BOOK REVIEWS In Chapter I1 the lecturer dealt with nitration and nitrosation in his usual t,horoogh manner. First he indicated the possible species that could be the reagent and showed the kinetic form that the rate equation should have for each. Comparison of the experimental results with the kinetic forms expected gave strong indications as to the nature of the rextive species under different conditions. This ehnpt,er gives a convenient summary of the mechanism of nitration and nitrosation. This short hook is worthy of inclusion in a chemists' personal library.
JOHN D.
REINHEIMER
College of Wooster Wooster, Ohio Radioisotope Techniques
Ralph T . Oveman, Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, and Herbet M. Cla~.k,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. MeGrawHill Book Company, h c . , 1960. xiv 476 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $10.
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This book is the outgrowth of courses given over the past years a t ORINS and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, places where instruction in the use of rsdiaisotopes is more varied and whore facilities are somewhat more extensive than a t most colleges and universities. The first chapter treats in 24 pages "Nuclear Radiations and Their Interactions with Matter," topics which occupy a t least s. third of a one-semester course given by the reviewer. The second chaptpr encompasses discussion, with illustrations, of the common detectors of individual events as well as the associated instrumentation such as discriminators and differential pulse height analyzers. No discussion of electronic circuitry is included. The same chapter very briefly mentions chemical and photographic dosimeters. At the end of this and of each subsequent chapter, several experiments are deserihed incorporating and applementing the textual material of that chapter. Chapter 3, on errors in radioactivity measurements, is a mature general errors treatment from which the authom lead to the application of radioactive disintegration. C h a ~ t e r4 deals with practice of radiological safety. The next three chapters deal, respectively, with techniques of preparation of radioactive sources, laboratory eharaoteriaation of radiation, and standardization of radiaactive sources and calibration of detectors. Rather late in the reviewer's opinion comes the treatment of radioactive dccay and growth kinctics in Chapter 8. This is the first text to present the counting procedure for determination of relatively short half lives of ahaut one minute. Chapter 9, an radiochemical separation methoda, seems to he in exile, quite removed from the earlier chapters on techuiques of handling of radioisotopes
(Cmdinued on page A4381
A436
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Journal of Chqnicol Educofion
BOOK REVIEWS The last chapter appropriately is on applications of radioisotopes to the solution of many problems some of which are uniquely solved by use of tracers. Aiter each chapter and especially after Chapter 10 are numerous, usnally non-critical, references to other texts, reference book? and the journals. A set of 36 problems appears after the last chapter. They span the material covered in the text but are less challenging and less numerous than would he desired to stimulate mature thinking. Of the I 1 appendixes supplied, the most useful m a s the list of thrrrnsl ncutron activation
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cross sections together with isotope abundances and half lives of activities produced. Biter a semester's experience in the use of this text in a radiochemistry course, the reviener is all the more convinced that textbooks should emphasize principles. Specialized setups for radioactive measurements are so numerous and so much ~n a state of flus that any catalog of then, rapidly becomes archaic. The mood of "Radioisotope Techniques" is more that of s cook book than that for stimulation of student thinking. Since the principles are superficially discussed and are intermeshed with the laboratory instructions, one experiences difficulty in the use of the text as s, reference book for other than
advice on praceduros. Equations are presented as formulas rather than as relationships linked to fundamental concepts. I t is expected that this book will be ueed principally by instructors in choosing appropriate experiments for laboratory cessions. JAMES E. STURM Lehigh Universily Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Advancer in Organic Chemistry: Methods and Results. Volumes 1 and 2 Edited by Ralph A . Raphael, University of Glasgow, Scotland, E. C. Taylor, Princeton University, Princeton, Kew Jersey, snd Hans Wynbevg, Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden, Netherlands. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1960. Volume 1: ix 387 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 x 23.5 em. $12. Volume 2: vii 504 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 x 23.5 em. $15.
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These are the first two volumes of an intended series. The stated objective is t,o present "articles providing a critical appraisal and evaluation of new aspects ripe for further development, and of novel extensions t o well-established methods." Each volume contains a number of separately authored chapters. The chapter titles are, in Volume 1: The Kolbe Electrolytic Synthesis, Polyphosphoric Arid as a. Reagent in Organic Chemistry, The Wit.tig Reaction, Hydroxylation Methods, The Selective Degradation of Proteins, and Optical Rotatory Dispersion and the Study of Organic Structures; in Volume 2: Alkenylmagnesium Halides, Dialkoxydihydrofuran~ and Diacyloxydihydrofumns as Synthetic Intermediates, Ethynyl Ethers and Thioethers as Synthetic Intermediates, Ketene in Organic Synthesis, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Organic Structural Elucidation, Hydrogenation-Dehydrogenation Reactions, Ultraviolet Photochemistry of Simple Unsaturated Systems, and The Chemistry of Muscarine. All chapters are written authoritatively. The scientific standard is high. The general character of these two volumes is much like Chemical Ileuieax. The severs1 articles differ in type of material, in emphasis and in style just as do contributions to that journal. A point, of difference is that these "Advancer," no douht owing to a more aggressive editorial approach, generally deal with topics more central to the main stream of organic chemistry. Some of the articles, those which adhere most closely to the aim of the series, sketch a balanced picture of a method (physical or organic chemical) of great current utility. Others go into enhaustive, even painful detail on synthetic methods of narraaer scope. All but one of the chapters on synthesis give a few representative experimental procedures, a lsudsble feature. A few give extensive tables reminiscent of "Organic Reactions." One article presents the detailed ehomiatry of an alkaloid (musearim), and seems out of place. (Continued on page .4440)
A438 / Journal af Chemical Education
