provides an almost indispensable guide to the extensive literature of the field, especially to that of the rarer journals and to local publications. Considerable attention is given t o stereochemical features and to mechanistic aspects of triterpene chemistry, which are illustrated with nUmerou8 and accurate formulas, thereby making the book important not only to the researcher active in the field but also to the teacher and student interested in understanding and interpreting s. wide variety of organic reactions in general. Abundant details of physical properties of the triterpenes and their derivatives, including melting paints, optical rotations, ultraviolet and infrared spectra maxima, X-ray evidence, and other data, make the book an invaluable source of reference. Complete subject and author indexes are also included. However, a. much needed guide t o the pronunciation of the names of the triterpenes is not included. Apart from the regret that, owing t o the usual delay8 of publication, the literature has been covered largely only t o the end of 1953, with a numhcr of references to certain papers appearing as late a8 195556, the work undoubtedly represents the most generally satisfactory and complete up-to-date treatise on the chemistry of the triterpenes which is available. However, more recent work such as the elucidation of the structure and stere* chemistry of friedelin and of a-amyrin has been thereby excluded. The senior cwauthor, the late Sir John Simonsen,who made the study of the chemistry of the terpenes s, life-long endeavor, died while this volume was in the process of publication, hut in it and in its companion volumes, he has left a fitting memorial to these untiring labors. With the characteri~ticflavor and charm of the much earlier edition preserved even in this greatly expanded second edition prepared with the aid of a number of capable coauthors, the reader will find in the pages of "The Terpenes" many an interesting and even fascinating lesson in the chemistry of nature's uncanny ways and heh~vivior. ALBERT
w.
RURGSTAHLER
Uwrvrasr~ror K ~ r s ~ s
L*WRENCE. KANS*~
THE TERPENES. VOLUME 5: THE TRITERPENES AND THEIR DERIVATIVES
The late Sir John Sirnomen and W.C. I. Ross, University of London. University Press, Cambridge, 1957. ix 662 pp. 14 X 22 cm. 815.50.
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INTAIS, the last volume of "The Terpenes," the remaining triterpenes and their derivatives are considered. These include hydroxy acids, such as oleanolie and ursolic acid; hydroxy lnctones; hydroxyddehydo acids, such as gypsogenin; and hydroxyketo acids, such as glycyrrhetie acid and icterogenin. There is a180 presented a lengthy and critical review d the arguments leading to the detailed (Catinued on page A356) JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
stereochemical assignments of the major constitutional classefi of triterpenes (p-amluoane., "wane., iso-8-amvrane. , " . a-amvrsne. " tarsxastane, lanostme, and euphsne). In addition, a brief exposition of the basic principles and applications of conformational analysis of cyclohexane derivstivee and a discussion of themethod of moleculer rotation difterences are given. Finally, over 100 pages of addenda to Volume 3, written usith the collaboration of P. dcMayo, bring into account recent work hearing on the eanstitution and canfignmtion of a large number of the scsquiterpenei and diterpenes. As with each of the preceding volumes, complete subject and author indexes are also provided. An especially valuable feature of this volume, as well as of the companion Volume 4, is the detailed practical emphasis plxed on correlations of structure with ultraviolet and infrared absorption data, molecular optical rotation differences, and mechenisticslly significant reaction pathways. For today's worker, in these respects, these books provide many interesting examples of unusual variety which can be cited as analogies in othor connections or else made thc bask of further research studies. For teacher and student dike, as a working introdnctian to the rationale of modern method? for the determination of struetnre and oonfigur&ion in natural products, the exposition of contemporary research in the field of triterpene chemistry represented in these twin volumes mohablv has no equal. No chemistry library serving the needs of organic chemists should he without this and the precrding volumes of "The Terpenes."
, .
ALBERT W. BURGGTIFILER U n m ~ a s ~ ror r K ~ s s ~ s L*vnmcn, K * N s * ~
NOWEAU TRAITP DE CHIMIE MINERALE. VOLUME 3 Edited by Paul Pascol, Membre de l'lnstitute, Professeur honoraire a la Sorbonne. 838 Masson et Cie, Paris, 1957. xii pp. 73 figs. 17 X 26 cm. Fr 69,000. Paper bound Fr. 6000.
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TXE three volumes of Pascal's new treatise published to date (See THIS JOURNAL, 35, 162 (1958)) indicate that it %-illbe an inorganic chemistry reference s8t of importance in its own right and not merely one which must rest upon merits of the earlier wwk. Although all three place a somewhat heavy emphasis on the early referenc~s, sn increasing amount of new material in tent and bibliography is noted in this third volume. Rubidium, cesium, and francium are covered in about 114 pages, and with the exception of a. short general commentary by the editor on elements of Group Ib, the remainder of the volume is devoted to material about copper, silver, and gold. L. Hackspill has written the msterial on rubidium and cesium, except for nine (Contlnwd 0% page A3.58)
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
