BOOKS
Textbooks Chemical Sensing with Solid State Devices. Marc J. Madou and W. Roy Morrison, xv + 556 pp. Academic Press, 1250 Sixth Ave., San Diego, CA 92101. 1989. $90 Reviewed by Adam Heller, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 This book is an advanced textbook on solid-state aspects of chemical sensing. Such a book has been needed for some time by the scientific and engineering communities active in the area of sensor development. The book is distinguished in its complete presentation of relevant aspects of solid-state devices, yet it does not assume that the reader is an expert in either solid-state physics or electrical engineering. It provides sufficient basic physics and materials science to allow the reader to understand the principles of design, manufacture, and operation of sensors. It also provides details about silicon-based devices and t h e i r applications, semiconducting metal-oxide-based devices, solid electrolyte sensors, membrane-based devices, gas detectors, ion sensors, biosensors, and chemical field effect transistors and their limitations. In each area the authors analyze both the advantages and the problems of the devices and comment on current and future applications. Chapters include carefully selected references for further reading. The book is highly recommended as a textbook for g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t s working on sensors and sensing. Electrical engineers will gain much information on t h e physical chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science of these devices. Materials scientists will a c q u i r e t h e needed physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid-state aspects of sensors; and analytical chemists will gain understanding of the chemical physics as well as the surface chemistry and physics behind today's sensors. The book is also recommended for professionals using or developing sensors who wish to refresh or expand their knowledge, particularly in the
relevant areas of solid-state and surface chemistry, physics, membrane chemistry, biochemical sensing, and electrochemistry.
Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction (5th éd.). Douglas A. Skoog, Donald M. West, and F. James Holler, xiii + 642 pp. Saunders College Publishing, C u r t i s Center, Independence S q u a r e W e s t , P h i l a d e l p h i a , PA 19106-3399. 1990. $45 Reviewed by Thomas R. Gilbert, Department of Chemistry and Barnett Institute of Chemical Analysis and Materials Science, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115 The latest edition of Analytical Chemistry: An Introduction takes the approach of earlier editions in covering the basics of chemical analysis. The book is written for students whose only exposure to the subject is a one-semester or a one-quarter course. To make the text more palatable to this nonchemistry-major audience, the a u t h o r s have made a conscientious effort to keep chapters short and sentence structure simple. Other changes from earlier editions include new problem sets for each chapter (the text provides answers to half of them) and examples of computer programs t h a t enable the student to use a personal computer to reduce analytical data. The first four chapters provide an overview of analytical chemistry and the evaluation of analytical data. The next 13 (almost half of the text) are devoted to classical gravimetry, volumetric analysis, and the basics of solution equilibria. These are followed by two chapters on electroanalytical techniques in which there is extensive coverage of potentiometry but none of voltammetric methods. Optical methods of analysis are covered in the next four chapters, followed by three chapters on analytical separations. The final two chapters are devoted to basic unit operations in classical a n d i n s t r u m e n t a l a n a l y s i s , proper analytical technique, and detailed directions for performing 13 ex-
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amples of classical and instrumental analyses. Despite some deletions from and additions to earlier editions, the book takes a very traditional approach to teaching analytical chemistry with emphasis on solution equilibria and volumetric analysis. Some instructors will be quite comfortable with this approach, but others may find it a major weakness. At issue is whether a basic text in analytical chemistry should provide an accurate and reasonably complete picture of modern chemical analysis. If indeed "analytical chemistry is what analytical chemists do," this analytical chemistry text is, for the most part, terribly out of date. To modernize their coverage of analytical chemistry, the authors might have considered a de-emphasis of volumetric methods and expanded coverage of i n s t r u m e n t a l methods. One wonders, for example, how many civil engineers, geologists, or environmental analytical chemists would in 1991 elect to determine the concentrations of calcium and magnesium in natural waters by titration with EDTA rather than by atomic absorption or plasma emission spectroscopy. My guess is t h a t the proportion is vanishingly small. Yet there is a full chapter on complexometric methods featuring EDTA titrations and no mention of plasma emission spectroscopy. Similarly, there is little of value in the discussion of chemical indicators for argentometric end points, when most analysts would use a silverselective electrode to follow pAg + . Yet the authors devote a chapter to classical titrations with silver nitrate and only two pages to the subject of potentiometric titrations. In my view the time has come for a truly up-to-date version of this text, which covers the methods of chemical analysis students will likely encounter after graduation. Changes of emphasis in favor of modern methods could be accompanied by marginal examples t h a t add vitality and relevance to the text. These could be drawn from analytical areas that are expanding rapidly today, such as characterization of new materials and
bioanalytical chemistry. I suspect that this sort of transformation would be welcomed by the many students who refer to their analytical courses with such colloquialisms as "Titra tions 101."
