B O O K REVIEWS lems of chemical interest. I n a project of this sort missionary zeal can easily tempt the :tuthor to overemphasize the "cook-book" aspects of spplieations in order to point up the simplicity and usefulness of the method. Very comrnendahly, the author of the present book does not succumb t o this hut devotes a large part of the slender hook tu a simple exposition of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, .m undprstanding of which is essential hrforr sound and meaningful applications can really be made. Unfortunately, however, the presentation is marred h y a large number of errors, somp trivial, hut many important. For example, (a random selectirm), on page 3 i t is stated that according t o the equipartition principle t,hcrp is an "enrrgy of one calorie per degree of freedom" in a system of oscillators: on page 2i the 8tatistic:d bases of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are (erroneously) equated; on page 33 it is stated that L'the explanation of homopular. . .bonds has only b ~ e n furnished by quantum mechanics by the introduction of s new stabilizing principle, the sc-called exchangr . . . degeneracy" (most seriously midending). O n page 66: "The value of t,he resonance energy can he determined cxperimentnlly . ." There are many misprints as well as other evidencr r,f careless editing, e . g , t,hc completely erroneous rclation hrtween the Rayleigh-Jeans and Plnnck curves in Rigurr 1, the erroneous initial slopes of the specific heat e u r w s in Figure 2, n = 1 for p states ,In page 32. integration instead of exponentintion on page 129. Thr trsnslstion is somewhat rneky and has a distrevsin~ number of germanicisrns, as well as some incorrect technical terms (e.g., "mnnotonous" function). Some of the errors in the hook arc probably due t o the translat,ion, e.g., the staterncnt (p. 21) t h a t "it is impossible to characterize two interrelated (so-called conjugated) varishles with any dcgrre af sccuraey." I n summary, while the scopel plan and urganization of the bonk make i t a welcome addit,ion t o the mpidly growing texthoak literature in this field, it cennot he recommended for such us? unless and until the mistakes RIP rorrectcd.
. .
F :. M.LOEBL Polul~chnicInslih~lcgf Brooklljn 13rook1,yn. Y e m York
Synthetic Methods of Organic Chemistry, Volume 15
W . l'hcilhcimer. Interscience Publishers, Inc., Kew York, 1061. rvi FRO PI>. 16.5 X 23.5 em. $46.75.
+
Volume 15 is the fifth and last of the third scries of "Synthetic Methods." As such it cont,ains not only 700 monographs in 5.38 pages, but also references t o svntheses in preceding volumes of the third (Continued on page A984)
A982
/
Journal o f Chemicol Education
BOOK REVIEWS series. One hundred and twelve pages of indices in fine print cover the five volumes. In this volume the Trends section points up new experimental methods. A random sampling are: formylation for the protection of amino groups since the formyl group may be removed lat.er by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide; the independent synthesis of griseafulvin by two groups; rearrangement of m-dioxanes to give a new class of 8-slkaxvddehvdes: reaction
d u e ; improvement in the BarbierWieland degradation; isomerization of internal double bonds t o terminal bonds by reaction with boranes; and the use of
X-methylpyrrolid
