BOOK REVIEWS symbols receive multiple use, frequently, however, without clear definition. Changes in style, far example, from clearly headed sections to successive derivations in unbroken running text and back again, are most annoying. One is left with an impression of separate blocks of lecture notes stapled together and printed; a most critical editing and partial rewriting could make a second edition excellent. Despite its faults, this is a most valuable work. Inexpensive and well printed, it should he a. required assignment for every serious student of biochemistry and eodd well constitute a core hook for a separate cco~wse. TERENCE C. OWEN University of South Florida
Tampa
Rodd'r Chemistry of Carbon Compounds. Volume 1, Aliphatic Compoundr, Part D, Dihydric Alcohols, Their Oxidation Products and Derivatives
Edited by S. Cqffey. 2nd ed. American Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1966. xv 418 pp. Figs. and tables. 16 X 23 em. $24.
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Part D of Volume 1 (Aliphatic Compounds) of the revision of itodd's wellknown "Chemistry of Carbon Compounds" consists of six chapters (12 through 17) dealing with the general subjects of dihydrie alcohols, their diverse oxidation products, and derivatives of each. Specific topics include: Chapter 12 (E. S. Waight, 43 pages), Dihydric Alcohols or Glycols and their Derivatives; Chapter 13 (E. S. Waight, 36 pages), Hydroxy-aldehydes and -ketones and Related Compounds; Dicarbonyl Campounds; Chapter 14 (D. S. C. Black, G. M. Blackburn, and G. A. R. Johnston, 62 pages), Aliphatic Monohydraxy-monoearboxylie Acids and Related Compounds; Chapter 15 (J. E. Davies, 72 pages), Aliphstic Nitro- and Amino-monocarboxylic Acids and Related Compounds; Chapter 16 (D. S. C. Black, G. M. Blackhorn, and G. A. R. Johnston, 61 pages), Aldehydic and Ketonic hlonocarhoxylic Acids and Related Compounds; and Chapter 17 (J. Oldham, 96 pages), Diearhoxylic Acids and Related Compounds. A 48-page subject index with almost 5000 entries (for Part D only) completes the volume. No aut,har index is provided. Organization, format and typography accord with earlier sub-volumes of the second edition. Three more sub-volumes (E, F, G ) are planned before the sevenpart Volume I is completed. This volume, like its recent predecessors, is quite expensive for it,s size, and it thus becomes pertinent to inquire hbw useful i t might prove to t,he practicing organic chemist for personal use. One criterion might he the timelines of the topics covered. Examination of reference dates shows that less than 10% of the more than
A606 / Journal o f Chemical Education
2300 references postdate 1960, same 41% document findings between 1951-1960, and approximately half of the references predate 1951. In some chapters pose 1960 references run as little as 1-270, while pre-1951 references total above 65%. Thus much of the material in the hook is already available in Rodd's First Edition or, in much more complete f o r n , in reference amrks such as Beilsbein. Furthermore, many of the reactions discussed in the hook, even the more modern ones, m e not documented with reference a t all. I t would thus appear that the volume cannot be relied upon as a thoroughly adequate bridge to the original literature, even on those topics i t discus=. A continuing feature of the Rodd series is the inclusion of physical properties for selected individual examples of compounds (and their derivatives) of the classes under discussion. At least one physical property for each of almost 2900 specific compounds is listed in the present volume, and parent compounds (though not their included derivatives) are usually to he found listed in the volume's index. The selection of such compounds must be quite arbitrary, however, and the claas listings of compaunds and their derivatives are of necessity incomplete. Moreover, literature references to the compaunds whose physical properties are listed have not been ordinarily provided, and the quite meaningless datum of boiling point a t reduced preqsure is frequently the only physical property given. Derivatives of parent compaunds are unfortunately listed in running textual sequence, and are thus more difficult to locate than would be the case under tabular presentation. The volume thus falls short in its ad* quacy as a, source of general information on physical properties or as a guide to where these might be found. Like earlier volumes, the present one is a classicdly organized compendium of certain preparations, certain reactions, and certain specific examples of the classes of compounds in question. The increased bulk of the second edition seems probably attributable to the fact that the various sections have been expanded to include more recent work, without concomitant deletion of earlier material readily available in the first edit,ion. The section in Volume I B of the first edition dealing with preparative methods for 0keto esters (other than the Claisen condensation), for example, lists some 13 references. The present vnlume lists rome 24 referencw, but only 6 of these p?stdate 1952, the publicstion date of the ongird vohlme 1B. As before, the sub ject matter i.; presented quite non-critically, and no attempt is made to evaluate alternative preparative methods or to emphasize those which are superior. The "preparation-reaction" orientation of the hook leads to other shortcomings aa well. Relatively little emphsais is given, for example, to mechanism, stereochemical or confornational factors of reactions, stmetwe and phy~iealor chemical p r o p ertie.3, spectral data of various types, biological or biochemical considerations, or other topicz of interest to modern organic chemists. Thus decarbonylation is listed (undocumented) among the reactions of e k e t o acids, hut the pyrolysis of
radioactive ethyl pyruvate demonstrating ethoxycsrbonyl decarbonylation is not mentioned. Similitrlv, the mechanism of the pinacol rearrangement, illustrated by an incomplete equation, is documented by only one general reference (1953) to related rearrangements. The good typography, logical organization and meticulous editing associated with earlier volumez of the series continue in the present one. The continued practice of in-line reference citations, however, makes far rather minspired writing and for dull and tedious reading. The frequent use of lac. czl. would cause marked frustration to anyone actually attempting to pursue the original literature, and one wonders why simple references to Beilstein would not have sufficed for the preponderance of earlier literature cited. Many of the reactions discussed are illustrated by adequate equations, hut a disconcertingly large number are preseuted only verbally, a fact which certainly diminishes the utility of the volume for students. The second edition of Rodd should certainly find a continuing place on the shelf of the chemistry library, hut its price, hulk, duplication and somewhat marginal utility may discourage its acquisition by individual chemists. Stanford Univesity Stanford, California
Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology: Volume 7, Dialysis to Electron Spin Resonance
Anthmu Standen, executive editor. 2nd ed. Interscience Publishers (a division of John Wiley and Sons, Inc.), New York, 1965. xvi 903 pp. Figs. and tables. $35 (subscription); 545 (single
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COPY).
Thhlme Seven of the "Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology" includes several new topios, among the mare prominent of which are Diene Polymers, Drilling Fluids, and Elastomers. Chemical Economics
tronics. Most of the remaining sections remain the same, hut have been improved and u p dated. Diffusion ha? been split up into diffusion theory, followed hy a description of diffusion separation methods of interest to industry. The section on Distillation includes the pame descriplive material and graphical techniques as in the previous edition, hut has been amplified by including material on modern procedures of calcnlation and computer methods of calculation. The section an Drying is about twenty pages longer, and materially improved over the original diseussion of drying. Dust Engineering has been expanded, and the section on Dyes and Dye Intermediates has been expanded and brought up to date. The style, printing quality, and other characteristics of the "Encyclopedia" are equal to, or better than, the original edi(Continued on page A008)
