book reviews
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information but modern electrochemical techniques such as ac polarography are not included. The introduction to optical methods seems good, but there is little information on deviations from Beer's Law. There is verv little of infrared theory, i.e., what motion oimolecules cause absorption. The section on instrumentation is excellent. The atomic ahsorption treatment is generally good, although no equations showing the fraction of excited atoms to ground state atoms are given. The chapter on emission spectroscopy includes flame emission and this results in a rather brief treatment of flame methods, althoueh the ehsoter is eenerallv excellent. The chapter i,n nmr n light on thewy as ucll as inpcctm. It is mterestlng ro now that much better treatments of nmr are t o be found in organic tents such as Morrison and Boyd. The chromatography section is also light on theory and examples. The newly added mass snectra is eenerallv. eood but aeain there is little infcmnatim that wcndd show a atudent h w ma.* spectroscopy cracking patterns nmr a b m t The nutumntir nnnlysir chapter i:. d'intrrert and is well dune. In gmt.ml,thisisir well wriltrn text but it is hampered by the fact that theauthor treata a number of subjecb (as discussed above) tw lightly. This would lead the serious instructor to supplement the teat with added information.
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up to date. For example the chapter on anproperties rn~singand luwering uperators, matrix representation, vector coupling, and projection operators. Elsewhere one finds interspersed among the classic examples lucid applications invol;ing such topics Fourier t&nsforms, Poission brackets, uncertainty, the virial theorem. Condon-Slater rules. Hiickel t h e m,.. \,an dcr Waals forces, larers, tunnelmg, group theory. I? nmr spectroscopy, the Born npproximation, as well as numerous others. The closely detailed documentation (each problem is referenced) reveals that most of the standard textbook derivations have been included as well as many original problems and examples from the literature that are within the masoof thestudent. For examole. . . m thr rhaprrr on hydrogen.l~keatomz.ju~irnnl rrfcrrnrrsare given for an npplrcntion of Srhrodi,~gcr's fartoriratiun technrque for solving one-dimensional problems, a relativistic correction calculation, and a development of the two-dimensional hydrogen atom paradox. Although i t is conceivable that Problems and Solutions could be used as a textbook, its most useful application would be as a supplement workbmk similar to, say, a Schsum's Outline, providing alternative derivations and prartwe. In thm sense Johnwn and I'rdrrscn's bvuk fills an importnnr void and h w l d b e a must wtlrcmcsddit~mtothe l i brary of teacher and student alike.
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Dan McLaughiin UniversilyofNew Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Donald G. Davis University of New Orleans New Orleans. Louisiana 70122
i'roblems and $olutlons in Quantum Chemistry and Physlcs Natural and Synthetic Polymers Charles S. Johnson and Lee G.Pedersen, University of North Carolina. AddisonWesley Publishing Company, 1974. Figs. and tables. 21 X 28 cm. & +432 pp. $8.50 (paper text edition) Students in Quantum Chemistry classes are frequently warned that there are only two kinds of problems they will encounter in the course--trivial or impossible. Evidence for this frustrating situation may be found in the large number of otherwise excellent quantum textbooks whose authors have elected t o include no exercises a t all. The book bv John.s#mand Pedcrsen btterr B r r ~ ~ l u t m IOnhoth renrhcrs and students by pruvidma a supplemental paperback containing 280 examples followed immediately by detailed salutions and 139 supplementary exercises provided with final answers only. This carefully written book is divided into 12 chanter t o ~ i c sand desiened to he selfn.ntaitwd in the sense01 inrludmgshorr rxp.,qitor) intmduruons ro csc h chapter, and ten extensive appendices on mathematical topics. Of course some facility with baekground subjects such as calculus, mechanics, and electricity and magnetism is assumed. The subject matter is quite modern, including entire c h a ~ t e r son formalism. the electronic
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A346 / Journal of Chemical Education
Henry I. Bolker, MeGill University. Mareel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1974. xiv 688 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 23.5 cm. $29.75 and $19.57 (texthook).
