The seventh volume of the H i g h P o l y m e r s series is devoted to the plastic polymers formed t j y t’he inter:tct,ioii of plieiiols a n d aldehydes. 111 t\cent>--seven chapters the subject is tliol,ouyhly preseiitcd. iiiclutliiig the polymers of various :ilcleli>.,les aiid phenols, their physic,al structure aut1 niccli:uiicd, chemic:il. electrical, and therninl properties. .\lsri discussed are the oil-soluhlr : r n d t h e ion-esriiuiige ~)Iieiiopl:ist~, : i i i [ l their techiiic:rl m:iiiu f w t u r e arid molding technique. The miscell:ineous tec1inic:d :igplic:itioiis :ire niimei~oiis arid importaut. The tCxt, \vel1 provided ivith t:Ltilcs, cIi:rgr:ims, : ~ n drhemicul formul:ir, brings 3 modern trwtmeiit fitted t o t h e present p o n . i n g i i i t p w s t : i i i d importnricr of the S U I ) ,iect.
s, ( < ,I , I s l l . I.cr isotopes. 1 1 ‘ u p p o t ~ t c. ~l rliucii u n r . Scwiitli (‘onierence 011 Chemistry of the Instirutm Internationale (le C:liimic Solvay. 411 pp. 13russels : 11. Stoops. 1948. This confcreiicc. held :it I3russels September 32-27, 194i, was attended I)y eight participants giving pnpei’s, niric nicmhers presrntiny prepared discussions, nine invited members, sis members froin the I.’:iculty of Science, :tiid sis auditors, professors of the Cniversiti. Libre of Brussels. The pxpcrs :itid discussions arc>iii English or French :tccording to the n:ttionality of t h e spe:ikcr T h e countries represented were Erigland, Relgium, Switzerland, France, the Uriit,ctl States, Swedeii. and Denmark. It is impossible t o reviem:iIl of the interesting ur in1port:tiiL points presented or discussed. Prof. Joliot introduced t,he (’onference 1)y revieiving the methods of formation, the constit,utiou, and the filiations of the rulio:tctive isotopeij, especially t,he artificial ones. I n the ensuing discussion Prof. l’niietli questioned thc validity of regarding t h e new r:ire e:trtli series :is heginning witli :ict iniuni, ;tiid corit~~iidetl t h a t urnniuni, particularly in t h e h e m v:ileiit s t a t e , t:iixs its ~)l:tcequitt: iiuturally lielow tungsten. .\dmittedly elements 93-96 do have the propei.tics rlt:ir:trteristic of r:irc r:irtha. While endorsing t h e names given t o t,hem by Seaborg, I%neth f::cetiously refors 1 0 the emb:irrassment hoth in English and French of designatiiig the salts of thr loivri, vnlcncc state of curium the “curious s i l t s ” o r , i n French, “les sels curieus.” Hainbridge presentrd :in escellerit :tc:couiit of “Sonic Results of .\lass S p r c t r u m -111alysis,” which was tiir subject, of a n intei,estiiig discussion including the ratio of He3 t o He‘ in th(1 atmosphere :tnd in ii:itur:d gases. The vari:itions i n the l a t t e r :we now known to br inuc,h greater t1i:iii represented by eightfold :is given :Lt t,he conference, b u t all arc i n t h e wrong directtion t o he rsplained by greater diffusion of He3 from the top of thc atmosphere as wits pointed o u t b y Paneth. T h e report of Ingolcl presented his very eskiaustive studies of the spectroscopy of henzene a n d of t,he deutel.o-siil)stituted benzenes, \chich \wre proclaimed a, classic of spectroscopy. I n his report on the “Properties of Ilatlioactive Tracers” 1’:Lneth reviewed the production and availability of the most-used t,racer elrments. I n the discussion Hevesy emphasized t h e need in some casea of carrier-free tracers and gave sonic methods for their preparation. Langseth presented methods of preparation of organic deuterium compounds. IIevesy gave a n exhaustive review of t h e applications of labeled phosphorus. Calvin discussed t h e application of radiocarbon in chemistry :tnd biology, in which, after special attention t o t h e methods of measuring C’:, t h e results of some studies of reaction mechanism were given as examples. I n t h e biological applications some problems of animal nietabolisni were discussed, a s well as some initial results in photosynthesis. Rittenberg reported o n t,he use of N15a n d deuterium in t h e st,udy of chemicd processes in t h e living cell. S. C. LIXD.