Vogel's Textbook of Quantitative Chemical Analysis. G. H. Jeffery, J. Bassett, J. Mendham, and R. C. Den ney. xxix + 877 pp. J o h n Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158. 1989. $88 Reviewed by Robert L. Grob, Department of Chemistry, Villanova University, Villa nova, PA 19085 Vogel's Textbook of Quantitative Chemical Analysis first appeared in 1939. After many revisions, we now have the fifth edition revised by four authors. The text comprises 21 chapters distribut ed over six parts: Part A, Fundamen tals of Quantitative Chemical Analy sis; P a r t B, Errors, Statistics, and Sampling; Part C, Separative Tech n i q u e s ; P a r t D, T i t r i m e t r y a n d Gravimetry; Part E, Electroanalytical Methods; and Part F, Spectroanalytical Methods. The i n s t r u m e n t a l sections have been revised to reflect present-day theory and usage. The chapters on in strumental or wet chemical methods p r e s e n t experiments t h a t may be used to illustrate these techniques. Also, the chapters have numerous problems that have been worked out to illustrate the theory underlying t h e different a r e a s of a n a l y t i c a l chemistry discussed. The subject ma terial is well presented and readable. However, the text has a number of shortcomings. First of all, it is not a text for students taking their initial or only course in analytical chemis try. Each chapter should have prob lem exercises at the conclusion. Con sidering this deficiency, it is a text more suitable for a chemist desiring a review of the subject material. Second, the treatment of nonaque ous systems is sketchy at best and disorganized. It would have been bet ter to have all the nonaqueous discus sions in one place and in more detail. Third, the symbols for normality and molarity are inconsistent: p. 845 uses Ν whereas p. 846 uses n, and p. 259 uses M whereas p. 293 uses m. I also disagree with the complete deletion of the use of normal solutions; this is a very instructive tool for descriptive chemistry (an area in which most chemistry majors are weak). Fourth, and more important, Chap ters 6-9, on separations, leave a great
deal to be desired. This is one of the most widely used (if not most impor tant) techniques in modern analytical chemistry, not j u s t for analytical chemists but also for organic and bio chemists. Much of the important basic theory and useful practical aspects of the techniques are simply not there. The book is of use to the practicing chemist, but for the neophyte I can not recommend it as a textbook. The teacher of an analytical chemistry course would find it necessary to sup ply students with basic printed notes and mathematical exercises to in struct them about analytical chemis try. There are numerous well-written and student-oriented texts on analyt ical chemistry available to teachers of this very important area. I do not be lieve that students will find this book to be of great assistance for funda mental understanding of the subject material. It is recommended for in dustrial or research libraries, but not for a university library.
Fourier Transforms in NMR, Optical, and Mass Spectrometry. Alan G. Marshall and Francis R. Verdun, xvi + 450 pp. Elsevier Science Publishers, P.O. Box 882, Madison Square Sta tion, New York, NY 10159. 1990. $107 Reviewed by Charles L. Wilkins, Depart ment of Chemistry, University of Califor nia—Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521 The preface of this book states that it "is offered as a teaching and reference text for Fourier transform techniques as they are applied in spectroscopy." Equally significant, the work is subti tled "A User's Handbook." Although essential basic mathematics are dis cussed, one of the superior features of this text is Marshall's contribution in reducing abstract mathematical con cepts to qualitative explanations and easily understood physical analogies. Such a book is long overdue, given t h a t most practicing spectroscopists using Fourier transform (FT) meth ods employ software packages sup plied by manufacturers and have lit tle, if any, u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e mathematics or algorithms involved. M a r s h a l l a n d V e r d u n ' s focus on nonideal effects—including those of noise, phase errors, and the like— will alert the spectroscopist to the type of artifacts and errors about which he or she should be concerned. As a teaching tool, the book in cludes problems with solutions and is especially valuable for those students who want to take the time to really understand a topic. That simply can
