NEW BOOKS
PARAFFINS, CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY By F. Asinger. Reviewed by Robert F . Marschner, American Oil Co. Asinger-Hazzard-Steiner, as i t may come to be known, is a n impressive and useful but strange book. Its 900-odd pages are divided among nine long chapters, each followed by numbered references that add to 1559, but most of them are multiple, so the total is several times that-perhaps 10,000. But the latest useful ones are dated
1961, and few are as late as 1960, whereas the text repeatedly calls reference of the early 1940’s “recent.” Evidently, Asinger worked on the text for a decade before it appeared in German in 1956, Hazzard worked on the translation for several years before 1965, and Steiner worked on the figures and printing for more years before this English version appeared in 1968. T h e separate tasks were creditably done, although the final product somehow does not quite equal their sum.
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I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
Chapters 1 and 2 describe the production of paraffins by distillation of natural gasoline, by destructive hydrogenation of brown coal, and by synthetic hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. Paraffin wax gets preferred treatment. Despite recurrence of the shopworn theme of “ertness” (or “uninertness”) of paraffins in later chapters, production of highly branched paraffins by alkylation is hardly mentioned. T h e reason given is that alkylation represents olefin chemistry and technology to be covered in a companion volume. This and other slants reflect treatment of the subject of paraffins from the European rather than the American point of view. Chapter 8 deals with isomerization of paraffins. T h e content is sound, but the organizational goofs that put the chapter where it is and garbled the last two sections of it complicate the subject unnecessarily. Chapters 4, 3, and 5 on nitration, chlorination, and sulfonation, respectively, all go further than they should. Table 150 with two pages of properties of organic esters of nitroalcohols is utterly extraneous in Chapter 4; so are discussions of polytetrafluoroethylene, tetraethyllead, cyclopropane, and p-tertiaryamylphenol in Chapter 3; to say nothing of the wetting action and foaming power of alkylsulfonates in Chapter 5. T h e subject of paraffins is big enough to try to squeeze into one book; other subjects, no matter how interesting or important, simply shouldn’t be allowed to compete. Chapters 6 and 7 on oxidation and sulfoxidation, on the other
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hand, do not go far enough. One would expect the chapter on oxidation in a book on paraffins to cover three aspects: (a) inexorable oxidative deterioration to which all hydrocarbons sooner or later succumb; (b) deliberate conversion to a wide variety of partly oxidized products; and (c) complete combustion to fully oxidized gases to provide more than half the worlds energy. Only (b) is dealt with in Chapter 6. Sulfoxidation is better covered in Chapter 7, perhaps because sulfur dioxide is not as prevalent as oxygen-fortunately-yet. Chapter 9 on substitution behavior in paraffins is a truly pretty attempt to tie the previaus five chapters together. A few facts are extraneous, some repeat those already given, and others are already thoroughly familiar to hydrocarbon chemists, but the marshaling of information on substitution is masterly. Disagreements and anomalies are attributed primarily to differences in yields of derivatives made for analyses. T h a t was the position reached by classical hydrocarbon chemistry just before the era of gas chromatography, particle resonance, and second-round mass spectrometry. And that defines the key characteristic of this book: there is a sequel to be written, but the work that it would cover has yet to be done, let alone assembled. Imperfections are no harder to find than superfluities and omissions. T h e 133 figures are little jewels with beautiful lettering, but layout of a few needed further study. T h e 273 tables are less attractive, and layout needed more attention because of the space that
could have been saved. Nearly every page offers one-sentence paragraphs that might better have been consolidated into the neighboring text. Style is sometimes odd: Chem. Zbl. as the abbreviation for Chernisches Zentralblatt, and 0. No. for octane number, for example. But these things hardly lessen the value of Asinger-Hazzard-Steiner. T h e wonder is that the huge job got done at all.
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xxiii 896 pages. Pergamon Press Inc., 44-01 21st St., L o n g Island City, N . Y . 11101,1968, $25.
AN INTRODUCTION TO RADIOACTIVITY FOR ENGINEERS By R. A . Coombe. Reviewed by F. M . Ernpson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory In the foreword, the author states, “This book is intended as an introduction to the study of radioactivity and to give a n idea of its many diverse applications in the field of engineering.” In 164 pages he presents an introduction to radioactivity, its measurement, its application, and safety precautions. T h e book is divided into l l chapters: (1) Radioactivity; (2) Characteristics of Radioactive Decay; (3) Radioisotopes; (4) T h e Physical Properties of Radiation; (5) Measurement of Radiation: Detectors; (6) Measurement of Radiation: Techniques; (7) Radiaisotope Measurements; (8) Radioisotopes in Engineering Measurement; (9) T h e Industrial Use of Radioisotopes; (10) Scientific Uses of Radioisotopes; and (11)
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N E W BOOKS
Go ahead, start something! CH2 (COOH)2 malonic acid
CH2 (CW2
malononitrile
CH2 (COOC2Hs)z diethyl malonate
CzHsOCH = C (COOC2Hs)z diethyl ethoxymethylenemalonate
CzH50CH = C (CN)2 ethoxymethylenemalononitrile
(RO)2CHCH2CH (OR)2 malonaldehyde diacetals Here are six good starting points for synthesizing a wide variety of products. The active methylene groups and the functional groups undergo a variety of reactions, and the malonaldehyde diacetals look particularly promising as crosslinking agents for several polymers. Comprehensive product bulletins on malononitrile, diethyl malonate, and malonaldehyde diacetals are all available on request. These bulletins detail physical properties, chemical reactions and up-to-date application and patent information. For your copies and/or free samples of any of the Kay-Fries malono compounds, write us, on your company letterhead, please: Kay-Fries Chemicals, Inc., 360 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10017. A KAV
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INDUSTRIAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
Safety With Radioactive Materials. A comprehensive treatment of all the topics listed as chapter headings was obviously impossible i n the limited space available in the book. T h e author is perhaps most successful in the first four chapters where he attempts to present i n a simple manner discussions of the mechanisms of nuclear reactions, of radioactive decay, and of the units and terms with which these phenomena are described. A relatively limited number of references is given for possible additional study. This is a shortcoming in the book. Those chapters dealing directly with industrial applications and scientific applications of radioisotopes are relatively complete, both in text and i n references. Diligent study of the text and a large sample of the references should give the reader a good beginning in understanding the applications of radioisotopes. Chapter 11 on Safety with Radioactive Materials is inadequate. Radiation units, permissible doses, maximum permissible body burdens, maximum permissible concentrations, shielding, and monitoring are covered in nine pages. Persons planning to begin the use of radioisotopes will find it necessary to use other sources of information on radiation protection in addition to this chapter. T h e references at the end of the chapter and the recent book by Turner and Morgan on health physics should provide a good understanding of the problems of radiation protection. I n the listing of miscellaneous information at the beginning of the book, two values are given incorrectly. T h e value of a curie is 2.22 x 10l2 disintegrations per minute (not 2.22 x 109) , and 1 kg is 2.205 lb avoirdupois (not 2.679).
164 pages. S t . Martiris Press, 175 Fifth A m . , N e w York, N . Y . 10010. 1968. $6.50
