Synthetic methods of organic chemistry, volume 15 (Theilheimer, W.)

of which is essential hrforr sound and meaningful applications can really be made. ... of one calorie per degree of freedom" in a system of oscillator...
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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.

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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.

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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

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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