Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews December is a gift-giving month in many cultures. This month we present some gift book suggestions for your favorite chemist. The first three books reviewed are large format coffee-table books. Written by and for chemists, Nicolaou and Montagnon’s Molecules That Changed the World is an exploration of natural products synthesis. Two books by Theodore Gray target a more general audience: Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home—But Probably Shouldn’t and The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe. And for your favorite organometallic chemist, we present Landmarks in Organo-Transition Metal Chemistry—A Personal View by Helmut Werner. Happy pages to all! CBF
Molecules That Changed the World by K. C. Nicolaou and T. Montagnon Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, 2008. 385 pp. ISBN 978-3527309832 (cloth). $55 reviewed by Luis D. Montes
Molecules That Changed the World provides students, teachers, and those interested in the field with a richly illustrated resource that details the history, development, and application of natural product synthesis and isolation. Nicolaou and Montagnon present summaries of a wide array of compounds that have had an influence on the world in which we live. In contrast to other books that target the general public and relate the importance of a limited number of compounds, Molecules That Changed the World will gain broader appeal among students of chemistry and those familiar with organic synthesis and natural products. Molecules is not a textbook on the methods and approaches of natural product synthesis; rather, it presents readers with a rich context for the importance and impact of compounds that have been isolated and synthesized. Occasionally this impact is simply a development or advance that allows for more powerful synthetic routes to natural products, but more often the authors present the broader societal significance of a compound or class of compounds. The authors occasionally bring up some of the controversial impacts of compounds, such as the use of
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Cheryl Baldwin Frech University of Central Oklahoma Edmond, OK 73034
monensin and other antibiotics as general feed additives rather than using them to target specific diseases, and the resulting possibility for multiple drug resistance in evolving bacterial strains. In the chapter on Taxol, the benefits of obtaining extracts from Pacific yew trees are considered in light of the environmentally sensitive areas in which these trees are found. In this case the importance of a synthetic route for preparation of Taxol as a means of relieving this tension is discussed. The book is divided into 34 chapters. The first chapter presents readers with a brief introduction to the ideas of atoms, elements, and chemical synthesis. The illustrations in this first chapter also provide readers with an introduction to the types of representations of compounds that will be used throughout the book, including the structural, ball-and-stick, space-filling, and protein ribbon models that will be familiar to all chemists. The remaining 33 chapters provide more detailed discussions of the impact of the synthesis of particular compounds or groups of compounds. These chapters are arranged in roughly chrono logical order of the synthesis of the chapter’s subject compound. The rapid advances in natural product synthesis over the past 30 years are reflected by the fact that almost two-thirds of the pages in this book are devoted to molecules synthesized in this time frame. The text for each chapter sets the tone for the impact of the subject molecule and often relates the eventual synthesis of the compound to other advances in organic synthesis. Illustrations, images, and text boxes that surround the main text provide a richer context for the subject molecule or molecules. For example, retrosynthetic analysis of thiostreptan, a veterinary medicine, is provided in the chapter on this molecule. Examples such as this provide students of organic synthesis with a model for how to carry out retrosynthetic analysis. Many chapters also include more detailed synthetic pathways for the subject molecules. Photographs or other illustrations of the many individuals who contributed to the synthesis of the molecules discussed help provide some human context to the subject. Most chapters also include photographs or illustrations of the occurrence in nature of the subject compounds, such as the bark of the Pacific yew for Taxol, the palythoa coral for palytoxin, and the ginkgo tree for ginkgolide B. Occasionally text boxes outside the main chapter text provide quotes from literature or science relating to the subject molecule, such as the poem, Ginkgo biloba, by the German poet Goethe in the ginkgolide B chapter. Each chapter concludes with a short list for further reading that often includes primary articles and review articles in the chemical literature. Molecules provides college-level instructors in organic and medicinal chemistry with ample material to provide background context for their lectures. Students of organic synthesis can learn from the many retrosynthetic analyses and synthetic routes presented. Although the chemistry and biology contained in this book make it a somewhat difficult read for the general public, the more general context provided for the subject molecules gives chemists all the material they need to relate the significance of the work of synthetic chemists. Any book that helps chemists communicate the relevance of their work to the general public would be an asset to a college chemistry department or other synthetic chemistry research laboratories.
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 86 No. 12 December 2009 • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • © Division of Chemical Education
Chemical Education Today
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Luis D. Montes is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK 73034;
[email protected].
Note: Ningfeng Zhao would like to acknowledge his coworkers’ contributions to the WileyPLUS with CATALYST review published in J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 692. Sheila Armentrout, Scott Kirkby, Reza Mohseni, and Jeffrey Wardeska joined Zhao in a team project to redesign General Chemistry at East Tennessee State University. CBF
© Division of Chemical Education • www.JCE.DivCHED.org • Vol. 86 No. 12 December 2009 • Journal of Chemical Education
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