Reagentsfor Qttalztatzve Iilorqanzc ilnalysis. Second Report of t h e International Committee on New Analytical Reactions and Reagents of t h e Internntiorial Union of Chemistry P. E. WLNGER .4ND 1: D ~ C K C R (Editors), T a n d c. I. ~ I E I ~ \ J ~ E Y R C iRSOD ,I GILI.I-
K E W BOOKS
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( J o f ~ i.3qclhors). t s s i i 379 pp. Seiv York: Elscvier Publisliing Co.. I n c . , 1R-lti. Price: si.50. T h e Second Report of t.he Interiiational Committee on S e n - -1iiaIytieal R c x t i o n s :inll Reagents was originally publishetl i u Frencli. Tho English etlition is :I revised versiori of t h e French edition, v i t h nen- d:it:i a n d i)liotoniicrogr:iplis utltled. .lppxreiit!y t h e object of t lie Second Iteport is t o p w w n t :t wlecriuii uf qu:tlit:itivt r c agents from nniong t h e n x ~ i i ylistetl i i i t h e First Report :[lid to augment tliese rvith certaiii 1 1- osimea:J .ind is niolyb.I;ttc :I rv:iKerit worthy o f iriclusioii i n :I sclert l i s t ? Tliew i.3 : I statement i r i i he iritrotluction \r-hich earlriot lie left uiich:illengctl : ‘.It should rcngent of v ~ r high y sensitivity ilOYx,for es;tniplc) (‘:in only I)? rrconiniended of selectivit!. ;irr o u t s t m d i n g , lest serious errors result from i t . ” I t would u n s t e i f se1ec.t lists of rengents are n o t t o include t h e most sensitive ones. JIIthe contr:iry. such re:tgeuts :tre t o he specially sought for :~ndprized wlien found. Those t - 1 1 0 : I ~ J ~ ) I . Y niicro reuctioiis i i i the solution of m;inifold prok)lenis of science :ind industry i:ive grc:it neet1 on niaiiy occ:isioiis f o r estrcmely sensitive rc:ict ions :tiid they will p:~ricul:irly v:ilue t h e r e q e i i t s t i i t i t :itford them. .iriyoiir ivho fe:m :I supersensitivc re:igent ‘:in rctlucr t h r size of his s:iniple i r i proportion t o t h e supposrtl suiJei.sciisitivity~ a l i e n :L less lclic:irc iwictioii sufliccs. .\ pr:iiseviorthy feature c,f the hook is t h e statcmeiit of tlic seiisitivity : t i i d selectivity of lic i,e:ictions. 1 I u c h work h:is been expended on this ph:ise of t h e suhjcct :inti the prescrice t h r s ~dat:t ivill be much :ippreciatetl 11)- those who put these rc:ictions to :ictual use. In , t h e sensitivity is giveri with unattninable precision. T h u s , t h e limiting coneiiti,:itioii of t h e ch1oropl:itiri:ite test for potassium is reported :is ‘‘10-3.2*( 1 : l . g X 103j”. ’he superfluous figures serve no useful purpose (especislly here where t h e limiting concen,,:ition is actually 1 : l O j when t h e test is carried out 11y first ev:iporating the test clrop). T h e English in p u t s of t h e hook leaves something t o he desired. Though there will be differences of opinion on t h e present selection of reagents, t h e useilness of t h e report will be generally acknowledged, and it should be :ivailable for reference. bibliography of 1172 entries is included. .ill associated n-ith this project-editors, i t h o r s , a n d coworkers-deserve t h a n k s for their efforts i n behalf of modern qualitative ialysis. E. 13. s.IsI)I;I.I,. mf
