CATALYSIS. VOLUME IV: HYDROCARBON SYNTHESIS. HYDROGENAT'ION AND CYCLIZATION Edited by P a u l H. Emmett, Professor of Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1956. vi 570 pp. 250 figs. 191 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $12.50.
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FOURTHin the exe~llentseries of reference works on the chemistrj~of catalysis and catalytic processing, this volume maintains the high attbndards of authoritativeness, fine organiaatian, compaetn m , and clarity of its thme predecessors. Volume IV is devoted primarily to ao apprsisal of the ourrent status of the Fi~rher-Trapschand related syntheses and perform8 a valuable srrvire in correlating, classilying, and evaluating the voluminons literature on this important reaction. In addition it presents a critical review of corrent concepts of the mechanism of cntal,vsis in a n area in which theory hes definitely not kept pace with practice. It should provide, for the practical chemist, a springboard in the search for profitable catalytic rosctions and, for the theoretical chemist, a sound base from n-hieh the understanding of detailed mechanisms may be extended. It should, therefore, be of value and interest to all chemists in the petroleum and ooal industries and to many in academic centers, as well. Chapter 1, by Robert B. Anderson, preeents a factual coverage of the thermodynamics of the hydrogenation of rarbon monoxide and of oarbon dioxide, of the reactions of water with carhon monoxide or carhon, of the reactions of hydrocarbons and alcohols, and of miscellaneous pertinent reactions of iron, cobalt, and nickel. Chapter 2, also by Anderson, is a readable and coordinated 227-page description of the factors influencing the activity, selectivity, and stability of cobalt, nickel, iron, and ruthenium catalysts in the Fischer-Tropsoh synthesis and the poisoning of catalysts by sulfur compounds. I n Chapter 3, Anderson has assembled pertinent data to the kinetics and reaction merhanism of tho Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and then evaluates critically the present t,heories which "fall far short of providing a unified picture capable of rxplaining or predicting kinetics, p1.omotor oficots, selectivity, ete." L. J. E . Hofer, in Chapter 4, presents a oritieal analysis of the relation of the crystalline phases involved in the formation, activation, and deactivation of Fisrher-Tropsch catalysts to the catalysis of t,he reaction. Chapter 5, by Ernst M. Cohn, covers "The 1sosvnthesis"-the reaction of 8. mixture of hydrogen and carhon monoxide over difficultly reduaihle oxide catalysts to
give predominant1.y saturated, branrhedchain, sliphatie hydroearhons containing four to eight carbon atoms. Chapter 6, by Murray Greyson, Chapter 7, by S. W. Weller, and Chapter 8, by H. Steiner, contain excellent critical surveys of "Methanation" and "Cittal,vsis in the Liquid-Phase Hydrogenation of Coal and Tar." Tenehers who may a t times foe1 somewhat isolated from practical industrial organic chemistry will h d that the blending of the practical and theoretical achieved in this volume will shortly make them feel a t home in the area of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. C. A. VANDERWERF Uriv~ns~ OF~K rAN~AS L-QIKRENCE, KANLAB
THE SCIENCE MASTERS' BOOK. SERIES 111. PART 11: CHEMISTRY Edited by G. Fowles, E. H. Couhon, Baintree County High School, and Chorles Holt, Harrow Weald County Grammar School. John Murray, London, 1955. xi 286 pp. Many figs. 14.5 X 22 cm.
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THE editors have selected the experiments, apparatus, and teaching devices given here from those recorded in numbers 68 to 128, inclusive, of the School Science Reoiem. The hook consists of six parts and an index. Part I-Apparatus and Materials for General Use. The period over which this materid was assembled included the war years and consequently there are many hints and suggestions far making do with a minimum of facilities and material. Directions are given for the eonstruetion of special racks, the storage of equipment, and the construction of useful devices for many laboratory operations. Suggostions are made for the construction of a variety of gas generators, the preparation of reagents, the manipulation of gases, sources of compressed air, and the construction of instruments such as a. balance and a polarimeter. Part 11-Lecture Bench Experiments for Junior and Middle School Forms. These include a. series on gas volume ratios and quantitative experiments in somewhat greater number than is perhaps customary in this country and with apparatus which would not lend itself readily to observation by large classes. The line between lecture bench experiments and laboratory exercises appears to be a strictly arbitrary one. The combustion of magnesium in steam and certain other high temperature reactions seem to be more papular in Great Britain than they are in the United States s t the present time. Of interest to some will be a series of twelve gases which can be prepared hy
the wet asbestos method, using suitable liquid reagents and cracking agents. Part 111 consists of laboratory exercises for junior and middle forms and is divided approximately equally between qualitative and quantitative experiments. Most of these are to be found in either the general chemistry or elementary physical chemistry manuals which are in use in the United States. Part IV deals with lecture bench experiments for the sixth form and these are listed under oleotro-chemistry, catalysis, indicators, adsorption, osmosis, and miscellaneous. Mast of the items in this section are in common use in this countrv, although frequently distributed through more advanced courses in chemistry. Part V deals with labwittory exercises for the ~ i x t hform and involves materials usually found in elementary physical chemistry. Part VI-Small Scale Methods-is an enumeration of a number of semimicro techniques selected from hoth the areas of inorganic and organic ehemistry. This volume is one which should perhaps he found in any reasonably complete library of lecture demonstration materials snd-one from which mast anv teacher could extract items which nmdd be useful in his demonstration repertoire. Hou-ever, it does not contain a large number of experiments urhirh mould be directly adaptable t o either high school or first year college instnrrtion in this country.
