BOOK
REVIEWS
Chemical Analysis Herbe~t A . Laitinen, University of Illinois, Urbana. MoGmw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1960. xiv 611 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $12.50.
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In the preface the author states that "This book is intended primarily to serve as a textbook a t the advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate level for courses stressing the fundamental principles of analytical chemistry. In addition, it is hoped that i t will serve rts a reference work and guide to the literature for instructors in quantitative analysii; and for practicing anslytioal chemists." Without question, the author bas done his part in distinguished fashion. It is to be hoped that those for whom the book is intended soon find a place for it, not on the hook shelf but on the desk. With the stress now placed on instrumental methods, i t is refreshing to find a work of this calibre centered around the fundamental principles underlying chemical methods of analysie. The book wisely makes no attempt to include detailed descriptionsof analytioalprocedures. The analyst seeking a proven method for the determination of germanium in coal ash, for example, will be forced to look elsewhere. But for one interested in the fundamentals, this book will serve as an admirable guide. A mere listing of the principal topics covered in its 27 chapters fails to provide an adequate idea of the breadth and depth
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of the coverage. Acid-base equilibria in water and in non-aqueous solvents is followed by a discussion of the application of these principles. Six ohapters are devoted to the nreoi~itationnrocess.. mon. rrlivs of prrririrntci, rtc ( h n p l r x furmntwm a1.11 prwipt:!flon tilr2110nti are wvcrwl in ruo rhnprrrs. T i t , ch?ptrr on organic reagents also includes material on extraction equilibria. A discussion of electrode potentials is followed by consideration of electrolytic neparatians. Oxidation-reduction titrations are discussed before separate chapters devoted to the more common (and some less familiar) oxidmts and reductants. A separate chapter considers the topic of reaction rates, another treats that of multistage separtration methods, while the important topics of statitistics and sampling are accorded thorough m d thoughtful treatment in the concluding two chapters. It should be emphasized that the discussion of all of these subjects is a t an advanced level. The use of the work as a textbook is greatly strengthened by the inclusion of numerical problems. The book contains 133 problems for student exercise plus 82 examples which are solved in the text. Answers are given in most cases. The problems are good sndappear torepresent real situations. The book is well documented, and literature references %refound as footnotes on each p a g e s . great convenience in a work which will be used as a reference. The book appears to be remarkably free from the error8 and inconsistencies which
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Reviewed in This Issue
Herbert A . Lailina, Chemical Analysis R . P. Bell, The Proton in Chemistry Maz Tiahler, Editor-&Chief, Organic Syntheses. An Annual Publiciltion of Satisfactory Methods for the Preparation of Organic Chemicals. Volume 39 W . G. deJong, General Crystallography: A Brief Compendium E. 3. Williams, Regression Analysis Cowin Hansch and George Helmkamp, Organic Chemistry: An Outline, Problems and Answers Frederick A. Gibhs, Editor, Moleoules and Mental Health 3 . D. Waldmn, Editor, Advances in Mass Spectrometry F. Albert Cotton, Editor, Progress in Inorganic Chemistry. Volume 1 Richad E. Brink, Donald C. Gipple, and Harold Hughesdon, An Outline of United States Patent Law Emilio Segre, Leaard I . Sehiff, Ge7ha?t Friedlander and Walte? E. Meyerhof, Editors, Annual Review of Nuclear Science. Volume 9 D. Hadzi, Editor with H. W. Thompson, Hydrogen Bonding R. M. C. Dawson, Daphne C . Elliott, W . H. Elliott and K . M . Jones, Editors, Data for Biochemical Research
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8 0 often plague a new work of this magnitude. I n summary, this book is recommended with enthusiasm. It should be a nart of thc library of VYPT). grsdukte 5111111mt with n n lnterrn in _tndytitl:!l cllrmiclry. IJcrh3ps e v m inwe irnporrnnr will l w it* peru'ial by those trnehing qunntirntivr chrn&try, for nsrtrredly rhr.cnrefuI w~cler will find mans t n r k s disrussrd whic.h vnn be introduced, aibeit briefly, even a t the elementary undergraduate level. The significance of reaction mechanisms of the common redox reactions and the impart m c e of reaction rates are but two such examples. The author is to be congratulated on a fine achievement.
JOHN R. HAYES The Pennsylvania State Univewity University Park
The Proton in Chemistry R. P . Bell, Oxford University. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1959. vii 223 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 24cm. 84.75.
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A great ded of research has been done on proton-transfer processes since the publication in 1941, of "Acid-Base Catalysis." Bell's new book, which has been eagerly awaited, does an excellent job of presenting the recent developments in the field. The chapter on relaxation methods for measuring proton-transfer rates and the illuminating chapter on the non-classical behavior of hydrogen isotopes are particularly timely. Other topics brought up to date are the Ho function and concerted versus eonseoutive reaction mechanisms. The problem of the relation between structure or solvent and reactivity is treated not only in a chapter on thermodynamic functions relating to acid-base equilibria but also elsewhere in the book. Our present ability to deal with this problem theoretically is in a. highly unsatisfactory state, not merely with regard to proton transfer reactions but for reactions in gencrel. The trouble is that our theories based on first principles are strictly t~pplicahle only to gaseous systems a t absolute zero, while most authors (unlike Bell) are unable to resist the temptation to apply these theories in a naive way to reactions in solution near roam temperature. Aside from necessity, which somctimes spawns things eonsiderably less desirable than invention, there are some rather feeble arguments for hoping that t,he ahaolute-zero-gasphase theories might be qplieable to the free energy quantities observed under the usual conditions. -4lthough Bell repeats these arguments (pp. 70-73), he is on the whole careful to warn his readers against excessively naive or drtngerausly optimistic applications of theory. For example, on pages 64-66 he points out t h t the TASo contribution to the relative strength of an acid can he of equal magnitude to the AH0 contribution. On page 69 he writes: "There is obviously no particular virtue in the standard temperature 25T!, and
Volume
37, Number 8, August 1960
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439
