scientific Russian William H. Fishman, Chemistry of Drug Metabolism William J. Budant, and Allan S. Hoffman,Block and Graft Polymers Launence H. Aller, The Abundance of the Elements Paul D. Boyer, Henry Lardy, and Karl Myrboek, Editors, The Enzymes. Volume 1 Paul D. Boyw, Henry Lardy, and Kad Mrback, Editors. The Enzymes. Volumes 4 and 5 T . K . Dewy and T . 1.Williams, A Short History of Technology
The Sixth Conference on Coordination Chemistry is the first held in the United States. The registrants of the conference were suprised and delighted to 6nd the Proceedings reedy for their perusal a t the opening of the sessions. The editor is to he congratulated for his effortsin meeting the deadline of the opening of the conference. Included in the volume is a forward written by J. C. Bailar, Jr., in W r o l e sa Chairman of its Executive Committee. The history of the International Conference, a welcome on behalf of the Division of Inorgenic Chemistry, ACS, and sponsoring groups as well as an announcement of the 1962 Conference to be held in June in Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, are included in the forward. The first 113 pages of thevolume include the manuscripts of the eight conference lectures presented in the daily opening sessions. It must he stated, however, that certain of the speakers deviated considerably from the printed manuscript and one paper was never presented, that of K. B. Yataimirskii of the Ivsnova Chemical and Technical Institute of Ivanova, USSR. The speakers of these sessions are of such renown and their topics of such wide interest, that a listing of these plenary sessions is given: Theories of Bonding in Coordination Compounds by C. J. Ballhausen; Kinetics and Mechanisms of Reactions of Coordination Compounds hy Robert E. Connick; The Synthesis of Coordination Compounds by Francis P. Dwyer; Structure and Stereochemistry of Coordination Compounds by R. J. Gillespie; Hydrogen and Organic Derivatives of Transition Metals by G. Wilkinson; The Biochemical Significance of Coordination Compounds by R. J. P. Williams; Significmce of Complexes in Catalytic Processes by H. Zeiss; The Stability of Coordination Compounds by K. B. Yatsimirskii. Each paper is well annotated and the subject is well covered. Those who have had the opportunity to hear F. P. Dwyer will realize that it is impossible to capture the full flavor of this delightful speaker on the printed page. Sixty-eight conference papers are included in the Proceedings representing the Thirtyresearch of 158 investigators. nine of the papers descrihe research carried out in laboratories within the United States, while the remaining twenty-nine papers represent contributions from fifteen foreign countries. It would he impossible to include a review of each of these papers. It will only be possible to summarize in the broadest fashion the general areas of research: theories of bonding in coordination compounds; synthesis and synthetic techniques ( a healthy proportion of the total in spite of Professor Dwyer's statement in his Conference Lecture thst "Synthesis structure is hardly respectable. "); and stereoohemistry; kinetics and mecb-
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Volume
39, Number 3, March 1962
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anisms of reactions: biochemical sienificanee of complex compounds; organic and hydrogen derivatives of metals; and the significance of complex species in catalytic processes. Many of the authors whose work is found in the Proceedings are relatively new to the literature in the field. The committee wisely invited contributions from a large numher of investigators reletively new to the field while many of the "old hands" were given other assignments in the conference stsncture. This policy was responsible for the uncovering of many new and stimulating facets of coordination chemi~try. As might he expected of a volume of this type, with mmuscript,s being suhmitted many months in advance of the actual oral presentation, one finds sub~ t a n t i a ldifferences between the written material and that presented orally. I t has already been stated that one paper was not presented s t all, though the material found in the Proceedings by this investigator is both interesting and useful. There is also a tremendous differential in the completeness with which work is reported. Certxjn of the papers are no more than s. page and a half in length whih others :mahfrrw or mun. p n p r i n Irrwh. I n tlw ILrt~rrinetnnrc the iuutei.2 inr n~on:drt.~ilrcl rid1 iu thc I'ro~.ccdinc~ than was the oral-presentation. With few exceptions the conference papers (as well as the conference. lectures) have reasonably complete bibliographies. The official language of the conference is English; however, papers may he presented in any language. Within the volume there is one paper in French and one in German. The nature and time factors involved in assembling of the volume prevented the editor from compiling a subject index, although t,here is a short author index. The reader, thus, cannot expect to find isolated items unless such may he part of the title of the paper in which case the Teble of Contents will be useful. The volume is remarkably free of typographicd wrors. Those found do not result in any serious misinterpretntion of dsta. Considering the large numher of individual contributors and the large number of countries from which papers originated, there is remarkable consistency in nomenclature. This volume in the Advances series should be on the ahelf of any chemist interested in the chemistry of the coordination compounds. ROBERTC. BRASTED University of Minnesota Minneapolis
An Introduction to Spin-Spin Splitting in
High-Resolution Nuelaar Magnetic Raronance Spectra John D. Roberts, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, 1961. vii 116 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $4.95.
