BOOKREVIEWS
May 20, 1959
by the action of excess MMC, is alkylated as rapidly as the salt of benzoylacetic acid. The carboxylation and alkylation technique described here is remarkably free of side reactions, such as self-condensation of the ketones. This, together with the availability and stability of MMC solutions, suggests that the method will find considerable application in synthesis.
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The author is grateful to Mr. Herman L. Finkbeiner for interesting discussions and for gifts of MMC. DEPARTMEXT OF CHEMISTR~’ ~
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MARTINSTILES G A X
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BOOK REVIEWS The Metabolism of Sulfur Compounds. By LESLIEYOUKG, ticles. The microcanonical, canonical and grand-canonical DSc., Ph.D., F.R.I.C., Professor of Biochemistry in the ensembles are introduced in this order and thermodynamic University of London, St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical quantities are defined. The standard applications to ideal School, London, and GEORGE A. MAW,Ph.D., F.R.I.C., gases are developed. Quantum effects are considered, inSenior Lecturer in Biochemistry, St. Thomas’s Hospital cluding the behavior of Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac Medical School, London. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., gases at low temperatures and high densities, and the theory 440 Fourth Avenue, New York 16, N. Y. 1958. 180 pp. of the thermal radiation is included. Welcome additions in comparison with most standard textbooks are a brief but 12.5 X 19 cm. Price, $3.00. clear treatment of the density matrix method, and a discusThe authors of this pocket-size monograph have done an sion of “negative temperatures,” a somewhat mystifying admirable job of presenting a concise account of the metabo- term by which it has become customary to describe states of lism of sulfur compounds in animals and bacteria. It is a spin systems when the upper levels are more densely popugeneral account which touches on thiols, disulfides, thiol than the lower levels. ethers, sulfonium compounds, sulfoxides, sulfones, sulfonic lated The next part of the book deals with miscellaneous topics, acids, sulfuric acid esters, and a further miscellaneous assort- such as fluctuations, noise, correlations, and the Onsager ment of sulfur compounds. In the opinion of the reviewer, relations in the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. this monograph makes its appearance a t a time when it is The third and last part discusses transport phenomena. needed. Within recent years, there has been an awakening Such properties as electrical and thermal conductivities, of interest in the metabolism of sulfur compounds. In etc., are derived from the Boltzmann equation. part this has been due to the availability of S35and in part viscosity, appendix gives a more detailed treatment of some of the to the fortuitous discovery of compounds like biotin, lipoic An mathematics used in statistical mechanics. acid, Coenzyme A, and “active sulfate” because of improved Professor Kittel has successfully accomplished his purseparation processes. An unusually large number of papers pose of giving a modern, compact survey of statistical meand an occasional detailed review on a limited phase of the chanics the beginning graduate level. He has stressed chemistry and metabolism of sulfur-containing compounds the basica tprinciples chosen, among the limited number have appeared. These more recent advances have been of applications that and be included in a book of this size, critically interwoven with observations of the past into a those best suited tocould illustrate the principles themselves. pleasantly readable account. The monograph should, With one exception, no attempt was made to discuss systherefore, prove useful as a source for an over-all up-todate of interacting particles, such as imperfect gases or the (1958) view for the beginning student and the more ad- tems Ising model of a ferromagnet. This may have been a wise vanced worker in the field. In addition, the monograph decision, as it is known that even when simplified to the may well serve as a source of key references on phases of point of losing most of their physical significance, such sulfur metabolism of particular interest to the reader; problems still present formidable mathematical difficulties some eight hundred references are cited. and can only be attacked by cumbersome approximation The monograph is recommended wholeheartedly to any- methods. one with a general interest in biochemistry as well as to The book is well written, apparently almost free of errors those with a particular interest in the metabolism of sulfur or misprints, and presented in pleasant typographical form. compounds. 4 useful feature is the bibliography a t the beginning of each ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE section. NEW YORK21, N. Y. D. DZIEWIATKOWSKIDEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY F. RASETTI MARYLAXD Elementary Statistical Physics. By C. KITTEL,Professor BALTIMORE, of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 440 Fourth Avenue, New York 228 pp. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. Price, Theoretical Principles of Organic Chemistry. Volume 11. 16, N. Y . 1958. ix 88.00. By WALTERHUCKEL,Dr. Phil., Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Tiibingen University (Germany) ; Books on statistical mechanics are less numerous than Formerly Professor of Organic Chemistry a t the Univerthose covering other topics of comparable importance in sity and Technische Hochschule of Breslau. Translated physics. Possibly not more than half a dozen have appeared from the corrected 7th German Edition by F. H. RATHin the English language in the last decade, and probably MANN,Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry, North one could not name two that cover the same range of topics Dakota Agricultural College, Fargo, N. D. (U.S.A.). a t the same level. If only for this reason, any new book D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 120 Alexander Street, on the subject is a welcome addition to the physicist’s li1046 pp. 17.5 X 25.5 cm. Princeton, N. J. 1958. xi brary. Price, $19.00. Professor Kittel’s book covers in compact form a considerable range of topics, including some that are not usually The range of subjects discussed in this second volume of treated even in more extensive and advanced treatises. Hiickel’s “Theoretical Principles of Organic Chemistry” is The problem is approached from the classical viewpoint indicated by the titles of the ten chapters: Chapter XI. by the Gibbs method of ensembles, which not only is the Theoretical Consideration of Physical Properties. Thermal most satisfactory from the logical standpoint, but also best Magnitudes; Chapter XII. The Electrical Properties of lends itself to the extension to systems of interacting parMolecules; Chapter XIII. Behavior of Matter (Sub-
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