Books
Learning about Protein Purification agents, which are often lacking in other nique. In those sections where the reader works. Also, each chromatographic techmight need even more information, an nique has a few applications, and some adequate number of references are prorarely used separations, such as covalent vided. The quality and timeliness of the chromatography, are discussed. information presented is outstanding, esPart III includes another excellent intro- pecially with the inclusion of more immunoassay techniques in this edition. A notaductory chapter on the art of electrophoreble characteristic of the book is that it is sis for the inexperienced. Every type of very easy to follow the steps in the proceelectrophoresis is described with a good theoretical, practical, and application write- dures presented, although some skill in the area of organic and inorganic chemiup. My only criticism—which is minor—is Protein Purification that in the chapter on protein mapping, the cal synthesis is required to fully appreciJan-Christer Janson and Lars Rydén role of mass spectrometry could have been ate each technique. Finally, the indexing John Wiley & Sons of the different subjects covered in the better emphasized. 605 Third Ave. book is good. New York, NY 10158 Reviewed by Amina S. Woods, Johns Hop1998, 679 pp., $74.95 kins School ofMedicine It was delightful to read this book, and I highly recommend it. The scope, however, can be intimidating, especially since The second edition of Protein Purification the book covers a broad number of subis a welcome one among the many textjects ranging from geochemistry to clinibooks in this area that have been published cal chemistry. This scope is also one of in this decade. The heightened curiosity the book's strength. The depth of coverabout proteins followed in the wake of the age of any one area is limited because of human genome project and the growth of space, but it allows the analyst to look at molecular biology, which made protein procedures in diverse fields and see if production and availability a much easier they can be applied to the problems at task. This in turn led to an explosion of hand. The majority of the techniques prenew work in the biotechnology industry as sented in the book can be performed with well as in basic research. off-the-shelf reagents, which are found in The book is divided into three sections. most analytical chemistry laboratories. Part I is a short introduction to protein puHowever there some minor inconrification, Part II is an overview of available chromatographic techniques, and Part III Spot Test Analysis, sistencies in the listing of the of is an overview of electrophoretic methods. 2nd Edition commercial sources for assay kits There Part I is short but well written and tells the Ervin Jungreis were names for some of the tests but not reader what protein purification work is all John Wiley & Sons for others about. This section should be very helpful 605 Third Ave. I found miscellaneous typographical to students and others starting in the field New York, NY 10158 and grammatical errors, but these do not of protein purification. 1998, 361pp., $69.95 detract from the fundamental utility of the book. The most serious mistake is the In Part II, the introductory chapter misclassification of some non-immunocovers all the basic concepts for underThis book is an excellent review of quick chemical tests as immunochemical tests standing various types of chromatograand practical methods for the analysis of in section 3.38, such as the test for ethylphy. The following chapters give extensamples. It is a "must have" reference for ene oxide and the test strip for leucine sive coverage of anion and cation chroma- any professional who practices analytical aminopeptidase. tography and an excellent theoretical and chemistry. The organization of the chaptechnical explanation of reverse-phase ters is logical. As an educational tool, Spot Reviewed by Bruce Hammock and HPLC. I particularly liked the detailed Test Analysii gives thorough backgrrund Horacio Kido, University of Californiaexplanations and tables on ion-pairing and procedural information for each tech- Davis
A Delightful Read
742 A
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, November 1, 1998