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Professor Robert's little hook is an example of two new trends in chemical publishing. I t is a product of a. puh-
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journal o f Chemical Education
lishing firm largely owned by professors and authors, and it is one of the first of 8 growing group of hooks which undertakes to give the organic chemist a working knowledge of certain especially useful or important topics in quantum mechanics. Anyone acquainted with Professor Roberts or his earlier writings will not he surprised to hear that the subject of this hook is treated with great pedagogical skill. The text is liberally sprinkled with carefully drawn figures and with helpful and ehallenging exercises and problems. No previous background in quantum mechanics is assumed, and the discussion is so thorough that i t seems likely that the able senior or graduate student (or Ph.D. organic chemist) who works through the book, doing all of the problems, will wind up with a good working knowledge of the analysis of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectrosoopy. If st this point he also reads the article by P. L. Corio in Chemical Reuims, 60 363 (1960), he will ohtain considerehle additional useful information. There is no need to dwell on the increasing importance of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to the chemist. In particular, the organic chemist who is unable to, when confronted by a complex NMR spectrum, extract the maximum structural information and draw correct. mrr14uricms, is ncrq,rinp .I lrurrlrnromr autl p r I a s pd~~ n ~ e r n h:~ndimp. u< OIWfwhlc r:iy of hope for rhc & r t i r t ~ t + ~ few who choose t o remain quantummechrtnically illiterate (while remaining financially affluent) may come from future instrumental developments. The amount of information available from a simple firstorder analysis of an NMR spectrum is greater a t a working frequency for the spectrometer of 60 Mc than it was a t 40 Mc. Perhaps in the near future we may have available 100 Mc NMR spectrometers which, while dreadfully expensive, will produce spectre. which can be interpreted by anyone. The first chapter of this book appeared in a slightly altered version as an article in a recent issue of TMS JOURNAL. BENJAMINP. DAILEY Columbia University N m York, New York
Rare Metals Handbook Edited by Clifford A. Hampel, Consulting Chemical Engineer, Skakie, Illinois. 2nd ed. Reinhold Publishing 715 Carp., New York, 1961. xvi pp. Figs. and tables. 18 X 26 em. $20.
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The second edition of this valuable eompendium has expanded its coverage t o 55 33, 52 (1956) metals. (See THIS JOURNAL, for comments on the first edition.) The information supplied by experienced, authoritative eontribnt,ors has heen edited with similar competence and is presented in an attractive format. There are new chapters on cesium, chromium, plutonium,
rubidium, scandium, and yttrium. Much previously classified information has been incorporated. The only argument a reader can have is with the title. "Rare" hardly includes tonnage lot productiou and 4 pounds of 715 pages is hardly a "handbook."
Organometallic Compounds
G. E. Coates, University of Durham, England. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1960. xiii 366 pp. Figs. and tables. 14.5 X 21 cm. $7.50.
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Although organometallic chemistry has played an important role in the development of chemistry and chemical technology for over one hundred years, the discovery of ferrocene, bishenzeneehromium, and related =-organic derivatives of transition metals within the last decade has set off a, research effort seldom paralleled in the history of chemistry. The unique properties and reactions of these substances, together with their remarkable structures and handing reletionships, have excited the interest of organic chemists, inorganic chemists, spectroscopists and crystallographers throughout the world. Recent advances in organohoron chemistry, orgmo-aluminum chemistry, the stabilization of a -bonded organic derivatives of transition metals, and the use of organometallics in the Wittig reaction and in henzyne chemistry have also certainly added impetus to the present rapid pace in orgmometallic research. I t is gratifying to those actively working in organometallic chemistry that Professor Coates has prepared an up-to-date (if this is humanly possible), expanded revision of his splendid monograph. The f a d that the hook has nearly doubled in size since the first edition in 1956 (J. CHEM.EDUC.,34, 208 (1957)) reflects the tremendous surge of organometallic research in the past five years, and certainly compensates for the higher price of the second edition. The chemistry of organometallic compounds is presented in a systematic manner by means of periodic groups, and important older topics as well as significant newer ones are included in every chapter. Professor Coates has deliberately not made the coverage of eaeh subject exhaustive, but has included enough significant material to make eaeh chapter highly readable and a valuable reference source. Perhaps the strongest possible recommendation the present reviewer can make for this book is that he is currently using it as a principal reference source in a graduate course in organometallic chemistry. For this purpose, Professor Coate's book becomes even more effective when significant topics such as hydroboration, triarylsilylmetitllic chemistry, organometallic r-complexes, etc., are supplemented by current reviews and research papers, and by the excellent (Continued on page A226)
