BOOK REVIEWS Developmantr in lnorgmnic Polymer Chemistry Edited by M . F. Lapperl and G . J . Leigh, both of the TJniversity of Manehester, England. American Elsevier Publishing Ca., New York, 11162. xi 305 pp. Fig& and tables. 14.5 X 22 cm. 810.
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Combinations of multivalent elements other than carbon have been studied hith unusual intensity during the past ten years, p e r h a p chiefly because of the need for polymeric materials capable of withstanding temperatures n d l beyond the useful range of the readily available organic plastics and elastomers. However, most of the promising inorganic chains proved to be too labile or reactive for practical use, and indeed many polymer chain8 are less stable than small rings made of the same polymer-units. Accordingly, there has been much attention t o small-ring compounds, partly because their chemistry was within reach of the usual rhemical techniques, hut also because the smsll-ring chemistry had to be well understood before one could hope to stabilize the high-polymer forms. The present book summarizes a considerable number of these recent developments, without attempting the altogether too large task of covering all types of inorganic polymers in full detail. As a collertian of chapters by different apecialists, it cannot be expected to maintain uniform quality, and indeed the various aut,hors range from fairly perfunctory to very thorough and scholarly. In the first chapter, Professor Emeleus very concisely introduces a %ide range of types concerning almost. exclusively the main-group elements (including some unusual fluorocarbon types); and thereby the novire would gain insight into the kinds of combination which lead to the polymeric condition. Then we find a 33page chapter by Lappert, reviering boronnitrogen polymers and presenting a 5-page bibliography of these interesting nearimitators (with sharp differences) of earbon-chain polymers. The nest chapter, hy J. M. C. Thompson, extends the analogy farther afield, with mention of horonhydride polymers, B-B linked oxides, horoxines, copolymem of boron oxide with silicones and other units, boron phosphate types, phosphinoborines, and the very lahile sulfur-boron polymen. Then x e find a relatively brief but extremely useful survey of the P-N system bg an important innovator in that field, N. L. Paddock. Anot,her important contributor, M. BeckeGoehring, tells of her own work in this field, in a chapter covering also her strong inberest in the relatively unstable sulfurnitrogen system. The famous and almost classical ailicone polymer system is modernized in a =-page rhapter hy J. 5. Hughes, and then J. Idria Jones presents 90 pages on copolymer types involving silicone units wit,h a very considerable variety of units based upon other multivalent elements. However am-are we might be, that the possible in(Continued on page A886)
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BOOK REVIEWS organic polymer types are enormously many, these two chapters must leave us gasping a t the prospect of the unimaginably more numerous copolymer combina. . tions. The final chapter, by C. X. Kenney, quite briefly discusses some polymer types hmed upon metal chelation-wherein the chain and ladder-type connections are primarily organic. Again one gains a vista of extreme possihle complexity, as the variety of organic patterns eomhines with the versatility of coordination chemistry. On the whole, this hook serves to open minds t o vide areas of chemistry not &ten met in university courses, and demonstrates how important it is for students t o develop a very sound background in inorganic chemistry even though they may int,end to pursue other specialties. The main intent of the book is more descriptive than theoretical, but the authors are people having intimate experience wibh their subjects, and their basia for understanding quite irequently enters the discussion. A w o n B. BCRG Universit~,o j Southern Calijornin Los Angcles
Introduction t o Polymer Chemistry
John If. Stille, University of Iowa, Iowa Ciby. John Wiley and Sons, Inr., New Yark, 196'2. xi 248 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 em. $G.ll5.
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This bookis designed ~s an introductory t,ext in polymer chemistry. Sumerrllls subtopics are included under each major topic, and the table of contents includes these subtopics with page numbers fur convenience of the casual reader, or for use of the book as a ready reference. While the physical chemistry and ehnrarterizstion oi polymers arc discussed briefly, this book treats polymer chemistry from the organic chemist's viewpoint. Numerous referenres are ribed for adequate sourres of rigorous treatment of t,he various physiral aspects of polymer chemistry, however. The teacher of organic or ~ h y s i c acl h e w istry who would liko to give his students a more thorough barkground in the organic rescbions which me capable of leading t,o as well as the physird sshigh perts of polymers could well use this book as a supplementary textbonk. I n nddition, pracbieing chemists r r cllemiclrl engineers beginning n synthetic program in polymer chemistry nwnld find the information supplied by the author on the various polymerization reactions as xell as the reference material quite useful. Use of this hook as a text for a. beginning course in polymer chemistry, either a t the advanced undergraduate level or st the graduat,e level, provided the lecturer supplements the mat,erial from the various specialized sources or from the current literature, is certainly apprnpriate. The excellent treatment of clnssical and mod-
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Jovrnol of Chemical Education
