SEPTEMBER,1952
0
ADHESION AND ADHESNES
Edited by N.A. deBruyne, Aero Research Ltd., Duxford, England, and R. Houwink, Rubber-Stichting, Delft, Netherlands. The Elsevier Press, Inc., Houston, 1951. xv X 517 pp. 205 figs. 65 tables. 16.5 X 24.5 cm. $10. THISbook is a substantial contribution to the literature on the rmbject. Although many books on adhesives have been written, the subject matter treated has been so empirical in nature that it bas been difficult to treat i t comprehensively and scientifically. I n this latest effort by two well-known authors i t has been attempted "to deal with the subject in terms of basic ~cientifieooncepts. While we appreciated that existing knowledge was too incomplete for such a n attempt to he wholly successful, we thought that it might nevertheless still be a significant contribution to knowledge." I n line with this laudable objective, the bwk has been divided into a theoretical part and a technological seation. The theoretical aspects were written up first and circulated nmong the authors of the second section so that they might align their thinking and discussions with it. While the result has fallen short of the editors' hopes, i t hss made s good beginning in a difficult subject. The theoretical section has beeu divided into four main parts, uis., s discussion on the general conditions for wetting and for adhesion by Houwink; s, very acceptable survey of molecular forces by A. J. Stiverman; that inexhaustible subjeot, rbeology of adhesives, by Hoekstra and Fritzius; and a good oontrihution on theoretical and experimental studies of stresses in joints hy Mylonas and deBruyne. Part Two, Technological Aspects, has beeu subdivided into two main sections, organic and inorganic adhesives. The organimtion of t h i ~section has been disturbed a little by treating ruhhery adhesives and soldered joints as neither inorganic nor organic. This defect is purely formal, however, and has not reduced thevalue of the book.
This book could well he used as supplementary reading for courses in colloid chemistry and in fact should be found on the shelves of every university library. S. S. KISTLER N o a ~ o xCOMPANY WOBCEBTER. MAMAC~~~ETTB
0
FLUORINE AND ITS COMPOUNDS
R. N. Hoseeldine, Assistant in Research in Organic Chemistry, University of Cambridge, and A. G. Sharpe, Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and University Demonskator in ChemMethuen and Co., Ltd., London; John Wiley 8 Sons, Inc., New Ymk, 1951. 153 pp. 11 X D cm. $1.75. istry.
THIS little volume, which is of handy pocket size, aims to present in compact form a fairly complete review of the modern inorganic and organic chemistry of fluorine, with emphasis upon the influence of molecular structure on properties in the inorganic field, and on the effectsof fluorine upon the physical and chemical characteristics of organic compounds. The book is divided into four unequal chapters entitled Fluorine (17 pages), Hydrogen Fluoride (8 pages), Inorganic, and Organic Fluorine Compounds (37 and 84 pages). The first of these deals with the history, preparation, physical and chemical properties of fluorine, together with analytioal considerations and a considerable discussion of atomic and ionio structures and sizes, bond distances, melting and bailing points, crystel lattices solubilities and the like, as involved in the various types of inorganic simple and complex salts containing fluorine. The second brief section covers the preparation, physical and chemical properties of hydrogen fluoride, together with its uses as solvent and catalyst for dkylations, acylations, polymerizstion, and numerous other changes. I t also lists many applications of boron trifluoride as a versatile catalyst in organic reactions. The third portion deals in general with inorganic fluorine com-
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
474 pounds classified according to the seven groups and four tmnsition series of the periodic table of the elements. The various simple fluorides are discussed, together with many types of double and complex salts in which the central elements participate in many different valence states. Emphasis is placed upon preparative methods, physical and chemical properties, the progression of these through many series of related substances, electronic structures, crystal lattice configurations, steric considerations, and many other factors designed to present in minimum space the clearest possible picture of the respeotive compounds. A number of specially interesting features such as acid base reactions are in the ionizing solvent bromine trifluaride (BrFZt.BrF4-) also presented here. The fourth and find chapter, which eons t i t u t e ~more than half of the book, covers the chemistry of organic fluorine compounds. These are divided into fluorinated haloalkanes. acids, alcohols, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, amines, defines, aromatic compounds (nuclear and side-chain), and finally the fluoroeitrbans and other perfluoro compounds. Here, as before, much space is devoted to preparative methods, physical, chemical, and biochemical properties, relative resetivities and tabulations of related data, all well illustrated by numerous examples; together with descriptions of reaction mechanisms (bothionic and atomic), structures, polymeric processes and industrial applications in both the aliphatic and aromatic series, includine a considerable discussion of direot and indirect fluorinations, t h i fluorocarbons and various types of perfluorinated compounds. For such a compact volume the material is quite well doeumented by nearly 160 references covering the field up to the summer of 1950, and an adequate subject index is appended. In the reviewer's opinion the authors have succeeded well in fulfilling their o~iginalaim. A large amount of material covering 8. wide range all the way from theoretical considerations concerning atomic and molecular structures on the one hand, through electronic mechanisms and relative chemical reactivities to preparative methods and industrial uses on the other, have been brought together in a very smell space, and little which should have been included seems to have been omitted, conaidering the size of the hook. The organization is good, and the presentetion, which is profusely interspersed with illustrative examples throughout, is clear and has been written in such a way as to he understandable to anyone with a sound basic scientific training. Errors in the text are few and entirely trivial in nature, akhhaugh reference t,o the "boiling points" of sulfur hexafluoride and oyanogen fluoride, both of which sublime a t atmospheric pressure, would seem t,o be a bit confusing. The binding, printing, and pitper of the little bookare good. This volume, obviously intended as la handy working tool, is definitely recommended for the personal library of the fluorine chemist, but in the reviewer's view i t should be found more frequently in his coat pocket than on the shelf. Any scientist in need of basic information on fluorine chemistry who looks quickly through its pages is not likely to be disappointed, and students in eeneral should find it a valuable source of information on the
LUCIUS I.BIGELOU' Dnlte U N I V E R B I T ~ Dun"*,", NORTHC*ROGIN*
0
HIGHER CHEMICAL ARITHMETIC
F. W. Goddord, Senior Soienoe Master, The CoUege, Winchester. 221 pp. Longmans, Green and Co., New Yo&, 1951. viii 13 X 19.5 Em. $1.60.