INTRODUCTORY ORGANIC CHEMISTRY WITH CERTAIN CHAPTERS OF BIOCHEMISTRY
E.
Wertheim, Emeritus Professor of Organio Chemistry, University of Arkansas, and Harold Jeskey, Associate Pmfessor of Chemistry, Southern Methodist University. Third edition. McGrawHill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1956. vii 476 pp. 83 figs. 3 5 tahles. 15 X 2 3 cm. $5.50.
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THE text is the second revision of a hook intended for short courses in organic chemistry taken by pre-professional st11dents. The authors' stated aims are to ensure a working knowledge of organic chemistry and to keep the student aware of his previous work in chemistry while preparing him for any courses which may follow. Many excellent study aids to help in achieving these objectives have been retained from previous editions. In oarticular. the numerous auestians.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
ship8 between ~lilssesof compounds are to be commended. Msny of the recent developments in the fields of petrochemistry, drugs, hormones, synthetic fibers, and plastm have received some attention. If in somc cases the treatment seems too scanty, the interested student will find in the appendix a list of reference books to use in following up a particular subject. The six chapters on biochemical topics give an excellent presentation of import a n t areas of applied organic chemistry. A helpful glossary of chemical, biological, and medical terms is included in a n a p pendix. This edition retains the emphasis of its predecessors an the prttctiral rat,her than the theoretical aspects of organic ohemip try. Adequate examples are given of the methods by whioh the structure of a compound is established. The authors state t h a t they have purposely omitted electronic mechanisms of organic reactions. The hook is clearly mitten and can be recommended without reservations. SAMUEL E. KAMERLlNG Bo-moora COLLEGE Bsumwrcu, MAINE
CHEMICAL LTJGINEERING PRACTICE. VOLUMES 1 AND 2 Edited by H. W. Cremer and T.Davies. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1956. 0 1 1 xiv 499 pp.; Val. 2: v i 632 pp. Many figs. and tables. 16.5 X 25.5 cm. $13.30 per volume an orders far complete set; $17.50 per individual volume.