not be accomplished without working through the mathematics and data manipulations. In that respect, the inclusion of detailed solutions is im portant. Carrying that theme a bit further, the book includes a very good set of appendices that contain useful integrals and theorems, a concise dis cussion of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, and computer pro gram listings for some of the more common FFT procedures. Appendix D summarizes properties of FT pairs and includes a very useful pictorial atlas of many such pairs. Also likely to be helpful to the serious student who wants to pursue a topic in great er depth are the suggestions for "Fur ther Reading" at the ends of chapters. The chapters devoted to FT ion cy clotron resonance, NMR, and IR interferometry (comprising about onethird of the book) are of the same high quality as the introductory chap ters and provide a current perspec tive on the state of the art of each of these types of Fourier spectroscopy. As in the sections on Fourier mathe matics, the problems are well chosen to lead the reader to consider the sig nificant p a r a m e t e r s of the experi ments, and the references to further reading are reasonably current. There are relatively few errors, and only some of them would be seriously distracting for a student. The inter change of the y2 and y3 rows in Table 4.3 (p. 100) could be confusing, as would the errors in E q u a t i o n 7.9 (p. 228) where mkT/2 should be 2mkT and in Equation 7.29 (p. 237) where the 2 should be in the denominator rather than the numerator. These and a modest number of less important er rors are listed in an "Errata" available from Alan Marshall and (I presume) eventually from the publisher. Although the book was produced from camera-ready copy, the use of high-quality software and a laser printer resulted in a very attractive finished product. One minor com plaint is the author's decision to set the figure captions in the same type style and size as the text. As a result, it is sometimes confusing to read sec tions that also contain figures. It is good that the publisher has set a much lower price for the paperback edition ($46), in view of the high price for the hard-bound version. The cost is the one thing that might deter us ers from buying their own personal copies. Moreover, it is distressing, af ter investing more t h a n $100 in a text, to find color advertisements for two scientific instrument companies at the end of the book. It seems clear that Elsevier's appetite for additional
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BOOKS profits is not easily curbed. I recom mend that purchasers do as I did— excise the offending pages and mail them to Elsevier headquarters in Hol land. To summarize, Marshall and Ver dun have made an important contri bution with this text and I predict it will be well appreciated by those who use it. I believe it should be in the li brary of any spectroscopist using FT techniques. I will certainly recom mend it to my own students.
Principles of Chemical Sensors. Jiří Janata, xi + 317 pp. Plenum Press, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013. 1989. $40 Reviewed by Garry A. Rechnitz, Hawaii Bi osensor Laboratory, Department of Chemis try, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2545 the Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822 Janata states that his book is intend ed for a one-semester course at the graduate and upper undergraduate levels. It is well suited for such a pur pose. The secondary aim, to be useful to scientists and engineers involved in
the development of new types of chem ical sensors, is less well achieved. Janata's book is arranged in chap t e r s d e a l i n g w i t h four p r i n c i p a l m o d e s of s i g n a l t r a n s d u c t i o n — thermal, mass, electrochemical, and optical—plus an introductory chapter dealing with selectivity, molecular recognition aspects of biosensors, and some systems consideration. Finally, there is a lengthy appendix covering some basic background principles. Literature citations are rather sparse but up to date. There is a five-page subject index but no author index. The long chapter on electrochemi cal sensors is by far the strongest sec tion of the book. Here, the author writes with authority and from per sonal experience. His treatment of potentiometric, amperometric, and conductometric sensors is lucid and very useful. On the other hand, J a n a t a is less successful in illuminating the employment of electrochemical sen sors as components in the design of biosensors, and he restricts himself— perhaps wisely—to a few classical en zyme systems. The chapters on t h e r m a l , mass, and optical sensors provide much use
ful information and some insightful interpretation of these transducers. Indeed, t h e principal attraction of this book is that information on a di versity of sensors is gathered togeth er in a single volume. Janata's overall approach is both critical and conservative. He inten tionally rejects any emphasis on what he calls "the tricks of the trade." This will be greatly appreciated by stu dents, but it also makes the book somewhat less useful to more experi enced workers who recognize that the frontier areas of any research field need to be a little speculative. The sensor a n d , especially, biosensor areas are definitely fields of endeavor in which the scientific rewards real ized are related to the risks taken. I enjoyed J a n a t a ' s style of going straight to the heart of the matter as, for example, in the introductory chap ter. Although not all workers in the field would agree with all of the state ments made here, Janata's discussion of selectivity is both thought provok ing and challenging. On balance, the book is worth having and is recom mended for anyone in need of a singlevolume treatment of chemical sensors.
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