JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
56
THEIR CHEMISTRY
MOLYBDENUM COMPOUNDS. AND TECHNOLOGY
D. H. Killeffer, Chemical Consultant, and Arthur Linz, VlcePresident, Climax Molybdenum Co., with a chapter on The Structural Chemistry of Molybdenum by Linus Pauling, Cali. fornia Institute of Technology. Interscience Publishers, New York, 1952. d v 407 pp. Illustrated. 15 X 23 cm. $10.50.
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FROM thc (:hm~ic~I point of view, molybd~numia one of the most con~plicatrd of t,he element,^. I t shows fivc oxidation statce; it is amphotrric, and it forms r. bewildering array of mononur1r;w snd polynuclrsr complexes. Becms.uscit is so interesting, n considersl~lclit~raturehas grown up around it; heeau~eit is so diffir:ult, this litrrature containa many errors and contradictions. The authors of this book, who have had long expsriencc in the processing of molybdenum rompounda, have surveyed this literature thoroughly and h w e summarized what they consider to be t,he most reli;J,le data. They have done this well and have mado inorganic chemistry. a diEt,illCtc:Ont,ributiont , the ~ literature which are unexplored or in which ~ h shilit,l ~ to i point ~ out more information in nreded is particularly vduable. f, molybdenum, by ~h~ ohaptpr an the structural Linns Pauling, givcRx brief survey of tho structure determinations of maay types of molybdenum compounds, and is extremely well donr. The chxptw on analytical outlines in detail $.he-nwthods uncd h j the Climax Molybdenum Co. ~h~ lattpl. part, of the book is devoted to uses of molyt~denum ,.oml,OUL,dsi,, the laboratory and in industry. 'rhe mostex. tensivr une is in catalysts, and many patents on such substances havr been granted. As Killeffer and Lins point out, much of lhir pat,ent litorsturc is in error, and tho good can be separated rrnm the I--d nnla rlnt,a,il~dinvpst,imtion. Thev have not ..-.-.- hv < . abtenlpted t o do this, hut give an extensive bibliography. in alloys are The uses rndyhdenumin thcmetallio state ~~~~~
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Written by men actively engaged iu the molybdenum industry, the hook is frankly propagandist. But it is good propaganda, for it is s real scientific contribution. The authors have done well,
JOnN C. BAILAR. JU.
DIE BIOGENEN AMINE
M. Guggenheim, Dr. phil., Dr. med. h.c., Basel. Fourth edition. 619 pp. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1951. xv 16.5 X 23.5 om. $19.50.
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THE first edition of "Die biogenen Amino" appeared in 1919 and w a s roeognized as an authoritative account of the chemistry of the naturally occ,.urring amines. With the publication of the ~ecolldcdition in 1823 and the third edition in 1940 the author t,ook cognizance of the progress made in this field and provided, in rnrh dit,ion. a comnrehonsivc and scholarlv account of thc .~~ .~~ .~~~~~~ .~rhemist,ry and biochemistry of this group of physiologicall.~important e o m p o u n ~ , hi^ tradition has been oontinu8d in the presr,,,t, fourth, edition f, this book, and, as with its as being indispencessom, it almost certainly he in the chemistry bioohemi8oablble to t,ry ,[ ,,itrogenous of origin, ~h~ literature :appears to hsvc been covered through 1949. A feature of the editions was the of d i n g attention to the existence of nitrogenous bases of unknown constitution by providing a. separate chapter for these compounds. This practioe is continued in the fourth edition hut the list has become very much smallor than thst of t,ho earlier editions and
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one gains the impression that future activity in this field of chemistry will emphasize the genesis and function of these compounds rather than their nature. This is also reflected in the greator emphasis, in the fourth edition, which is placed upon nnavmc svstems in which the naturallv oecurrine amines. or their 6 &~umok, n w y itmetion eithw 2 ~ sw l ~ ~ t t a t corhhihitok. .\lthutryll thir book i. edl printed and lane a plerriiu~fonnst < m IS ~ I ~ o d m :XIltlw prim, o m laz to pav f w thew nrnarlitira.
COTTRELL: SAMARITAN OF SCIENCE Fmnk Cameron. Foreward by Ernest 0. Lawrence, Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, 1952. 414 -PP. 14.5 X 22 cm. $4.50. THE foreword of this fine book about an American described as a man of integrity "whoee allegiances were to mankind and to
science" was written by Ernest 0. Lawrence of the University of California, who mote: "Frederick Gardner Cottrell was distinguished not only hy his own scientific contributions but even mart! by his generous spirit and his devotion to helping others along the paths of progress." This hook is really a biography but it is also a great story of American industry. The story of the development of helium in Texas while Frederick Cottrell was associated wit,h the U. S. Bureau of Mines and the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory are but two interesting episodes related by Frank Cameron, who read 10,000 letters and documents as well as the diary which Cottrell kept faithfully for 40 years. The whole ~ r o j e c trequired two years of research. Industry remembers Dr. Cottrell for the Cottrell precipitator, which solved the problem of smoke and dust by precipitating them with electricity of high voltage, in some cases reaovering valuable by-products from the precipitated colloidal dust. Until his death in 1948 he was on of the most colorful and leading scientific figures of the century, and yet he remained almost unknown to the layman because of his deliberate self-effacement. At the age of 23 he went to Germany and worked with the world's gifted physical chemists, Jacob vin't Hoff and \Vilhelm Ostwald, receiving his degree summa cum laade. Three years later when a professor from Berkeley visited Ostu%Sd's laboratory, he asked if any of the men had knou-n Cottrell. The in&&or replied: "He is not here now but his spirit is." This is the feeling one gets today whik r ~ a d i n p"Cottrell: Samaritan of Srienor." GRETA OPPE
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TABLES OF PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
H. Gysel. Verlag Birkhauser, Basel, Switzerland, 1951. d 637 pp. 17 X 24.5 cm. 125 fr.
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THIS volume contain8 the percentage atomir compositionr and molecular weights of formulas containing C , W and N for C1 to Cnz. These tables uill he useful, as a desk refermcc, to those chemists having a frequently recurring need for such information. However, since this information can be obtained rapidly in each case by use of z calculator, either meehanioal or slide rule, the oecseianal uaer will find little purpose in purrhnsinp volume. F. T. WEISS
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