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THE development of the chemical process industries, and of chemical engineering as a separate field of engineering associated with the process industries, has given rise to numerous handbooks and encyclopedia. For process technology, the 15-volume set of "Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology" discusses products, processes, and industries. "Chemical Engineering Practice" will be a. set of 12 volumes plus an index volume which "will enable chemical engineers to apply physico-chemical principles to plant operations and mocess develooment." The authors are ' ~ r i t i s h and ~ h c authorih ties in their fields. Volume 1, General, contains the preface t o the entire set. Here is made clear the objectives of the set. "A departure from this tradition [of unit operations] has been mad* the classification beine based on underlying physico-chemicai principles rather then upon the actual o p e c ations which give effect to them." The reader of the set is assumed to have a first degree in pure or applied physical science. Volume 1 begins with general subjects such as The Origin of Chemical Engineering and The Chemical Engineer. The former t r m s the growth of the process industries with the Lehlanc process, chamber sulfuric acid process, Solvay process, and interrelated chomied industries. The latter chapter shows the development of s special type of engineer for the process industries and the evolution of chemical engineering curricula for ~~
VOLUME 34, NO 4, APRIL, 1951
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his education. The material and energy balances far s. process oall for two chapters, of which the latter is quite lengthv and involves chemical equilibrium calcolations as well as energy balances. The last two chapters are on The Preparation of Flow Diagrams, and Units, Dimensions, and Calculations. The largest part of Volume 1 is devoted to Pilot Plants and Semi-Commercial Units. Various sections are devoted to general aspects, design, operation, reporting of results, and a lengthy bibliography of papers on the subject. For Volume 2, the subtitle "Solid State" is hardly descriptive of the contents of the volume. About half the material is largely metallography of steel and alloys. Fatigue, creep, and corrosion of metals are discussed, as are mechanical and physical properties of plastics and glasses. The other half of the volume appears to come under a. general heading of "porous masses." The chapter on fundamentals deals largely with filtration and flow through porous media. Some peculiar processes and operations are related to porous masses, ss the chapter a n The Purification of Coal Gas using the oldtime ferric oxide box. Flow in Fuel Beds and Transpiration Cooling obviously are related to porous masses, and the latter chapter is as modern as jet propulsion. The discussion of water and sewage treatment is largely the filtration processes involved, though ion-exchange is discussed briefly for water treatment. On the hasis of Volume 1 and 2, it is doubtful that the American chemical engineer will regard the set of ''Chemical Engineering Practice" as the reference set to whieh he will turn to supplement Perry, "Chemical Engineers' Handbook," or the textbooks usually found on his shelf. If we recall the fact that the set was prepared for a reader with a first degree in pure or applied physical sciences, we can agree thst a chemist unfamiliar with chemicd engineering will find much in this set whieh will he of value to him. Thus, the chemical engineer might prefer Jordan's monograph on "Chemical Pilot Plant Practice," whereas the chemist would learn much more by first reading the section in "Chemical Engineering Practice" on pilot plants and semicommercial units. Certainly this set should be available for student use so that he can get a t least a viewpoint different from the customary American viewpoint. KENNETH A. KOBE
U N ~ V E ~OF~ TEXAB TY ADBFIN,
TBX*~
AN INTRODUCTION TO CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
F. C. Phillip=, Reader in Petrology, University of Bristol. Second edition. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 324 pp. 515 figs. and 1956. ix tables. 14.5 X 22 em. $6.
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THISis the second edition of a book first published ten years ago which may well become a classic in the teaching of crystallogrttphy. It differs from the first
edition by the inclusion of a chapter on the diffraction of X-rays by crystals, which, in the opinion of this reviewer, neither adds to nor detracts from its value. For educational purposes this hook has a particular merit which comes from its basis on years of good teaching by a scholar who thoroughly understands the fundamental principles and realizes their importance to the student. P s r t I is concerned with the external symmetry of crystals. I t gives a most comprehensible introduction to crystal morphology and to the crystallographer's concepts and use of point symmetry. Part I1 deals with the internal symmetry of ervstsls with an excellent account of the ~ r a lattices, h translation symmetry, and an introduction to mace eroun theorv.
of crystal growth and habit. With the exception of the short new chapter referred to above, the book is not concerned with the techniques of X-ray diffraction. To the student of X-ray crystallography it can, nevertheless, he recommended as a true introduction to erystsllography. The disadvantage of not having i t all in one book is off~etby the moderato price. G. A. J E F F R E Y
U e r v ~ n s m rOP PITTBBUROH PITTB~UR.". PENNBYLV*NI*
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY FOR STUDENTS OF PHARMACY AND BIOLOGY S. C. Wallwork, Ledurer in Chemistry, University of Nottingham. Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1956. xii 297 pp. 44 figs. 7 tables. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $4.75.
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THE author state8 in the preface that "this book is intended t o cover all the topics in physical chemistry which are required by students of pharmacy and biology." And that, in the opinion of this reviewer, is precisely what is wrong with books of this type. If one believes, as the author of the present text evidently does, t h s t students of biological sciences should be fsmilisr with all, or nearly all, phases of physical chemistry, then it is surely wise to base a course on one of the excellent standard textbooks of physical chemistry, allowing the teacher to delete such specialized material as he deems unnecessary, and trusting him to explain in eztenso the more difficult subjects, rather than to turn to s. "physical Chemistry for Students of. . . . . . ," where brief, "simple" treatment is mistaken for clear treatment. ( I t is the full explanation, reinforced hy numerous examples and exercises, which is in fact the clear treatment,.) On the other hand, a good case can be made for the thesis that only a few topics 01physical chemistry are really important t o biology students, and that since they presumably do not assimilate physical chemistry as rapidly as chemistry students, they ought to spend all their time learning these few topics well. -4 proper
