Books
Method Development in CE Petr Jandik
Capillary Electrophoresis of Small Molecules and Ions
Capillary Electrophoresis off Small Molecules and Ions Petr Jandik and Giinther Bonn VCH 220 E. 23rd St. New York, NY 10010
1993, 298 pp., $65
From the title of this book, a reader might expect a comprehensive review of how to separate small molecules and ions. However, Jandik and Bonn's main goal is to provide readers with enough information to develop new CE instruments and methods. The authors achieve this goal in their very brief but informative historical account of development of CE and in the two following chapters on fundamentals and instrumentation for CE. The last two chapters, which focus almost exclusively on the authors' research on CE separations of small inorganic and organic ions and carbohydrates, provide the reader with several strategies for solving one type of separations problem. Although this approach is an effective way to introduce method development, it does not satisfy the needs of readers who want a comprehensive review of many different applications. Methods for separation of biomolecules, such as isoelectric focusing or capillary gel electrophoresis, are mentioned briefly, but the authors make little attempt to discuss them. Instead, they compare and contrast counterelectroosmotic and coelectroosmotic flow separations. Such organization helps the novice understand the important differences between the two general CZE methods; the more advanced practitioner will probably discover connections between apparently unrelated methods. 426 A
Analytical Chemistry, July 1, 1995
The chapter on fundamentals of CE is comparable to those in other books already in print and is complete enough for a newcomer to thefield.Though the authors are not encyclopedic in coverage of all CE methods, they treat detection, injection, and quantitation methods in more detail than do many similar-sized books on CE. Such complete coverage gives the experienced user some new insights about subtle points that are often ignored in other CE books. For instance, the authors discuss the relation between injection and detection efficiency and peak quantitation in great detail when evaluating the overall sensitivity of a given technique. One great strength of this book is the readable length achieved by the authors'
The chapter on fundamentals of CE is complete enough for a newcomer to the field. limited focus on small molecules and ions. Most references are from the period 1988-1992. The table of contents is not highly detailed, but the subject index seemed entirely appropriate. Though no author index is provided, references are provided at the end of each chapter rather than in a single bibliography. The diagrams in the book are all readable, but their quality is not always crisp. I believe that this book will be useful for chemists of different experience with CE. Those unfamiliar with CE will be able to learn the fundamentals and read about simple applications that make the chemistry underlying a CE separation understandable. Those familiar with CE will undoubtedly learn something new in the exhaustive chapter on instrumentation and will gain a different perspective by thinking about CE on a level of organiza-
tion that they may not be accustomed to. The authors have clearly written this book for separations chemists and analytical chemists, and not for biochemists; they have done an excellent job for this intended audience. Reviewed by Howard Drossman, The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
Principles of Laser Spectroscopy
Applied Laser Spectroscopy: Techniques, Instrumentation, and Applications David L. Andrews, Ed. VCH 220 E. 23rd St. New York, NY'10010
1993, 472 pp., $125
This book is a multiauthor work that covers most of the range of laser spectroscopy. It has two introductory chapters on fundamental principles and basic instrumentation, followed by eight chapters on different methods, including UV-vis absorption, high-resolution IR, fluorescence, Raman, nonlinear Raman, multiphoton, ultrafast, and mass spectroscopies. Most chapters are directed toward using laser methods for fundamental characterization in molecular spectroscopy, particularly gas-phase analysis. There is less emphasis on laser methods that are important to analytical and technological applications. In fact, important contribu-
