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
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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)
Willstatter (1872-1942), whose career was the subject of a recent article in THIS JOURNAL by &If Huisgen (38, 10 [January 19611), was one of the great masters of German organic chemistry and tion. The "Encyclopedia" remains a the recipient of the 1915 Nobel prize. valuable tool in which to initiate an inHis story is a reflection of the glory and vestigation of a n unfamiliar area, and the tragedy that is modern German &o is written a t an appropriate level so history. The Latter part of the book, that it is intelligible to the non-specialist. where WillstHt,ter, 8. Jew whose ancestors D. M . HD~MELBLAUlived in Germany for hundreds of years, University of Tezas relates how he finally had to flee from his Austin beloved German homeland, makes painful reading. These memoirs, whioh are truly an inside story of German chemical scholarship, are filled with delightful personal reminiscences and interesting anecdotes about the great chemists Willstatter was From M y Life: The Memoirs of associated with during the course of his Richard WillrtSmr remarkable career. One gathers that the secret of Willstiitt,er's pre-eminence in Edited by Arthur Stoll. Translated chemistry is due to two factors: first, like from the German by Lilli S. Homig. many other great scientists, he was not W. A. Benjsmin, Inc., New York, afraid to attackdifficult unsolvedproblems 1965. xiii 461 pp. 15 X 24 on. a t the frontiers of science and, second, he $8.75. was a connoisseur, not only of art and All those who are interested in the wine, but also of experimental organic history of organic chemistry will welcome chemistry. the English trs.nsletion of Richard WillThe translator is t o he commended lor statter's memoim. One hopes that the rendering these memoirs into fluent appearance of this book m a n s that English. I am sore that many organic similar important biographical and historichemists will want this volume for their cal material not yet available in English personal libraries. translation will soon he made accessible ta DAVIDH. KENNY English-speaking chemists, whose knawlMichigan Technological University edge of Germen is so rusty its to farce Houghta them to postpone reading i t indefinitely.
BOOK REVIEWS
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lournal of Chemical Education
Casrirte Kapitel our der Abhandlung: ~ b e rdie Carboxytortronraure und die Constitutiondes Benzolr
Auousl Kekuld. Verlae Chemie. Weinhei&~ergstrasse, 196< 86 pp.' 22 X 28 cm. 83.75.
This handsome volume was issued in commemoration of the centenary (1965) of the Kekulb formulation of benzene. During the summer of 1883 Kekul6 sent s, manuscript bearing the above title to Volhssd (then editor of the A n d e n ) , who advised him to delete a section of the text. Kekul6 followed this suggestion (Liebigs Annalen, 221 118831, 230). Volhard's letter and Kekul6's reply open this book. Besides a Foreword by Richard Kuhn, the remainder of the hook is made up of the section omitted from the original
a t ~ & t a d t and is now brought to the attention of chemical historians. is benzene When Kekule brought out h formula it aroused criticism in certain quarters and other representations were advanced. As late 8s 1868 Kalhe asserted that benzene was T~irnelhix-Trimethan, an idea that reverted to the old type theory. Kekul6 proceeded to examine this notion and rejected it in no uncertain terms, along with E. von Meyer's notion in 1881 based on Kolbe's idem, that benzene is Triaeetylen. Volhard suggested (Calinued a page A610)
