Organic Chemistry Marye Anne Foxand James WhiteseK Jones and Barden Publishers. Inc.: Boston. 1994. xxvi + 870 pp. Figs and tables. 1 x 2 8 c m. $ 68.75. Many teachers of organic chemistzy are less than satisfied with their present textbook, which may well have been chosen by default from the vast array af available texts, all very similar except for color scheme. Adifferent genre, however, is the Fox and Whitesell text t h a t probably will attract enthusiastic advocates as well a s critics. Mast will agree, however, t h a t its approach is highly original in methodology as well as goals. In particular, the authors have made a strong effort to establish connections between organic chemistry and the students' professional interests, which are mast commonly in biological or health-related areas. In fact, the mast distinctive feature of this book is t h a t nearly half is devoted to chapters on palymeric materials, noncovalent interaetions, catalysis, biological redox reaetions, and the molecular basis of drug action. These are all carefully crafted, up-to-date, thoughtprovoking chapters t h a t follow naturally from groundwork laid in earlier sections. Another distinguishing characteristic of this text is t h a t a mechanistic rather than functional group approach was adopted as the organizing principle. The reasoning behind this choice was that i t would allow certain economies of presentation. For example, the reactions of LiAIH4 with all ofthe carbonyl functions could be discussed as a group. Although this strategy has helped to eonserve space, i t is not without a downside in some instances. For example, in a text organized by functional group, the reactions of a n ester with LiAIH" and with Grienard reaeent narmallv would he taken uo, in the same c h a ~ t e and r their mechanistic sirnilaritv pmntcd out In rlw prrsvnt tcxr rhr-r rcarrtuw arc rakcn u p in dlncwnt rhaprt.t.i. 2nd. r ~ j n r q u c n t l vrht..l, 1111'1 l h n n l ~ m i1m#l:>r11\ is not painted out. The authors should be commended for producing a tent of less than 900 pages, but this quest for brevity may account far the scanty treatment of some subjects. The DielsAlder reaction is represented only by butadiene plus ethylene; the rate-enhancing effect of a n electron withdrawing group in the dienophile is not mentioned, and neither regioehemical nor stereochemical aspects are discussed. Similar sketchiness is found in connection with several other reactions. The Hofmann elimination of quaternary ammonium hydroxides occurs as one line in a l i s t ( p 4 9 6 ) of alkene-forming reactions but is not discussed in t h e text. The Wolf-Kishner and Clemmonsen reduction methods are mentianed in Chapter 11 with the statement that the authors, "will defer a consideration of the details of these reactions until Chapter 12." But no such details can be found there. The particular acidity of a carboxylic acid is explained in Chapter 3 only in terms of reso-
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n a m e effects in the intact carboxyl group. The promise that "We will see in Chapter 6 how resonance stabilization of the anion. . . . is also important" does not materialize. On the other hand, the long chapter on multistep synthesis is rich in detail and includes comprehensive discussions of protecting groups, retrasynthetic analysis, and the grouping of synthetic reaetions. Illustrative examples include the complete syntheses ofthe pain reliever ibuprofen-and the sedative vaiium. For those who feel that current texts devote too much attention to nomenclature, this text will provide relief. Others may lament the uniformlv scant treatment of the subiect. The section on sub-
Misprints and mistakes, though present are no more prevalent than expected for a first edition, and the publishers are to be commended for their early call to readers for corrections. It was upsetting, however, to see H F classified together with HBr as a "strong a c i d ( p 628) and to note the erroneous definition of "enantiotopic" on pp 764 and 829. The authors of the oresent text have until now been known ori-
up the majority of a n organic chemistry class.
Samuel G. Levine
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honn Caro na Sl3te n m s R a e qrr hC 27695
Qualitative and Instrumental Analysis of Environmentally Significant Elements Thomas G. Chasteen. Wiley: New York, NY. 1993. 131 pp. Illus. 20.4 x 25.4 cm. Students like instruments. Often they have a poor understanding of what "the box" does, but they sense that this is how modern chemists generate those numbers they hear about in the news. In spite ofthis interest, instrumentation is virtually ignored in introductorv colleee courses (with the enceotion ofthe OH meter
text to do so. The author approaches the task by bridging the gap between the often used classical qua1 scheme, with its rich tradition as a teaching tool, and i n s t r u k n t a l environmental analysis. An introductory chapter on separation and solubility is followed by six chapters based upon the five cation groups and the anion group of
Reviewed in This Issue Reviewer Marye Anne Foxand James Whitesell, Organic Chemistry Thomas G. Chasteen, Qualitative and Instrumental Analysis of Environmentally Significant Elements Christine E. Gorrnan, editor, Working Safely with Chemicals Leone110 Paoloni, editor, Lettere a Stanislao Cannizzaro: Scrini e Carteggi 1857-1862; Lettere a Stanislao Cannizzaro 1863-1868 Gerald Holton, Science and Anti-Science Titles of Interest Monographs m
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Samuel G. Levine Donald Bath
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George 6.Kauffman
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George 6.Kauffman George B. Kauffman
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Volume 71
Number 10 October 1994
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reviews rhr ci:iss~c.tl
