ROOH REVIEW/ -
laboratory and are timely in that they meet the current concerns of laboratory instruetors. A "Do I t Safely" section has been in cluded for each experiment. As well as noting anv hazards of chemicals to be used. these
derstood rules and warnings provides excellent guidance for the student and will he welcomed hy instructors. Accumulating information on the toxicity of chemicals has caused the authors to avoid the use of henzene (except in one instance as a co-solvent in thin-layer chromatography), and to omit the section on alkynes which involved mercuric sulfate. They also point out the importance of proper disposal of waste solvents and reagents. This textbook continues with a traditional approach t o teaching practical organic chemistry; i.e., for the majority of theenperiments, the student follows an experimental procedure and recovers a product, despite the fact that it has been shown that students enjoy and learn most from being given a challenge such as identifying an unknown by qualitative analysis. However, it is the opinion of this reviewer, that this text contains well-chosen experiments with dependable nroeedoral detail whleh. when selected and adaptc4 lry tne .n.lru.rc,r tu suit < l > . 4 .i7, a n d pcrtomance in..l,< .ln pros ~ d aew i + w and challenging rxpenmcr lor each i u d m t . ~
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MARGARET-ANN ARMOUR
University of Albena Edmonton, Alberta
Organic R e a g e n t s for Copper Frank J. Welcher and Irwin Boschrnann, Krieger Publishing Ca., Huntington, NY. 1979. v 614 pp. 23.5 X 16 cm. $34.50
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This reference book summarizes and reviews all of the known oreanic reaeents which react with copper ions. It is presented in a strictly analytical approach to contrast to the inorganic chemists point of view whieh concerns metal-ligand interaction. Almost all of the organic compounds listed in this volume react with capper to give a colored complex whieh permits spectrophotometric determination of copper. However, certain compounds also lend themselves to gravimetric, potentiometric, polsrogrsphic, and flame photometric determinations. One criticism that this reviewer would make of this collection is that the authors have compiled simply all compounds that they have been ahle to discover which react fwith copper. They have not provided the reader with any realistic indication as to whieh compound might he best for a given situation. While the reviewer acknowledges that every situation cannot possibly be anticipated by the authors, simply listing page after page of very similar compounds does not assist the researcher who is generally unfamiliar with Lhe reactions of copper and various organic reagents. The book appears t o he well indexed and A68
Journal of Chemical Educatior
contains two separate indexes: a copper analysis in alarge varietyof materialsand an index of each of the organic reagents for copper. This last index lists approximately nineteen hundred different reagents which have been known to react with copper. While this reviewer is not in a position t o comment on the completeness of this hook, it would certainly seem a t a first reading t o provide a valuable source of information for those researchers wishing to pursue the analysis of copper. As such, it will prohahly be a valuable addition for a research, rather than a teaching-oriented science library.
L. B. CHURCH Reed College Portland. OR 97202
Carbanions in Organic Synthesis John C. Stowell, John Wiley & b o w . New 247 pp. Figs. and tables. 23.5 X 15.5 cm. $22.50. York, 1979. xi
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This new volume offers much in an area that has received little attention and deserves more. It goes a long way in filling the void in the application of carbanions to organic synthesis. The author provides valuable summation of the most useful information puhlished in the last decade in surprisingly less than 250 pages. The book is best considered as earbanions as used by the synthetic chemist rather than as synthetic methods used by or generated by earbanion chemists. From this focus the strengths and weaknesses follow. The major contribution is a survey of re-
tion are considered seque&ially for each of an impressive array of carbanions. Indeed this structured ordering contributes markedly .to the achievement of excellent coverage of important synthetic use of carbanions. The synthetic chemist and many chemists doing synthesis will find this approach a welcome and highly useful entry into the field. Those with greeter need or interest for information in carbanion chemistry may not fare so well. The first two chapters on the general preparation and reactions of earbanions are very hare indeed and certainly not up to the level of the remaining parts of the book. For most readers considerable augmentation of this kind ofmaterial from other sources may he required. There is a complete ahsence of material in tabular form. Many readers could advantageously benefit from a moderate use oftahles recording much of this excellently chosen material. Shelton Bank State University of New York at Albany Albany. NY 12222
Laboratory Teaching in Tertiary S c i e n c e (A Review of S o m e Recent Developments) D. J. B o d , University of New South Wales, J G. Dunn. T Kennedy, and M. G.
Walker, Western Australian Institute of Technology, The Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia. Sydney. 1978. iii f 108 pp. Tables. 30.5 X 22 cm. $6.00. This excellent reference hook is a review of innovative biology, chemistry, and physics laboratory programs that were descrihed in publications appearing hetween 1970 and 1977. For this hook, the authors surveyed a considerable variety of journals, proceedings, etc., and selected approximately 130 reportedly innovative laboratory programs a t a variety of institutions. The authors divided the programs into eight broad categories. These categories are the (1) Keller Plan or Personalized System of Instruction (PSI), (2) Audio-Tutorial Method (A-T), (3) Computer-A-sisted Learning (CAL), (4) Learning Aids Laboratory (LAL), (5) Modular Laboratory, (6) Integrated Laboratory, (7) Project Work, and 18) I'articioation in Research. he maioritv of this hook is devoted to hrref desenpt~onsof each of the reported programs In that sectmn the many programs are first grouped according to the above eight categories and then each program is hriefly descrihed. In so far as possible from the published report, the authors have reported the "Aims," "Organization," "Assessment," and "Evaluation" given in each report. Under "Aims," the reason for introducing the new teaching developments are given; "Organization" covers the physical arrangements such as number of students involved, hours during which the lab is open, staffing, etc., "Assessment" refers to the type and style of assessment of student performance. requirements associated with grades, number of experiments, etc., and "Evaluation" deals with expressed advantages and disadvam tages, problems encountered by staff or by students, and workloads, as well as the results of questionnaires, discussions, interviews. and performance tests. In other sections of this hook, the authors have analyzed the characteristic features of each method. discussed the trends that seem t
