Books
Useful Text and Lab Manual Analytical Chemistry: Principles and Analytical Chemistry: Practice. John H. Kennedy, xi + 753 pp. and vi + 154 pp., respectively. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1250 Sixth Ave., San Diego, Calif. 92101. 1984. $36.95 and $8.95, respectively. Reviewed by Byron Kratochvil, Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G2, Canada This text covers a range of analytical topics suitable for a two-term introductory course in chemical analysis. The material is arranged in six parts along relatively conventional lines. The first part includes a chapter on the steps in a chemical analysis and is followed by chapters on data handling and evaluation, stoichiometry, and equilibrium constant calculations. The five parts that follow cover gravimetric, volumetric, spectrochemical, electroanalytical, and separations methods. The book is accompanied by a paperback laboratory manual. Despite the large number of topics covered the author has written a highly readable book that is uniform in Despite the large number of topics covered the author has written a highly readable book that is uniform in depth of treatment. depth of treatment. Its usefulness is enhanced by the inclusion of many worked examples, often from environmental or clinical areas. The figures and tables are clear and illustrate the textual material well; the appendixes include examples of programs for calculators or microcomputers to solve equilibrium calculations and to plot titration curves. The only omissions noted are kinetics in analysis and automation. (A schematic flow diagram of the Technicon AutoAnalyzer is provided in the chapter on spectrophotometry, but there is no systematic discussion of the increasingly important area of automatic analysis.) Space for these topics might have been provided by reducing the coverage of precipitation and gravimetry, which at 63 pages seems more than warranted given the diminishing use of this
labor-intensive method. A possible source of confusion to students is that although formality is used for the most part as the unit of solution concentration, normality and molarity also appear, sometimes unexpectedly. The laboratory manual contains about 60 or so procedures, each covering from one half to two pages. The experimental write-ups typically include a brief paragraph on the principles of the method, followed by condensed procedural directions. Individual instructors will probably have to supplement these. The experiments cover gravimetry (6 experiments), volumetric methods (25), spectroscopy (13), electroanalysis (8), and separations (6). Procedures for calibration of pipets and burets are also included. A number of the methods involve the analysis of environmental or clinical samples such as rainwater for nitric acid and blood serum for glucose and phosphorus. Typographical errors are few. In reading the laboratory manual one significant point was noted. A potentially serious safety problem could arise from the omission of a cautionary statement in the use of perchloric acid for the destruction of the organic matter in hair prior to the determination of zinc. Although nitric acid is correctly used for preliminary oxidation of the more easily oxidized material prior to addition of HCIO4, a student who omits this step or uses the wrong reagent could have a serious accident. Furthermore, precautions are necessary to avoid a buildup of perchloric acid fumes on surfaces—with the possibility of forming explosive organic perchlorates.
steroids, vitamin D, bile acids, cardiac glycosides, sapogenins, and a group of miscellaneous steroids are covered extremely well. The material included in the text is useful not only for a beginner in this field but would have particular interest for industrial, medicinal, or pharmaceutical steroid chemists. The coverage of the families of steroids commonly used in chemical and pharmaceutical industry is particularly comprehensive, and the structuring of each chapter for each steroid family has been very carefully thought out and permits the reader to gather the relevant information with ease. Particularly impressive are the carefully outlined difficulties that may be encountered during analysis with each type of steroid family. In addition, several of the chemical reactions used for derivatization, visualization, and quantitation are very well outlined and explained. The author has given considerable thought to the use of figures and tables. This is particularly true for the corticosteroids and vitamin D series, which are comprehensively and carefully covered. Of great use is the inclusion of very detailed references that will guide the reader to the original papers where many of these methods were described. In short, much attention has been given to the design of a very well structured treatise on methods and difficulties encountered in the quantitative analysis of steroids. This book will be of great use to chemists who need to design, understand, and explore the quantitation of the families of steroids covered.
Quantitative Analysis of Steroids. S. Gorog. 440 pp. Elsevier Science Publishers, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1983. $95.75
Books Received
Reviewed by David Morris, Clinical Biochemistry, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Ave., Providence, R.I. 02906
Spectroscopic Properties of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds. Vol. 16. G. Davidson et al. 363 pp. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letchworth, Herts., SG6 1HN, U.K. 1984. $140
This is a very comprehensive and well-written text. The variety of methods for the analysis and quantitation of several main groups of steroids including sex hormones, corticosteroids,
Modern Trends in Analytical Chemistry. Pts. A & B. E. Pungor et al. xiv + 195 pp. Elsevier Science Publishers, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. $134.50
1466 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 56, NO. 13, NOVEMBER 1984
