an extensive index which has almost 15,000 entries. Chapter 1has been expanded to include a chronologic table of the more important contributions to medicinal chemistry from Lister's use of phenol as an antiseptic in surgery in 1861 to the present. I t also includes an explanation of the anatomic therapeutic chemical classification (ATC) used in Nordic countries. In the discussion of the nomenclature of drugs, the author gives a fairly comprehensive treatment of t h e Warld Health Organization's rules for devising international nonproprietary names for pharmaceuticals. The criteria for the Warld Health Organization of Essential Drugs and a model list of essential drugs follows therulesof nomenclature in Chapter 1. The chapter concludes with a hihliography of codices, reference works, textbooks and professional journals for medicinal chemistry and related fields. Chapters 2 and 3 are greatly expanded treatments on the development of drugs and the development of drugs and theory of drug action. The remaining 19 chapters are devoted to the description of nearly 5000 pharmaceutical agents. The essential drugs considered to be of greater interest to the medical and pharmaceutical orofessions are covered in detail. This covimge includes the history, the ge. nerir name*, pmpriemry names, the chemical name, obtention, chemical and physical properties, uses, hiotransformations, incompatibilities, bioavailahility, dosage, storage, and assay for each major drug. Each chapter ends with an extensive hihliography divided into sections according to each maior chanter division. Each section starts with current e n t r i e ~and continues in reverse chronological order. The author's intended purpose for this book is as a text in undergraduate and graduate courses in pharmacology and medicinal chemistry as well as a reference for professionals in the fields of medicine, veterinary medicine. dentistrv. He has .. and nharmacv. . succeeded in writing a thorough up-to-date book that fulfills his stated intentions well. Karl F. Kumli Callfanla State University Chico. CA 95929 ~~~
Proflles of Emlnent Amerlcan Chemists RaymondB. Seymourand Charles H. Fish er. Litarvan: Sydney, Australia, 1988; Available from LitaNan Literature. 12949 W. 68th Ave.. ANada. CO 80004. xx 519 pp. 155 portraits. 13.6 X 21.2 cm.
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$29.95.
The American Institute of Chemirta was founded in 1923 to improve puhlic recogniA174
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of
tion of the chemieal profession. In 1926 it established the AIC Gold Medal, its highest honor and one of the three major awards in American chemistry, "given annually to a person who has stimulated activities of service to the science of chemistry or the profession of chemist or chemical engineer in the United States." Recognizing the need for a more specialized honor, Charles H. Fisher was instrumental in getting the AIC to initiate its annual Chemical Pioneer Program, beginning in 1966, to recognize four "chemists, chemical engineers, and their associates who have made outstanding contributions which have had a major impact on advances in chemical science and industry and/or the chemical profession.. .with an emphasis.. .on creative innovation, often by invention, in the world of chemical technology." The authors of this hook, both Chemical Pioneers themselves-Ray Seymour in 1985 and "Hap" Fisher in 196& have compiled profiles, either original work or based on information from reliable sources, ranging in length from 2 to 7 pages, each accompanied by a portrait, of all 154 AIC Gold Medalists and Chemical Pioneers from the inception of the awards through 1988, arranged alphahetically from Roger Adams to Howard Elliot Zimmerman. Because the authors are or have been personally acquainted with many of the individuals profiled, the biographies go beyond the usual statistics to include intimate, peraonal details on their Lives, families, and nonscientific interests and activities. Although the majority of the awardees are industrial or governmental chemists or chemical entrepreneurs, many prominent academic chemists are featured, including Nobel laureates Herbert C. Brown, Melvin Calvin, Paul J. Flory, Willard F. Lihhy, Linus C. Pauling, Glenn T. Seahorg, and Harold C. Urey. In keeping with sociologist of science Robert K. Merton's Matthew effect (named after St. Matthew 252-"For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance"), most of the hiographees are recipients of numerous other awards; 15 received the National Medal of Science, the highest award given by the United States government, and 14 of the living honorees are members of the National Academies of Sciences or of Engineering. A number of the stories recounted here are of the Horatio Alger, inspirational type. Many of the versatile scientists profiled here were horn during the Great Depression in humble circumstances in small midwestern towns and by dint of hard work and diligence,these admitted workaholics raised themselves to positions of national and international importance. Not all are chemists, e.g., financiers and philanthropists Andrew William Mellon and Richard Beatty Mellon and lawyer and foundation president Francis Patrick Garvan, who made valuable contributions t o the American chemical industry, are included. The one black (Percy Lawn Sherman) and five
Chemical Education
women (Rachel Full= Brown, Mary Lowe Good, Elizabeth Lee Hazen, Isabella Lugoski Karle, and Stephanie Louise Kwolek) included show that much more progress needs to he made in attracting minorities to the chemical profession. Unlike Wyndham D. Miles' American Chemists and Chemical Engineers (American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1976), all of whose 517 hiographees are deceased, this hook, the first in a series titled "Discovering the Discoverers," includes numerous living scientists. I t reads like a Who's Who of American chemistry with its useful, interesting, and authoritative studies of those remonsible for manv of America'sadvanees in scienceduring the 20th century. Fur a book of its length the error3 are few,mostly typographical, withonly a few of fact ("Teflon" wan named in 1944 nut 1949). Its ertrcmely attractive price makes it a "must" for the personal bookshelf of practicinp. chemist and chcmical cdurntor alike. George B. Kauffman California State University, Fresno Fresno. CA 93740
A Gulde to Materials Characterhation and Chemlcal Analysls John P. Sibilia, Editor. VCH: New York, NY, 1988. x 318 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.2 X 24.2 cm. $34.50.
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Atomic a n d Molecular Beam Methods Giacinto Smles, Editor. Davide Bassi, Udo Buck, and Derek Laine, Associate Editors. Oxford University: New York, NY. 1988. xiii 721 pp. Figs. and tables. 20.2 X 26 cm. $95.00.
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Carbocycle Construction In Terpene Synthesls Tse-Lok Ho. VCH: New York, NY, 1988. viii 768 pp. Tables. 16.5 X 24.3 cm.
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$125.00.
Carbon Dloxlde Actlvatlon b y Metal Complexes Amo Behr. VCH: New York. NY. 1988. xiii 161 pp. Figs. and tables. 17.5 X 24.3 cm. $98.00.
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