Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews
Foundations of Spectroscopy (Oxford Chemistry Primers No. 78) by Simon Duckett and Bruce Gilbert Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 1999. 90 pp, ISBN 0198503350 (paperback), $15.95 reviewed by Jeffrey Kovac
Since this book appeared in my mailbox when I was beginning to prepare some lectures on infrared spectroscopy for my honors general chemistry course, I turned immediately to Chapter 3. I was delighted to find a clear, concise exposition at the right level for my students. The authors show how the rotational–vibrational spectrum of a diatomic molecule is derived from the expressions for the energies of a rigid rotor and a harmonic oscillator and how the molecular parameters, bond length, and force constant can be obtained from the spectrum. They briefly discuss triatomics before going on to introduce the idea of group frequencies and the use of IR spectra in the identification of organic molecules, including a number of worked examples. It was exactly what I needed. The other chapters, except the final one, are also well done. There are discussions of mass spectrometry, ultraviolet–
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edited by
Jeffrey Kovac University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1600
visible spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance, principally proton spectra. In all the spectroscopy chapters, the principles are clearly explained followed by the important applications that are then illustrated by worked examples. The appropriate quantum mechanical results are used, but not derived. The terms Schrödinger equation and wavefunction do not appear in the index. Selection rules are introduced when necessary, but not explained. The book concludes with a brief exposition of X-ray diffraction, which is the least successful chapter because it attempts to cover too much of a complicated subject in just a dozen pages. This is an ideal introduction to spectroscopy for students such as those in my first-year honors course who need to know something about the various techniques but have not had physical chemistry. The prose is clean and crisp and both the fundamentals and major applications are covered in less than one hundred pages. Because of the breadth of coverage, it would be a nice supplement for the first two years of an undergraduate curriculum and a book that students could refer to as their education progresses.
Jeffrey Kovac is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600;
[email protected].
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 80 No. 9 September 2003 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
