Books
and
Software
One-Semester Course on Chemical Analysis
Contemporary Chemical Analysis J. F. Rubinson and K. A. Rubinson Prentice-Hall P.O. Box 11071 Des Moines, IA 50336-1071 1998, 607 pp.. $94
Rubinson and Rubinson's textbook covers the principles of classical chemical analysis and provides a reasonable introduction to instrumental analytical chemistry. In many undergraduate chemistry programs, students who take courses labeled "Quantitative Analysis" or "Introductory Analytical Chemistry" will complete this one-semester course as their only course work in analytical chemistry and therefore need this broad-based exposure. Many of these students are chemistry majors or minors whose ultimate professional interests lie in medicine, biochemistry, molecular biology, earth science or chemical engineering. It is this reviewer's opinion that most courses and corresponding texts for "Quantitative Analysis" poorly serve this audience; most books and courses cater mainly to ACScertified chemistry majors who subsequently take a separate course in instrumental analysis Contemporary Chemical Analvsis represents a very realistic onesemester treatment of chemical analysis geared to students who will conrplete only one lecture course The ordering of topics is well structured, and the level of mathematical rigor is largely on target. There are appropriate, 278 A
brief mentions of several topics (e.g., the electron microprobe, neutron activation analysis, and Raman spectroscopy), which are generally reserved for instrumental analysis books. The reader is introduced to a few pertinent considerations in analytical quality assurance, such as evaluating detection limits and using standard reference materials. The authors have constructed a large number of thoughtful, well-done figures which are excellent teaching aids; as an example, the individual processes contributing to chromatographic dispersion illustrated in Chapter 13. The kinetic methods chapter, however, is a puzzling presence. It is difficult to imagine that the intended audience will make routine use of the majority of what is presented therein. A chapter on sampling is a welcome inclusion, but a disappointment in terms of rigor. There is no mention of considerations relating to sample mass in the sampling of particulate solids; the issue of heterogeneity is glossed over, as are sampling strategies, such as simple random versus stratified random; cind sampling theories such as Gy's and Visman's, are not mentioned. Commensurate with a first edition, the text contains a few glaring errors. For example, an unrealistic temperature of 3000 °K is given for the argon inductively coupled plasma on page 346. The authors confuse concepts of "unbiased" and "accurate" in Chapter 2, and their figure and accompanying discussion may give the student reader the impression that imprecise, yet unbiased, determinations are highly accurate and therefore desirable. One oversight prevalent throughout the text is the lack of sufficient referencing to background and supplementary sources in the original journal literature. Other texts such as Harris' Quantitative Chemical Analysis incorporate a much wider variety of easily located journal references for the curious student Rubinson and Rubinson have under-
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, April 1, 1999
taken, with partial success, the formidable challenge of developing a good book for a one-semester analytical chemistry survey. A second edition would benefit substantially from refinements and improvements. Reviewed by Michael E. Ketterer, Northern Arizona aniversity
Getting the Complete View
A Global V i e w of LC/MS Ross Willoughby, Ed Sheehan, Sam Mitrovich Global View Publishing P.O. Box 111384 Pittsburgh, PA 15238 1998, 549 pp., $49.95
As indicated by its title, this book is ambitious, particularly because it seeks to reflect current trends, developments, and applications in LC/MS. Neverthless, the authors have given readers a comprehensive overview, detailing basic concepts and principles and offering information on evaluating and purchasing instrumentation and using LC/MS for analytical applications. The book is intended to be used as a practical guide, with the information presented in a pragmatic, user-friendly style. This purpose may not suit the purist in places, but it does provide answers to many of the commonly asked questions related to LC/MS. Schematic diagrams and charts
well-used throughout the book, summarize analytical strategies, problems, and instrumental details. Many of these are presented in a work sheet format intended to guide readers through their own applications and problems. The book is organized into four clearly defined sections, with each subsequent part building on the previous one. Part 1 assists readers through an evaluation of their individual analytical needs for LC/ MS, including "sorting through the maze" of available commercial options. This section also addresses the question of whether LC/MS is suited to a specific problem and includes an assessment of various analyzers, interfaces, and ionization modes. Part 2 addresses issues for planning a successful LC/MS laboratory, including justifying the purchase of instrumentation an important business issue that is never adequately covered in academic texts. Another section covers the evaluation of contract laboratory facilities and includes a step-wise guide to comparing LC/MS instruments in demonstrations Part 3 is a guide to problem solving using LC/MS which does a creditable job of outlining the principles used to approach and solve various analytical problems Strategies are presented in welldesigned schematics and flow diagrams Although it would be possible to disagree with minor aspects of the authors' defini tions their overall coverage of this suhiect is hitrhly competent and reflects their vears
of combined experience in the field of mass spectrometry. Part 4 comprises five appendices that cover LC/MS-related reviews; on-line services; upcoming conferences, seminars, and trade shows; contract laboratones; instrument manufactures; mstrument calibration; interfaces; and mass analyzer fundamentals. This text is very readKl
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guide for every LC/MS laboratory. Reviewed by Lester Taylor, MDS Panlabs, Inc.
Chrom Perfect BOOK RECEIVED Luminescence of Solids D. R. Vij, Ed. Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring St. New York, NY 10013 1998, 427 pp.. $115
Written primarily from the perspectives of physicists and physical chemists, this book provides indepth but concise reviews of different classes of luminescence. Chapters one and two cover the theory of luminescence and contemporary experimental techniques, respectively. The remaining chapters survey photo-, cathodo-, iono-, electro-, thermo-, lyo-, sono-, and mechano-luminescence.
SOFTWARE RELEASED ACD/Lite Companion Advanced Chemistry Development 800-304-3988 http://www. acdlabs. com Version 3.50; $49 Requires: CD-ROM drive and Windows 95, 98, or NT
Justice Laboratory Software 11ndian Rd. Denville, NJ 07834 973-586-8551 http://www.Justicelnnovations.com $3500 Requires: Windows 95, 98, or NT
The 32-bit version of Chrom Perfect supports any commercially available liquid or gas chromatograph and provides advanced peak detection, integration, and data analysis. The program accommodates multiple instruments through standard interfaces or an Ethernet network, and users can view multiple chromatograms in real time. The software utilizes the OLE II standard for data-file integration, making it easy to output reports to Excel and other appllcattons supporred by Visual Basic for Applications, while maintaining security. Analytical applications from simulated distillation to size-exclusion chromatography are fully supported.
High School Atomic Physics Dynacomp 4560 East Lake Rd. Livonia, NY 14487 716-346-9788 into @ dynacompsoftware. com $249.95 CD-ROM, $299.95 floppy disks Requires: Windows 95/NT, 256-color monitor
This software is a companion to the book, Organic Structure Analysis, by P. Crews, J. Rodriguez, and M. Jaspars (Oxford University Press). Designed for beginners in High School Atomic Physics uses tutorials NMR spectroscopy, the program provides in an HTML format and text written for a thousands of hypothetical cases for users high-school reading level to guide stuto study. The features include a molecular dents through the material. The prodrawing interface, a spectrum display wingram's five modules—the periodic table, a dow with integration and zoom features, an molecular database, a molecule builder, a atom-peak assignment, and professional molecule viewer, and an orbital viewer— report-making capabilities. The software are designed to promote critical thinking also offers one year of usage or 300 startskills, and the level of difficulty can be set UDs for the HNMR Spectrum Generator, via menus. The package can be used in a CNMR Spectrum Generator, and Chem- network environment, and online assisSketch packages. tance is available. Analytical Chemistry News & Features, April 1, 1999 279 A