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In hm "Xntural and Synthet~cI'olymen" Bdker hni pn,duced a m ~ v dand often enp c m g entrant :ntu the field of intmductory polymer chemistry texts. True t o its title, the hook embraces the broad perspective of polymer science and gives almost as much attention to polymers of natural origin as to those produced synthetically. From some other viewp~inb,however, the coverage encompasses considerably less ground. The physical chemistry of macromolecules is, with few exceptions, left for the reader t o glean from other sources. The properties of polymers in solution are not seriously addressed, and there is little svstematie discussion of the
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polymeric materials and on their roles in technology and nature. Thus, considerable space is devoted t o the organic chemistry of polymer synthesis and to discussions of the natural source and function of the biopolymers. In eeneral. chemical and macromolec-
polymer or class of polymers under diseussion. This aooroach lends a decidedlv de.. zrriptivr flwur 11. Ihr t r x t , a n imprrrsiun whlrh is nor diminished by tlw abrewr u i mtrnrion to drtailrd mrch~nisricasprrtso i polymer synthesis and the ~ometimeshurried derivations of the equations presented. The book is organized so as to proceed from the structurally simple to the structurally complex, that is, from the linear homopolymers to the branched heteropolymers. Following a short introductory chapter notable principally for its interesting review of the technological and chemical history of macromolecules, the .balance of the text (ercepting a brief Appendix on molecular weight determination) is sandwiched between chapters devoted to the two predominant oalvmers of wood. the linear oolwaccharide. , ~ r l l u l ~tChaprer ~ ~ t . 2,. and the hichly ramified p~.lyanmmtir,lirnin Chapter I?,. Thejeare cltarl> r w of the m r authoritariw ~ and unusual chapters in the text. As is also true for the other chapters, numerous citations of the original and review literature of the field are provided. The development of the text proceeds through chapters on the linear synthetic condensation and addition polymers to a discussion of stereoregularity in vinyl polymers in Chapter 5. Here, as elsewhere in the hook, the double-spaced typewriter-produced copy is easy to read, but the resultant low information density sometimes forces figures and equations t o be placed so as to require a page turn for reference. inked-in features of the typewritten formulas and reaction mechanisms reduce the eyeappeal of some of the pages, and even in Chapter 5 the three dimensional structural aspects of the molecules are sometimes poorly depicted by the formulas. Chain branching is introduced in Chapter 6 with reference to oolvethvlene. oolv(vinv1 acetate).. amvlo. . . , . p'crin, and glyrc,gm. Chapter, 7 and a r u w r the h c t r r ~ p ~ I w i ~ r h a r : dand t S polynurlc~I tdes, respcrti\~vlv.'l'he i w n w po.ymva haw scarcely before heen discussed in polymer chemistry texts, while Chapter 8 devotes appreciable space to the cellular disposition and function of the nueleic acids. A discussion of the genetic code and the role of the polynueleotides in orotein svnthesis is reserved for Chapter li which deals with the polypeptides. The two intervening chapters offer competent coverage of synthetic copolymers, rlasrornrrs, and pulytncr rn>.s-linking. I'hcsrrrnpth~otHulker'srcxt seem ilearlv to lie in its ~ 0 t c n t i diur dc\.+lou:nr the reader's appr&iatian of the centra1po;ition occupied by macromolecules in technology and biology. This feature of the book is complemented by its extensive references to the literature. The book might be especially appropriate as a text in a course for students in a technological curriculum, particularly those not previously exposed t o the role of oolvmers in molecular bioloev. Instrudors in . . rrnnin .rttings night wi-h t u take advantage oithe hw,k'sstrung trratmrnt ofwmd p d y nwra. In a q ycnrrd itltrvductq pc,lymer chemistry course, however, some strategy for coping with the omissions cited earlier would have to be developed.
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The Origins of Chemistry Robert P. Multhauf, Director of the Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Neale Watson Academic Publications, New York, 1966. 412 pp. 9 full-size plates. 22 X 14 cm. $10.
Quite a few chemists are not a t all interested in the beginnings of the science, while others care only for the happenings that beean with Lavoisier. i.e. so-called modern
involved numerous nationalities, the socalled Ur Chenie. The book under review here deals in depth with all stages up to the period of modern chemistry, which has been amply treated by other writers. This early period was dominated by the arbitrary statements of the philosophers of the Greeks, Romans, Arabic, and Renaissance Europeans. Outstanding were Aristotle (B.C. 384322) and Paracelsus (1493-1541), who postulated that all materials were made up of the four elements (fire, water, earth, air) later augmented by philosophical sulfur, salt, and mercury. This early "natural philosophy" lacked both experimental verification and
any connecting body of theory. Paraeelsus was likewise the founder of "iatrorhemistry" namely the relation of the elements and compounds to medicine. Side by side with this body of theory there developed a corpus of "practical chemistry" embodying metallurgy, salts, and a few acids. Human cupidity invariably led to alchemy (the effort to transmute base metals into gold). For some unknown reason, this hook pays little attention to the phlogistic hypothesis of combustion, whose overthrow late in the 18th century, led to the establishment of modern chemistry. Much of the early literature came prior to the invention of printing and most of the original manuscripts have been lost. The author of this baok evidently spent much labor reading the originals that he could find and the printed texts derived from and translated from the original documents, and consequently his bibliography and footnotes constitute a veritable mine of information. This baok belongs in every institutional chemical library and in view of its modest price it is a n excellent huy for the private collector who has an interest in the history of chemistry.
Raloh E.Oesoer ~niversity'of~ i n c i n i a t i Cincinnati, Ohio, 45221
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David A. Want University of California, irvine Iwine. California 92664
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Volume 53, Number 8. August 1976 1 A347
