HIGH P O L ~ R I REACTIONS. C (Volume I11 of the Monograph Tms PHYSICALWORLD. C. C. Clerk, Associate Professor of Series on High Polymers.) H. Mark. Professor of Organic General Science. New York University; C. A. Johnson, InChemistry, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and R. hff, structor in General Science, New York University; and L. M. Industrial Research Chemist. Howard Smith Paper Mills, Ltd., Cockday, Lieutenant Commander, U. S. N., Military InCornwall, Ontario. Translated from the manuscript by L. H. structor in Physics, United States Naval Academy. First Weissbergcr and I . P. Irany. Interscience Puhlishers. Inc., Edition. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York City. 476 pp. 49 figs. 15 X 23 cm. New York City, 1941. xiii 1941. x 528 pp. 279 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $3.25. $6.50. Two types of survey courses in sciences have been in the procAs the authors' division of this monograph into a general sec- ess of development in recent years. The one is characterized a s tion and a special section indicates, its purpose is twofold; first, a critical appraisal of scientific knowledge and t h e methods by t o present the field of synthetic high polymers from the general which i t has been developed, with the attempt t o train the stupoint of view of reaction kinetics and second, t o summarize the dents in the intellectual skills commonlv understood as%e seiendetailed information now available on over a hundred systems in tific method. The other is essentially informative, descr~bingthe which polymerization takes place. Historically, the subject is achievements of science and the significance of its application t o about a century old, as far as isolated observations go; hut prac- modern society. tically speaking, the chemistry of high polymers is a new subject The text reviewed here belongs definitely in the second catewhose growth is almost entirely due to progress of the last decade, gory. There is a genuine attempt-not always successful-to accelerated by the tremendous technical importance of synthetic make the material interesting and inspiring. The brief accounts polymers. As the authors state in their preface, it is still too early of economic, historical, cultural. or ohiloso~hicsienificance with to give a final, definitive treatment of the suhject; on the other which the chapters begin, as well as the excellent photographs. hand, a competent summary of the information now available contribute in this direction. The style is simple and "popular." represents a most valuable contribution t o the literature, and No serious pretense is made t o teach the methods of sc+nce, will he of very great assistance hoth to present workers in the field despite the fact that in the introductory chapter the usefulness of polymers, and t o those who are approaching the subject for the of the scientific method is indicated. The subject matter is first time. Some idea of the scope of the book will he apparent treated with the lack of critical discrimination which is characfrom the fact that the bibliography includes over nine hundred teristic of popular accounts. Thus, the mechanical operation of references t o the literature. the steam engine, the atomic theory, and a version of the planeThe general section begins logically with a treatment of bond tesimal hypothesis are described as though all three were known energies, and the fact that macromolecules are assemblies of (or could be known, for that matter) with the same degree of ceratoms held together by primary valence bonds forms the starting tainty. Throughout the h w k one finds categorical statements point for the development of the general theory. The fundamen- without an indication of the basis for these statements or an aptal difierence between ordinary organic reactions and polyreac- praisal of their probable validity. tions, hoth of which involve small molecules as reagents, is that ~ E O D O U E A. A s m o m the latter eive as oroducts comnounds of identical elementam U ~ r v ~ ~ s 08 r rCHICADD r CHLEAOO. ILLTNOIS cumpo?ition but of diderenr molerulnr weights, ranging in order from hundreds to thousands of times the tnolecular wripht of the rcagent. Thc molecular wights of the products arc di>td,uted about a most probable value according to a law which is deter- Quihlrc~GENERAL(General Chemistry). Emilio J h e n o , Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Madrid. First mined by the conditions of reaction. A discussion of distribution 600 Edition. Editorial Saeta. Madrid, Spain. 1941. xii of molecular weights thus leads the authors to a discussion of kinetics of reactions, in which chain initiation, chain growth, and pp. 47 figs. 24.5 X 19 cm. 60 pesetas. chain termination are considered. The difficult task of coikdinThis hook is addressed t o the Spanish-speaking student of atine familiar eoncats in several fields of oreanic and nhvsical today, who as the chemist of tomorrow will have a share in im" chcmi,try, and then incurpor3tm~into thcm the recent advance5 proving the standard of living of his country. That is why the or, high pulymeri is admirably handled. Fur thir rvnaon, the hook author dedicates the hook to the Spanish and Spanish-American should be c-pccidly urrful in the acadcmir field, wherc insuRcienr chemist and chemicals manufacturer. attention has been given t o high polymers: industry today needs Concepts usually left for more advanced studies have been more graduates who have some familiarity with polymer chemis- included in this text hecause the author felt that, although they try. The monograph contains a preliminary scheme for the require a great initial e5ort t o learn, the wrong ideas require a qualitative identification of a n unknown polymer, analogous to greater effort t o unlearn afterward. The plan of the hook is t o Treadwell's analytical tables. I n discussing polymerization in present fundamental principles, because without them it is imrases. liauids.. and emulsions. and in descrihine the Droeress of possible to do any serious work in science or in modern applied polyreactions, many details of expcrimcntal mcthods are given. chemistry. The student is led by the scientific method. The These arc adequately supplernentcd by references to rhc litera- fundamental principles are expressed in a clear, concise, and ture, so that it would he easy t o base a laboratory course on the concrete manner t o make their interpretation certain and easy. monograph, t o accompany a lecture course. The chapters cover the conventional topics in general chemThe special section on individual polyreactions covers istry and a t the end of each is a series'of exercises and problems ahout five hundred papers, mast of which have appeared since t o give the student the opportunity to test his comprehension 1930. These are discussed from the point of view of general kinet- of the subject matter. ics which was develoued in the first half of the hook. HydrocarThis hook should prove useful to: bons account for well over half of the material in this-section; (1) Spanish-speaking universities, technical and engineering this is, in part a t least, due t o the fact that the search for synthe- schools, because it is a modern, well and clearly written text, an tic rubber or for rubber substitutes concentrated attention on outline in chemistry. these compounds. The other polymerizahle compounds treated (21 . , Industrialists in Snanish-sueakine countries. t o whom the include esters, aldehydes, ketones, halides; the research chemist hook may serve as reference and for review, since it contains the will find many interesting problems for further work suggested modern concepts in chemistry. These usually take many years in these pages. A short section on inorganic polymers is also before finding their way into a general chemistry. included. Finally, there is a n introductory treatment of poly(3) The students of U. S. universities who desire to become condensations; a detailed account in a subsequent monograph of acquainted with the Spanish technical terminology, for whom this series is promised. this is a first-class book. RAYMOND M. Fuoss F. R. M O ~ L
+
+
-
~
~
~~~
+
..
-
. .
-
. ..~
~~
-
GBNBRAL ELBCTRIC COYPANY SCHBNB~A Nnw D Y ,Yo=
P e m s v m r r SrAra C o r ~ ~ o e STAT= C O L L ~ O PBNNJYLYANIA ~,
