In conclusion, this is a very readable text that not only provides a goad understanding of organic chemistry and biochemistry hut also attempts to relate these topics to current issues of interest. The figures could have been drawn with more thought toward the overall presentation ofthe book because this is a n area that many texts are tryingto improve upon. Nevertheless, the book does meet its aims of providing a good basic introduction to organic chemistry and, as such, deserves consideration as a text for the student first exposed to this subject.
Alan R. Morgan PDT Pharmaceuticals Santa Barbara, CA Chemical Thermodynamics: Basic Theory and Methods. Fiflh Edition lrvrng M Nor2 an0 Robert M Rosenberg W ey New Yolk. hY. 533 pp F gs and taoles 16 4 x 24 2 cm S54 95 1994 xx Haw has the subject of thermodynamics changed since 1950 when the first edition of this textbook appeared? The symbols for the thermodynamic functions and the units of physical quantities have been standardized to agree with the SI convention. The statements of the first and second laws also have changed in most textbooks to avoid using temperature in the definition of heat before temperature has been defined thermodynamically, and to incorporate spontaneity into the statement of the second law rather than leave it as a corollary But the mast significant change is probably the extension of thermodynamies into the newest frontier of exact science-biology. Mast afthese changes have been incorporated into this fifth edition, the exception being the statement of the second law that remains unchanged. There is probably good reason for not fallowing the pack in changing the statement of the second law. The currently vogue statement of the second law, in terms of the entropy function, is not consistent with the authors' "operational" approach of defining quantities by haw they are measured, so the Clausius and Kelvin-Planck statements of t h e second law in terms of heat engines have been retained in this book. Numerous problems have been added on the application of thermodynamics to biological systems, mostly calculations of standard state free energies, enthalpies, and equilibrium constants for biochemical reactions. What I found lacking, however, is a domain of the biochemist's standard state, in which hydrogen ion concentration is taken to correspond to pH=7, which is more realistic than 1.0 moleiL in biological systems. For many biochemical reactions involving hydrogen ion the difference in stsndard state free energy of reaction is enormous. As in earlier editions of this hook, the subject is classical thermodynamics. Statistical thermodynamics is expressly excluded because its treatment draws on the results of quantum mechanics. It is interesting to read the explanation for a n apparent exeegtion to the third law that invokes the difference in law-temperature heat capacities of ortho- and para-hydrogen without getting into the statistical thermodynamics of hydrogen. Likewise, equations drawn from areas outside of thermodynamics are used without derivation, the Debye-Huekel equation, far example. This certainly is justified in a book on thermodynamics. But in the case of the Lewis and Randall rule, for estimating fugacities in real gas mixtures, I would have liked a fuller derivation/justificationbecause the a . ~.~ r o x i m a t i olie n s squarely within thermodynamics. This is an exceptionally well-written book. The style of writing is clear. There are many examples in the course of the development-not as separate suhseetions-and numerous topics and applications of thermodynamics. Many of the prohlems included a t the end of each chapter are new. Does this textbook possess any advantages over those massive physical chemistry hooks? I think so. Ifyou are not interested in using the quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, or any of the special topics that are included in most physical chemistry textbooks, the organization, content, and clarity of this book speak in its favor.
Profiles, Pathways, and Dreams: Autobiographies of Eminent Chemists. Volume 16, The Adventure Playground of Mechanisms and Novel Reactions RoMHuisgen. Jeffrey I. Seeman, Series Editor. American Chemical Society: Washington. DC. 1994. xxiv + 279 pp. $24.95. This 16th and latest volume is one of the longest in a projected 22-volume series of autobiographies of 20th-century organic chemists. Only 1984 Nahel chemistry laureate R. Bruce Merrifieldk volume (Life During a Golden Age of Peptide Chemistry, 1993, 297 pp), which makes extensive use of excerpts from his laboratory notebooks, exceeds it in length. Furthermore, its 612 references and 548 structural formulas set a record in documentation and depth of coverage of chemistry for the series (Previously, Carl Djerassil's volume Steroids Ma& I t Possible (1990). with its 323 references--about half the number in Huisgen's book-set the record for meticulous documentation in the series). This quantitative summary is a simple way of indicating that the emphasis in Huisgen's hook is on his multifaceted chemical contributions. In 1952, a t the early age of 32, Huisgen accepted the prestigious chair of organic chemistry a t the University of Munich previously occupied by three Nobel laureates in a row, including his teacher, mentor, and friend Heinrich Wieland. Within a relatively short time his laboratory, once a stronghold of natural products chemistry, became one of the foremast German schools in physical organic chemistry and reaction mechanisms, and Huisgen became the most-frequently cited German chemist. Believing that "Kinetic arguments are crystal clear and cannot he overturned," Huisgen and his 150 Doktoranden and 75 postdoctoral fellows have made pioneering contributions to diazo compounds, mediumsized ring effects, electrophilic am compounds and azomethine imines, beuzyne chemistry, aazles and azides, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, electrocyclic reactions, 1,4-dipolar cycloadditions, (2+2) cycloadditions of ketenes, and (2+2) cycloadditions of donor and acceptor olefins, topics that are discussed in 10 detailed technical chapters, which are framed by a n introductory chapter and a concluding chapter on the more personal aspects of his career and his thoughts on chemistry and science in general. In the first and last chapters Huisgen discusses his youth, education, and growing up during the Hitler yea1;s; the war and postwar years; his role models Wieland, Meerwein, and Criegee; West Germany's miraculous economic recovery (Wirtschaftswunder); editorships; cooperative research with some of the "greats" of organic chemistry; marriage and family life; travels; honors and awards: hobbies, including a r t collecting; beauty in art and science; differences between the German and other educational systems: writing. -. oublishine. -, lecturine. w. and eansultine: erants: research financine: fashions in research: relations hetween indur:
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spiced with numerous appropriate quotations and aphorisms by classic and modern authors, which he admits to collecting. This cnwnninlng, informativrt, and ntrrnerively pl-:red volume, -deed mnct arc formal nnd ~ntormnlphotographa wnh G(I ~lluxr;tr~
