This reviewer gives his unqualified recommendetion of this hook as an adjunct text far both general chemistry and undergraduate intermediate inorganic chemistry courses.
BOOK
REVIEWS
Coordination Chemistry
Fred Basolo, Northwestern University, d C. Evrtnston, Illinois, and R Johnson, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New 180 pp. Figs. and York, 1964. xii tables. 14.5 X 22 cm. Clothbound, 53.95; paperbound, $1.95.
+
This is a f i r s t ~ a t ehook. The authors indicate that they expect it to he used as an adjunct text in the teaching of general chemistry to beginning students, and certainly much of this little volume will be found to he of use by many teachers ss an excellent introduction to coordination chemistry for their students. However, certain parts of some of the chapters (e.g., the section on molecular orbital theory) will he considered too advanced by many teachers for inclusion in the undergraduate general chemistry course. Therefore, this reviewer predicts that this hook will also find considerable use in undergraduate courses in intermediate and advanced inorganic chemistry given in the junior or senior years. The authors make a deliberate effort to introduce most chapters from an historical point of view which helps make the hook enjoyable, readable, and understandable, for the most part, to first year students. Further, this reviewer is particularly pleased by the obvious effort expended by the authors to achieve some
-Reviewed
kind of balance between the quantity of theoretical and descriptive material included. The introduction includes a Nomenclature section and the main chapter headings are The Coordinate Bond, Stereochemistry, Preparation and Reactions of Coordination Compounds, Complex Ion Stability, and Kinetics and Mechanisms of Reactions of Coordination Compounds. The material presented is up-to-date and the errors which this reviewer has found are minor (e.g., "quinqui" for "quinque"; "mono" for "uni"). The authors use the term "crystal field theory" in place of "ligand field theory," although the latter seems to have gained wider acceptance in recent years. Further, the index is somewhat small. However, this reviewer feels that the most serious drawback of the hook is the absence of a. chapter on the many applications of coordination compounds, including commercial, industrial, medical, agricultural, etc., and he hopes that s. revision of this book in the future will include such a chapter. Although the printing and paper of the paperback and the hard-hound editions are identical, the binding of the latter is considerably superior to that of the former and the hard-bound edition is to be preferred where additional use (e.g., resale as second-hand books) is anticipated.
in this Issue
Fred Basolo and Ronald C. Johnson, Coordination Chemistry Loren G. Hepler, Chemicel Principles Paul R. Frey, College Chemistry Harry B. Gray, Electrons and Chemical Bonding Audrey L. Cmnpanion, Chemical Bonding Louis F. Fieser, Organic Experiments Justus Liebig, Animal Chemistry or Organic Chemistry in its Application to Physiology and Pathology Arthur W . Adamson, Understanding Physical Chemistry. Parts 1and 2 H. Steinberg and A . L . McCloskey, Progress in Boron Chemistry. Volume 1 Sir Harry Melville and B. G. Gowenlock, Experimental Methods in Gas Reactions E. H. E . Pielsch and the Gmelin Institute, editors, Gmelins Hmdbuch der Anorganischen Chemie. 8. AuRage, System Nummer 58, Kobdt, Teil B, Lieferung 2 E. H. E. Pielsch and the G m l i n Institute, editors, Gmelins Handhuch der Anorganinchen Chemie. 8. Auflage, System Nummer 3, Sauerstoff, Lieferung 6 Arne E. Nielsm, Kinetics of Precipitation Ten-ell L. Hill, Thermodynamics of Small Systems. Part 2 Nebon James D u n f d , A Handbook far Technical Typists James Coull and Edward B. Stuart, Equilibrium Thermodynamics Mordecai Hoseh and Melanie L. Hoseh, Russian-English Dictionmy bf Chemistry and Chemical Technology V. S . Bumkou and A . A . Yankowskii, Practical Handbook on Spectral Analysis
KIRSCHNER STANLEY Wayne State University Detvoit, Michigan
Chemical Principles
Lwen G. Hepler, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh. Blaisdell Publishing Co. (a division of Ginn and Co.), New York, 1964. xi 505 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 24 em. $8.50.
+
Professor Hepler's book belongs to the group of relatively high level introductory chemistry hooks that have been coming out lately. Its primary emphasis is on elementary physical chemistry, particularly on the chemical hond and the chemical applications of thermodynamics. Secondary emphasis is given to selected aspects of descriptive inorganic chemistry. Organic chemistry, as such, is given no place in the hook. On the whole, the book fallows along the same general path used so successfully by Professors Sienko and Plane and Pauling. The hook opens with a brief introduction into the manipulations of calculus and then moves on to a. discussion of the electron, the atom, and the chemical hond. For the most part the treatment given to these topics is qualitative and descriptive. It then goes on to a relatively quantitative treatment of gases, a straightforward treatment of stoichiometry, and a reasonably detailed treatment of solutions. Following these treatments is a discussian of water. This is accompanied by other chapters scattered throughout the hook on hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur, the alkali and alkaline earth metals, the hdogens and nitrogen, and the transition metals. The chapter on transition metals is disappointing in that even the words "crystal field" and "ligand field" do not appear until the last ~ar~regraph.After the initial descriptive chapter comes the heart of the book, the portion of it devqted to thermodynamics and its chem~cal applications. This portion is done an a high level and is relatively mathematical for an elementary text. The book is closed out with chapters devoted to solids and kinetics. Somewhat surprisingly, polymers are treated in the chapter on solids. Since the hook as a whole treats honding qualitatively and thermqdynamics relatively quantitatively, it gves the overall impression of unevenness. The style of this book is, for the most part, fairly formd and impersonal but the result is by no means unpleasant. Balancing this is the fact that the format and art work leave much to he desired. I t seems reasonable to expect that Professor Hepler's book will fmd some favor in relatively high level introductory courses. MALCOLM E. KENNEY Case Institute of Technology Cleveland, Ohio lofume 42, Number 5, May 1965
/
291