+
BY THE use of thin (but sufficiently opaque) paper the publishers have compressed the 230 pages of this little boak into a. thickness of onlv 1 cm. The author's st& is eauallv . economicd oi s p ~ c c .\ VPQ ~.firpt:H111011111 01 mnt;.riol i q cover+,^ will. exe n I s . This hook i.i no ~ u h ~ l l tfor u l clmi ~ ~ 0 1 .ill k tlc d f l j w t *w w r d I W *paw i* nwted i t , w p l ~ n . ~ t ~for o mthv un-
.
instructed. But i t could well be in the pocket of every graduate student studying for comprehensives, for it contains brief, clear, and direct instructions for nearly all conceivable types of calculations involved in (to quote the table of contents) gravimetrie and volumetric analysis, solubilities, molecular a-eighhs, equivalent and atomic weights, law of mass action, thermochemistry, electrolysis, ionic equilibria, and electrode potentials. The object of this hook is to enable students to pass "the various Higher Certificate and University Scholarship Examins, tions," and to that end it contains over 400 excellent problems, with answers in an appendix. A strong point in its favor is the complete absence of proportion sebnps; all problems are set up solved for z. A weak point is the use of antiquated methods of writing and-balancing chemical equations. Ionic equations are rarely used, and then almost with an apology, while the method of balancing redox equations should be seen to he believed by the younger generation of American chemists. E. g., after giving the following equation for permanganate in arid solution: 3HzSOd-KSSOI ZMnSO, 3H20 50, the 2KMnOl author states, "It may help the student to write the key perman2Mn0 50. I n ganate equation thus: KsO.MnzOi-KnO modern dress i t is, of course: 2Mn046H+-2Mnt+ 3H,O 50." The late H. P. Cady was teaching the valence change method of balancing redox equations to freshmen 40 years ago, to this reviewer's personal knowledge. Conceivably our oonservative cousins may take note of the ion-electron method some time after the year 2000! But this is incidental: the boak does not claim to teach the balancing of equations, and what it does, it does well. The typography is pleasing and no errors a,ere noticed.
+
+
+
+ + +
+ +
+
EWIKG C. SCOTT
BIOLUMINESCENCE E. Newton Harvey, Henry Fairfield Osborn Professor of Biology, Princeton University. Academic Press, Inc., New Yo&, 1952. rvi X 649 pp. 185 figs. 15.5 X 23.5 om. $13. ALTHOUGH hiolumine~eencehss long been a. fascinating subject of investigation from various points of view, it is only within the last decade that its outstanding usefulness in the study of fundamental biological problems has been fully s.ppreciated. This usefulness stems from substantial evidence that the intensity of emitted light a t any instant is propartionsl to thr reaction velocity of a specific enzyme system. This system, therefore, has a unique, natural indicator of its own reaction velocity, and it has provided an efficient, convenient, and fruitful approach to the kinetic analysis of enzyme activity in relation to numerous factors including, in particular, temperature, hydrostatic prerrure, drugs, and different kinds of ohemiertl agents. In other 71-ays also bioluminescence is advantageous in the study of hasic p~.oblemsof cell physiology, biochemistry, biophysics, and other fields. In view of the significance of the work that has been accomplished since the publication of an earlier monographpn thesubject by the ssme author in 1940 ("Living Light," Princeton University Press), this n e m r and much more comprehensive book is a timely contribution indeed. "Bioluminescence" is expressly "intended as a complete guide to knowledge on the subject"; a task for which the author is preeminently qualified, and in which he has admirably succeeded. The bibliography of nearly 2000 references gives ready access to a11 the pertinent litectture from ahout 1800 to 1951 and somewhat later. Moreover, all the important referenres pertaining to a specific point are conveniently cited together in the text, by author's name and year, Usefulness of the bibliography is enhanced by the inclusion of complete titles and nun~hersof pages, indicative of the length as well as precise suhjrrt. There is no authors' index, hut a subject index lists the names of organisms and the chief topics, under a total of some 1500 headings. The voluminous literature that exists on bioluminescence will perhaps be surprising to anyone who has not heen actively en-
