Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews Macroscale and Microscale Organic Experiments, 3rd Edition Kenneth L. Williamson. Houghton-Mifflin: Boston, 1999. ISBN 0669243469. $74.36.
The third edition of Williamson’s Macroscale and Microscale Organic Experiments is welcome. Williamson’s lab texts trace their lineage back not only through earlier editions, but, via a multi-edition conventional-scale text (Fieser and Williamson), to Louis Fieser’s 1935 lab text. All these books are characterized by well-honed, reliable experiments and innovations such as the use of high-boiling solvents to accelerate reactions and an interesting sequence of transformations based on derivatives of 1,2-diphenylethane. Another connective thread, familiar to many, is the construction and use of simple homemade devices for a variety of laboratory purposes. Williamson himself is a pioneer in the change from macroscale chemistry in the student lab to the microscale approach. His text is written to use a set of glassware designed by him. At San Francisco State University we have used this glassware since the appearance of his first microscale book. Other instructors prefer microscale glassware with ground glass joints, but we find Williamson’s kit to be entirely adequate for the undergraduate lab. Moreover, it is the least expensive type available, does not break easily, and is unattractive to graduate research students, hence does not “disappear”. Other innovations appearing in earlier editions include sharp attention (all of Chapter 2) to safety, and the integration of waste disposal methods into the lab experiments themselves. By having students convert waste products into less harmful and less bulky materials in the lab, the enormous costs of disposal can be reduced without postlab treatment, a step not permitted except by a licensed waste-treatment facility. Williamson is also the first or one of the first to place computational chemistry into an introductory organic lab text. In this new edition, (optional) molecular mechanics calculations remain the workhorse method. These are now used in conjunction with 20 experiments, and are supplemented in some cases by suggested semiempirical computations. Other new texts, for example that by Pavia et al. (3rd ed., 1999), take computation even further.
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New features in the third edition include reduction of the macroscale experimental quantities to amounts compatible with 14/20 standard-taper glassware. Additionally, there are some useful and characteristically clever equipment adaptations for microfiltration and gas phase IR spectra, a few new or updated experiments, replacement of all IR spectra by Fourier transform spectra, and routine use of 250-MHz 1H NMR spectra. Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy is briefly discussed but not further encountered. One new feature which looks promising is called “Surfing the Web”. Pertinent Web site addresses dot the book, but it would be useful if these were indexed as a group. The brief but up-to-date chapter on searching the literature includes addresses and some advice on accessing commercial databases. Regarding the lab course itself, two useful addresses are http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/ organic_lab/ and Williamson’s own site (under construction as I write), http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/kwilliam/ microscale.shtml/, where pictures of techniques and other support information will interest teachers and students alike. Williamson has always been responsive to users of his texts, and will probably be quick to incorporate new information and improved techniques at this site. There are a few areas where improvement can still be made. The chapter on IR spectroscopy, although revised, does not contain an extensive, conventional table of characteristic group frequencies. All our instructors supplement the text with standard tables. We also find the section on organic qualitative analysis to be limited and mildly difficult to use. Students must do a lot of page turning, back and forth, to find some of the tests and recipes needed. At SFSU more than half of our second-semester lab is given over to organic qual, and no single lab text except that of Pasto, Johnson, and Miller seems adequate for this purpose. These cautions aside, the third edition is confidently recommended. The principal question to be asked by a potential microscale user is, “What type of glassware do I want?” If Williamson’s inexpensive yet effective glassware is to be used, then his text is the best bet. James Keeffe Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA 94132
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 76 No. 11 November 1999 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
