BOOK REVIEWS
Reactions of Coordinated Ligands and Homogeneous Catalysis
oresented. and corn~srison of various
Symposium Chairman, Dale H. Busch, Ohio State University. Advances in Chemistry Series No. 37. ACS, 255 pp. Washington, D. C. vii Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23 cm. Paperbound. $7.
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and discussions in this volume me quite adequate. Certain sections such as Section2, Chemical Analyses, are good supplements to Volume 1 (Analysis and Preparation of Sugutrs) as many of the procedures and techniques are thoroughly detailed and of mare general interest. The volume appears to he an essential tool in any laboratory handling cellulose. R. H. MCCLUER Ohio Slate University Columbus
This volume is another excellent contribution to the Advances in Chemistry Series. It represents a collection of eighteen papers from a symposium held during the 141st meeting of the American Chemical Society. It is unfortunate that all papers were not included. After a short preface by Prof. John C. Bailar, Jr., Dr. Busch's introductory lecture paints out the various research
arena which are going to be discussed. This is followed by two excellent papers by Myron L. Bender on Metal Ion Catalysis of Nucleophilic Organic Reactions in Solution, and Gunther L. Eichhorn on Metal Ion Catalysis in Biological Systems. In the next paper, Marvin D. Rausch reviews the field of Metd-Cyclopentadienyls and Meta-Arenes, a field of interest to many inorganic and organic chemists. These three papers are truly outstanding in scope and clarity of presentation. They should be assigned reading for all graduate students. The other papers cover a variety of topics such as Quasiaromatic Metal Chelates, Catalytic Hydrogenation by Pentacymocobaltatate(I1) and Reaction of Some Niohium(V) and Tantalum(V) Halides with Pyridine. More or less specific results are discussed in these papers, some of them however contain excellent bibliographies One area of prime industrial importance which this reviewer feels was slighted is that of the reaction of Metal s complexes. This volume is a very excellent addition on Tnorgurrie to r1.e mne) p~perbuck~ (:l~etnisrry whirh hare uppe;,red recently; it is t w bad 111.11 i t i~not in tile uwal rrricr range
HANSB. JONASSEN Tulane Univrrsity New Orleans, Louisiana
Chemistry in Nonaqueous Ionizing Solvents. Volume 1, Part 2, Organic Reactions in Liquid Ammonia
Herschel Smith Interscience Publishers (a division of John Wiley and Sonns, 363 pp. Inc.), New York, 1963. xv Figs. and tables. 17 X 24.5 cm. $14.
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The problem faced by the student and research worker in sohieving an adequate familiarity with a particular area of investigation becomes more time-consuming from yesr to year. Scientists increasingly owe a special debt of gratitude therefore to those who make available comprehensive review8 and monographs that provide orientation in depth. The present volume is an outstanding example. The first three sections (38 pages) of this book include brief but adequate discussions of ammoniates, the solvent properties of ammonia, solubilities (mostly qualitative), and physical properties of solutions in ammonia. A brief section on industrial uses of ammonia serves only to underscore the paucity of such applications. This is followed by a review of ionic reactions (74 pages) appropriately subdivided to include, for example, addition processes, elimination reactions, and molecular rearrangements. Three short treae ments (38 pages) are concerned with ammonolytic reactions, electrolyses, and oxidation processes. The longest and probably the most useful section (141 pages) is devoted to a very thorough discussion of reduction reactions in
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A468 / Chemical Education
BOOK REVIEWS ammonia. The last section consista of addends. to the preceding chapters and covers the more recent literature. With respect to coverage of the liters, tnre of the field in question, this monograph is comprehensive hut not exhaustive. The experienced research worker will easily detect omissions but on the whole they are not serious. The 1388 literature citations serve, directly and indirectly, to provide entree to the entire literature concerned with reactions of organic substances in m o n i a . The reader is impressed by the degree of detail tbet is included in the discussion of individual reactions and by the extent to which the author reinterprets some of the older work in the light of more modern ideas. On the whole, however, the treae ment is factual rather than critical. Although one is reluctant to be critical of so valuable a contribution, it is inescapable that the value of this volume could have been enhanced by greater emphasis upon experimental techniques. Use of liquid ammonia as a solvent and reaction medium under optimum conditions is both tedious and time-consuming. It is an unfortunate fact that many of the studies covered in thia monograph were carried out under conditions far short of optimum. This volume will be a standard reference book for m n y years. I t should be in every chemistry library and a pos-
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Chemiml Edumtion
session of every research worker who may have occasion to wail himself of the unusual possibilities afforded by the use of smmonia as s. solvent and reaction medium. The author is to be commended for the thoroughness with which he has completed a task of magnitude likely to be appreciated fully only by those who have engaged in similar projects.
brought out separately at this time. First, the author hopes that this branch of thermodynamics will find application in experimental work. These applications should be expedited by the present edition. Second, readers with a borderline interest in the subject will probably find that Part I provides an adequate treatment for their needs. Third, small 8ystem thermodynamics might well serve a8 a special topic toW. W A ~ ward the end of a thermodynamioe course. GEORGE Un&e78itzl of Tezas T h e first six chapters would furnish more Austin than sufficient material for this purpose. Fourth, and mast important, comments made by readers of Psrt I should result in improvements in the combined volume." Hill proceeds hy considering a large Thermodynamics of Small Systems. number of independent small systems Palr I and assuming macroscopic thermodynamTmell L. Hill, University of Oregon, ics applies to the ensemble. The book is Cowallis. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New concerned pmtly with the derivation of 171 pp. Figures. York, 1963. xii thermodynamic equations from his fun16 X 23.5 em. Cloth, $9. Paperdamental aassumption and partly with the bound, $5.95. application of the equstiona to 8. variety of examples selected mainly from statistical The recent rapid growth of experimental mechanical models. Without doubt, the techniques has created a need for a ideas contsined in this slim volume will phenomenologied theory of the equilibprove stimulsting to theoreticians as well rium behavior of nonmacroscopic systems as to colloid chemists and other experisuch as single colloidal particles and mentalists who are interested in smdl macromolecules. In response to this systems. need, Terrell L. Hill has been developing It is not entirely appropriate that the with vigor a, scheme of small nyatem same standards of criticism should he therrnodynmnics. applied to a preliminary edition as to a ''Thermodynamics of Small Syatems. f i s h e d work. In the present instance, Part I" comprises the first six chapters of a however, the author specifiedy invites projected fifteen chapter monograph which comments which will enable him to imis to present the results of his labors. In prove the find edition. The reviewer the words of the author, "there me several reasons why the first six chwters are being (Continued on w e A472)
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