Deuel's "The Lipids" is indeed a manumental work and for many years will probably be the place of first choioe when one wighes detailed information on m y phase of lipid biochemistry. I t seems appropriate that this final volume should contain a biographical sketch of the author writt,en by George Cowgill, a former colleague. F. A. CAJORI
COLOR*DO Dsmen, C o ~ o n * o o UNITE^^,^
OP
THE CHEMISTRY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS. VOLUME 1: THE ALKALOIDS
K. W. Bentley, Chemistry Department, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New Yark, 1957. vii 237 pp. 15 X 23.5 cm. $4.
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Tnrs is the &st of a projected series of volumes on the chemistry of natural products, several of which are to be written by this author and others edited by him. The publisher has squarely faced the difficult present-day problem of producing a scientificmonograph a t a price not too far out of line with that charged years ago far the wonderful series of Monographs on Biachemistry edited for Longmans, Green and Company by the late R. H. A. Plimmer in the second and third decades of the present century. In order to do this, it has been necessary to resort to re~roductionof the text from whst appwrs to In. tyrscrlpt beautifully and nccurarrlv done, to he s w c , und with nn c v c ~ riylrt-lmnd ~ msrg.111 -bur rtill typescript and not as easy on the eyes as print. On the profit side, however, is the opportunity to reproduce chemical formulas on a pages lavish scale. The right-hand throughout the hook are occupied by structural formulas reproduced from neat hand sketches which show the results of degradative reactions by various reagents which led to the formulation of the structure, the interrelations among the alkaloids and the products derived from them and the total synthesis where this has been accomplished. There are more than 1100 of these formulas. To have reproduced them in any other way than by a photographic process from manuscript would have added enormously to the cost of the book. What should one expect of a 237-page monograph which purports to cover the immense and complex field of alkaloids? Obviously one cannot hope to find anythine but the most cursorv record of the ~,n,pcrtice,ph?airnl, chrmicd, n d phwm w o l o g d , of rl~caewl~zt;tnecs. Ther.. csn iw Itrtk ii nny rviwmce tomcthudroi preparation from the natural sources or to their uses in medicine, or any detail regarding the experimental methods used in this field. The author has therefore contented himself with an outline in each case of the main facts whioh a student of advanced organic chemistry should have in minrl
There is s n introduction which classifiea the alkaloids in terms of the fundamental ring structures. Each group is then taken
up in greater or less detail. For example, the morphine group requires 28 pages, 14 pages of text and 13 pages of formulas. We learn the empirical formulas of norphine, codeine, and tbebaiine, first eat& lished in 1852, the nature of the characteristic radicals, the arguments by means of which the structures were gradually built up, and the series of reactions by which morphine was f i n d y synthesized. There is then an account of the molecular rearrangements these alkaloids may undergo and the bearing of these transformations upon the elucidation of the structures. Finally there is brief mention of a few related substances. The accounts of strychnine and colchicine are nearly as full. Nicotine and its relatives, however, require only a single page of text and two of formulas. The last chapter gives an outline of hypothetical mechanisms suggested by Robinson by means of which these complex structures may be assumed to be derived from the amino acids af proteins. A thread of unifying principle is thus introduced. On the whole, this little book is praiseworthy. To b e sure, it can be used as a "crsm book" in preparation for examination on the subject. But it is also a source of quick information an the fundamentals of alkaloid chemistry, and each chapter closes with a bibliography of from 20- to 80-odd references which give a key to the literature of the group of substances being disoussed. A reviewer is supposed to paint out faults and search for errors. There is one in the second sentence of the introduction whioh asserts that alkaloids "owe their basic nature to an amino nitrogen.'' Surely the secondary and tertiary nitrogen atoms of most alkaloids should not be so characterized. Aside from this and a misprint on page 3, the book shows evidence of careful preparation and proofreading. It can be highly recommended if its limitations are accepted. H. B. VICKERY T H C~o w n ~ c ~ r c Aanroamn~*~. m EXPBBIMCNT STATION
NEW HAVEN,COANECTICVT
The first ohspter includes a very brief survey of the preparation and properties of EDTA and its complexes followed by a few examples of analytical uuaes. In the following chapters, tho various methods of end point detection are discussed usually with a brief discussion of the principle of the method. Numerous metal indicators are listed. Several physicochemical techniques (polarography, potentiometry, ampemmetry, spectrophotometry) are also described in so far as they are utilized in EDTA methods. The determinations of individual elements are to be found in widely scattered places, e.g., copper determinations are described in Chapters 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18. This requires a thorough study of the index in order to be certain that no papers on copper-EDTA determinations are overlooked. A more generous use of cross referencing within the text would have allowed nearly all copper determinations to be grouped in a single chapter. Fortunately, the index is complete and has been carefully prepared. This book is in no sense a textbook on andytical methods or chelates, but the author has admirably accomplished his aim "to collect information from all papers describing the use of EDTA in inorganic analysis, and to present it in a form which would simplify study of it." As such, it will be useful to anyone having occasion to determine some 40 metals, as well as several anions. ROBERT L. PECSOK U ~ r v ~ n s l r0s v C*LIPORNI* Los ANOELES, CI~IIORNIA
CONCISE GUIDE TO THE PLASTICS Herbert R. Simonds, Stepney, Connedicut. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New 318 pp. 16 X 23.5 York, 1957. xi cm. $6.95.
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THIS guide is intended primarily to furnish a brief introduction to the plastics industry and an extensive source of
THE ANALYTICAL USES OF
ETHYLENEDIAMINETETRAACETIC ACID F m n k 3. Welcher, Professor of Chemistry, Indiana University. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1957. xvii 366 pp. 12 figs. 35 tables. 16 X 23.5 om. $8.50.
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CEEMISTS who desire to apply an ethylenediaminetetraaoetic acid (EDTA) method to an analytical problem will find references to all pertinent papers published through 1956. The bibliography of some 950 papers indicates the need for such a compilation as this. It is not intended as a manual of recommended methods, dthough selected procedures are given in detail, including reports of interferences, optimum conditions, m d claims of accuracy. No attempt bas been made to give a critical evaluation of the methods.
which gives the range of variation available in such properties as density, tensile strength, etc., in tabular form, seems especially useful. The educational uses of this technically oriented book d l be mainly in conjunction with industrial chemistry and engineering courses. Here it will furnish useful summaries of the properties of this relatively new class of engineering materials and also give some insight into an important segment of the chemical industry. Chapter 8 with its brief reports from some 40 major producers of plastics will be of es~ecialinterest in this last respect. The coverage of the plastics field is very complete, both as to variety of m e terials and number of properties. THOMAS FERINGTON C o m s a e or WOOBTER Woosren, Omlo
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
