Books
An Update of a Classic level for the preferred orientation of the spins ends up with the highest energy. The treatment of the chemical shift, spinspin coupling, and the analysis of complex spectra is similar to all standard introductory texts on NMR spectroscopy. Chapter 6, "The Influence of Molecular Symmetry and Chirality on Proton NMR Spectra," is well done and provides an excellent discussion of chirality and its influence on NMR spectra. NMR Spectroscopy: Basic Principles, Concepts, and Chapter 7, one of the updated chapters, is an introduction to pulse and FTApplications in Chemistry NMR spectroscopy. The treatment is stanHarald Günther dard, brief, and rather outdated. The secJohn Wiley & Sons tion on composite pulse decoupling was 605 Third Ave. somewhat vague and disappointing, as New York, NY 10158 was the discussion of selective sensitivity 1995, 600 pp., $79.95 enhancement experiments, such as RINEPT and DEPT, which are at the heart Gunther says that the purpose of the secof modern cross-polarization and 2D exond edition of his book on NMR spectroscopy is to update the fiist edition, which waa periments. Chapter 8 presents a brief but good introduction to 2D methods; simple published more than 20 years ago. Alexamples are given. The section is folthough the book is very useful—particularly for beginning graduate students—it is lowed by an attempt to introduce the reader to the product operator formalism. only a moderately successful attempt to Beginning students may find this brief update a classic. An update was clearly introduction confusing and of little help in needed, because many dramatic changes and improvements have taken place during understanding cross-polarization and 2D experiments the past two decades. Numerous examples and the spectra used in the book, howChapter 9, on dynamic effects, is stanever were retained from the first edition. dard fare and pretty much repeats the maFor example, the first-edition spectra were terial given in the first edition. Chapter for the most part obtained on a 60-MHz 10 covers a wide range of material, includcontinuous wave (cw) NMR instrument ing more cross-polarization (INEPT, Similarly many of the references date from DEPT, etc.), rotating frame experiments, the 1960s and 1970s solid-state NMR, paramagnetic materials, chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarThe first six chapters, which comprise ization (CIDNP), and NMR imaging. Tryabout half of the book, seem to repeat the 20-year-old predecessor with few changes. ing to cover so much material in 70 pages The schematic diagram of the NMR spec- results in a very cursory overview. It would have been better, in my view, to trometer used in Chapter 1 shows a 1960 vintage, crossed-coil proton spectrometer cover less material and give more details. Here, again, many of the references are equipped with a permanent (or electro-) from the 1970s. The last chapter is a stanmagnet and an x^plotter. The convention dard introduction to carbon-13 NMR the used for the B0 magnetic field (along the references again are out of date negative 2-axis) is such that the energy 262 A
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, April 1, 1996
In summary, this is a useful book for first-year students in synthetic chemistry who want a readable introduction to the basic principles of one-dimensional proton and carbon NMR spectroscopy. It provides excellent treatments of chirality and dynamic processes. Despite some shortcomings, this is a fine book that complements many of the more modern treatments of NMR It could well be included on the list of required reading for any serious graduate student in synthetic chemistry. Reviewed by Thomas C. FarFar, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Introductory Chromatography
Principles and Practice of Modern Chromatographic Methods K. Robards, P. R. Haddad, and P. E. Jackson Academic Press 1250 Sixth Ave. San Diego, CA 92101 1995, 495 pp.. $55
For people who would like to own one book about chromatography, this is probably not it. It is a hodgepodge of styles and intent. GC and SFC seem to be described by an outside observer with little practi-
cal insight. Criteria for choosing one technique over another are extremely vague. The classification section is useful, if only to help newcomers work through the extensive jargon of the field. The historical section has numerous minor errors and omissions. Some of the nomenclature is nonstandard, which should be unacceptable in an introductory text. The theory section offers little insight into the processes involved in separation and includes many incorrect or misleading statements. The strongest parts of the book are the chapters on LC. Chapter 5 is profusely illustrated with drawings that show how different pieces of hardware function. Chapter 6 details the appropriate subspecialties used to separate different classes of compounds; numerous applications are used as examples. (This contrasts with the GC and SFC sections which contain almost no illustrations and slim-to-nonexistent applications sections.) However, information about phases including mobile-phase solvent strength in the chapter on planar chromatography. The GC section is surprisingly weak. Only 6 or 7 references (out of 180) were published after 1988, and 3 of those cite chromatograms from column manufacturers' catalogs. Inappropriate or misleading comparisons abound, including the suggestion that capillaries are faster than packed columns based on comparisons of a temperature-programmed run on a high-efficiency capillary column with an isothermal run on a low-efficiency packed column. Such comparisons of apples with oranges cannot offer much insight to a novice and obscures the fact that the optimum linear velocity and the efficiency unit time should be higher in the packed column Contrary to the statements made in the book GC/MS is far more widely used than all other selective detectors put together
The section on SFC, containing only 20 a diskette containing spreadsheets for a pages, is clearly an afterthought. The refvariety of computer systems. Principles of erences cited are, again, curiously old; all Fourier transformation, advanced data but two are from the 1980s or earlier. Much processing, mathematical basics, FT-IR of the discussion does not reflect current spectroscopy, FT-NMR spectroscopy, and thought, and the description of the instruFT-MS are among the topics featured. mentation is vague to the point of being almost useless. There is virtually nothing Electrochemistry for about applications, and anyone interested Chemists, 2nd e d . in learning about SFC should look else- Donald T. Sawyer, Andrzej Sobkowiak, and where. Julian L. Roberts, Jr. Reviewed by Terry A. Bergerg Berger John Wiley and Sons Instruments, Newark, DE 605 Third Ave. New York, NY 10158 1995, 505 pp., $64.95
BOOKS RECEIVED Quality Assurance and TQM for Analytical Laboratories M. Parkany, Ed. Royal Society of Chemistry Blackhorse Road, Letchworth Herts SG6 1HN, United Kingdom 1995, 288 pp., £47.50
This volume contains the proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on the Harmonization of the Role of Laboratory Quality Assurance in Relation to Total Quality Management, held in Melbourne, Australia, in December 1995. Topics include sampling, method validation, certification, and customer relations. Spectroscopy and t h e Fourier Transform: An Interactive Tutorial Ron Williams VCH 220 East 23rd St. New York, NY 10010-4606 1995, 102 pp., $69.95
This book emphasizes the pictorial aspects and hands-on manipulation of spreadsheets rather than the mathematical presentation of information. It includes
This book, an updated edition of a text originally published in 1974, is intended to give chemists, biologists, and material scientists a firm understanding of basic electrochemical principles and methodologies. The authors use a variety of sample systems from biological and organometallic chemistry to demonstrate the use of electrochemistry as a molecular characterization technique. Analytical Techniques for Food and Agricultural Products G. Linden, Ed. VCH 220 East 23rd St. New York, NY 10010 1995, 578 pp.. $145
Although this book is intended to be a comprehensive guide to all the analytical techniques used in the food industry, it is also meant to serve as a reference for the broader analytical community. The book is divided into four sections: physical techniques, biochemical techniques, sensory evaluation, and nutritional and toxicological analysis techniques. Each section is subdivided into several contributed chapters. A subject index is included.
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