RECENT BOOKS ALCOHOL.Amelm Talaley. The Sponge Rubber Products Company, Derby. Connecticut. and Michael Magal, Frick Chemical Laboratories, Princeton University. Princeton. New Jersey. Interscience Publishers, Ine., New York, 1945. xiii 298 pp. 64 figs. 75 tables. 15 X 23 cm. 55.00.
SYNTHETIC RUBBERPROM
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This is a survey based on the Russian literature. Part I is devoted t o a detailed discussion of the process for converting ethanol t o butadiene as first patented by S. V. Lebedev in 1930 in Britain and France, and in Russia in 1931. According to the authors, this process gives a product less pure and operates with a lower yield than the method used in America by the Carbide and Carbon Corporation but requires less plant outlay. They also state that many of the problems in converting alcohol t o hutadiene are common to all processes. Hence, the reason for a detailed summarycavering the topics "Chemistry of the Process," "Factors Influencing the Lebedev Catalysis." Part I1 is entitled the "Technology of the S-K Process," which is e discussion of the Lebedev synthetic rubber process. The topics are "Laboratory Installation," "Pilot Installation," "Industrial Installations." Part 111 is "Polymerization" in which laboratory and commercial methods are reviewed in detail. Part IV has the title. "Physiochemical Properties of the Polymer" with the topics "General Properties," "Structure of t h e Polymer." "Effects of Chemical and Physical Agents in the Solid Polymer," "Properties of Solutions and Cements," "Effect of Chemical and Physical Agents on Polybutadiene in Solution." As the title page indicates, the material is based largely upon information obtained from Russian publications. There are 580 references, of which only a few are English or American articles. The book is extremely well written and contains a wealth of factual material which should be of interest to chemists in the synthetic rubber industry. A. A. VERNON
D ~ s m v e n uOF rm ELEMENTS. Mary Elvim Weeks, Research Associate in Scientific Literature a t the Kresge-Hooker Scientific Library, Wayne University. With illustrations collected b y F. B. Dains, Professor of Chemistry a t the University of Kansas. Fifth Edition, revised and enlarged. Journal of Chemical Education, Easton, Pennsylvania, 1945. riv 578 pages. 15.5 X 23.4 cm. $4.00. The new B t h edition of Miss Weeks's book is considerably larger than the fourth edition which appeared in 1939. A list of illustrations, 6 and a fraction pages, 347 entries. has been added. The 27 chapters, which occupied 450 pages in the previous edition, now occupy 549. A list of chemical elements, two pages, is new. The chronological table has been lengthened by about one quarter, extended backward to include the 16th century, and cenerallv o - ~ ~~ made ~ ~ ~
