to see their time in organic chemistry utilized in biochemistry. It gives their background
must be eliminated for a large population of our undereraduates.
chapters to be, for the most part, clear and thorough. The presentation of materials in this section follows the classic pattern of: elveolwis. citric acid cvele, electron transoort.
was given short shrift, being tagged on as a short section a t the end of the Citric Acid Cycle chapter. Eight carbon sugars are not even mentioned. Part 111, entitled, Some Aspects of Human Biochemistry, seems an organizational tribute to relevance, particularly for students of medicine. Two ofthe chapters, on integration of metabolism and hormones, are, a t least in part, carryovers from the author's previous books. The integration chapter has been substantially expanded, however, and both chapters have a more physiological orientation in the new book. The chapter on nutrition is entirely new. I must admit that I like this kind ofmaterial in a biochemistry text. It is too easy to lose sight of the organism in looking a t its molecules. And these chapters are well done, though if you find this material to your liking I would also recommend the trulv excellent treatment in "Biochemistrv:
well done and extremely up-to-date. As throughout the book, the multitude of illustrations are well done and the reproduction is excellent. I would like now to turn ta same general features of the book. Exclamatory statements are used to head each topic in the book, much like Stryer, though not quite as extensively. I am somewhat uncomfortable with this device. I think it makes the book easy tu learn from, perhaps, in fact, too easy. Biochemistry is generally an upper division course. Shouldn't upper division students be exposed to standard book formats? A feature of the book I particularly liked are the excellent problemsat the end of each chapter. They are written in the spirit of the excellent problems in "Biochemistry, A Problems Approach" by Woad et al., but with the advantage that all areas of biochemistry are represented equally in these problems. I strongly recommend them. Short answers (sixteen plus pages of them) are presented a t the back of the book. As in the author's previous books, each chapter is concluded with a summary and a list of references in which books and Scien-
&erbead projector to be more convenient for occasional illustrations than slides. I have
A202
Journal
of Chemical Education
Found that most of these masters work quite well, even the electron micrographs, though some of the protein structures have t w many gray tones for our thermofax. In summary, then, I find the book to be well illustrated, well written, and comprehensive, but lacking in chemical depth. I feel that it could serve excellently for some introductory biochemistry courses, though for my own short course I would choose Stryer for his somewhat greater level of sophistieation.1
F
~ u m dt State university paselk ' Arcata, CA 95521
a n i c Wemlstry, A Modern Wlley & Sons, Inc.. viii 846 pp. Figs.
+
and tables. 17 X 24 cm. $34.95. Several comments concerning general strengths and deficiencies of the text are in order before comments are made chapter by chapter. Notably, the detailed outline given a t the onset of each chapter is a prized feature of this book, as are the historical perspectives afforded the reader from the author's rich experience in inorganic chemistry. Added to these assets are extensive author and subject indices, a chronology of discovery of the elements (Appendix 1111, eztensiue primary references (though only 15-20 percent postdate 1970), and an outstanding treatment of nonaqueaus solvent chemistry. However, there is one serious omission from the text-inorganic biochemistry. Too few pages are devoted to a modern view of the solid
ten yearfi or more deserve a greater consideration in any modern introduction to inarganic chemistry. There is a brief, academic discussion of defect structures, but the subject is relatively underdeveloped. More extensive sets of exercises would have been useful. Serious treatment of textual matter begins in Chapter 2 with nuclear chemistry, arather novel route to initiating atomic structure which is given thorough coverage. Especially useful are the extensive tabulations of atomic wave functions and physical properties, the orbital representation (including f orbitals), and the treatment of magnetism. One problem arises with orbital energies on pp. 57-58 with the erroneous concept that the orbital energy of the 4s drops below that of the 3d. Ionization potential and electron affinity are somewhat loaselv defined. In Chanter 3 the periodic table isgiven adequate treatment with the historical perspective being infor-
cussion of structure and bonding in the metallic state is given along with brief mention of defect lattices, nonstoiehiometric compounds, and semiconductors. The elegance of this chapter is tainted by the incorrect structural assignments of the hexagonal and cubic closest-packing of spheres models and the cursory treatment given to modern, solid-state chemistrv.
The VB and MO approaches to bonding are given in Chapter 5; H-bonding is given broad coverage, and even secondary bonding forces are afforded systematic coverage. Hybridization is introduced but treated more fully in Chapter 6. Electron deficient bonding is quite well presented and the chapter is concluded with a unique presentation on inclusion compounds. Extensive coverage of molecular structure d& and principles are presented through VSEPRTheory (including a critical analysis), hybridization, and Walsh's Rules in Chapter 6. Molecular symmetry and point group symbolism are then treated. The chapter is concluded with summaries of physical techniques used in molecular structure determination. In Chapter 7 coordination chemistry is given an historical introduction followed by nomenclature, ligand types, and a very lengthy coverage of various types of isom-
.. . .... 07;-m
H..nd:ng In ,u,rd~nn~~t,n c hrmintr? i.,givw i n Cluiprrr R thrwyh ~ h trrad~rwnal . \'f1,('F. I.F. ..nd 310 tl.nmt.$ I'nr auth ,r ha., l*w rowed rather heavilv from the Cotton and \ \ ' ~ l k ~ n iand m tnt ~ u h r r ytmrs t ~ h1s r 11lucrrat~\cw r k hcrr hlrrnl corbunyl., nitrosyls, and cyano complexes are treated. Some organometallic coverage is given, too. The chapter is concluded with iso- and heteropoly acids and anions. The last three chanters of the hook are dewted 11, inurwnh. rc;wtism a irh rrdor and wid hnsl r w w t l m ; In (.'h;~prrrI l ' h r b n r i and k l ~ ~ t t r o d u r r ~ v11, n . rhcrrn~,dwam~cs netics are good reminders, but the earlier usage of thermodynamics (Cf, Ch. 4) make the introductions here rather late. The mechanism given for the rate law in eqn. 9-19 is incorrect. The redox chemistry is given excellent coverage, especially the applications made of electrode potential data (bath conventially and through Latimer diagrams). A cross-referenceto Chapter 11,section 3 would have been helpful. Acid-base definitions are given ample coverage, but available thermochemistrv data was not exoloited in oressine the ~ m r r a rrcnd; l I < ) i t m ~ l u . ~ . nIn . hw 111s. vu..itm 01 n ~ n . q l c m .rdvrlll SgstPm.. Ihc .rutllor I; ar hl. I,cit. The t x t r n w r c . , l l w t ~ m ~ of physical constant data on various solvent systems are unparalleled in recent texts. The presentation is informative, comprehensive, and critically judged. Molten salt and solid state reactions add a new dimension. The former is relatively unique to this text. A good introductory survey of inorganic polymers concludes this chapter. The book is concluded with Chapter 11 in which reactions of coordination entities are covered. The mechanistic approach to substitution and electron transfer reactions is attractive to this reviewer. However, the text steers a course close to older line work with little emphasis on recent chemistries. For example, volumes of activation and their impact on substitutional processes is not acknowledged nor are the more recent lines of inquiry in electron transfer reactions. Three aooendices: literature of inoreanic .. clwrn~>try. n
