BOOK R E V I E W S the volume offers access to Russian work that has previously been available only to those with translation services. It gives one rather a start to read, in a translation of an article written in 1948, of a reaction you were proud to be the pioneer in just last week, or to find in the text of a 1941 paper the malysis and experimental testing of a literature misconception that did not become straightened out in the English literature until 1962. The latter is the problem of the existence of 8. ketone. RMgX complex that is isolable. The experimental observations of Meisenheimer (1921) and Pfeiffer and Blank (1939) were interpreted by them as proof for the complex, and t h a t excess RMgX was necessary to produce carhinol product. Nesmeysnov saw the error and tested it, and reported a n the problem in 1941-but it wits Beeker in 1963 who finally corrected the Western World's view with a page long footnote. For those interested in organomercury, thallium, lead, and iron chemistry, access to the book is very important. A similar comment fits those interested in halonium ion chemistry. The libraries of these laboratories should have a copy. It seems t o fit into the status of a reference book better than t h a t of an addition to a personal library. Since it is fun to read, and leaves one with more research ideas than time to accomplish, having i t on re-
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Journal of Chemical Mucotion
serve will a t least insure its location; our copy tends to wander off for weeks a t a. time. The deficiencies in the volume are, of course, t h s t it represents a reprinting of the literature, and in many ceses one will find, as is quite typical of the Russian literature and increasingly so of oura, the tendency for two articles published at different times in different journals to look surprisingly similar, even to footnote numbering. The large number of pages makes up for this duplication. ~
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University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
The Theory of the Electronic Spectra of Organic Molecules
J. N. Munell, University af Sheffield, England. John Wiley and Sans, Inc., New York, 1963. xiv 328 pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 22 om. $10.
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It is only rarely that a reviewer e m react completely enthusiastically with respect to a. volume in an advanced area. Such is certainly the present case. Dr. Murrell has been able to put together an authoritative, concise, and valuable review of the area covered by the title. In the preface, he aims the book "for those doing experimental and theoretical research on the electronic spectra of organic molecules." The hook is indeed aimed a t the research level, hut
able without in the least sacrificing the important and oritioal d c t d The first three chapters, An Introduction to the Theory of Light Absorption, Molecular Wave Functions, and ValenceBand and Molecular Orbital Theories, lay the ground-work and notation used in a brief but clear manner. The interpretation used throughout is largely based on molecular orbital theory. Then follow chapters on ethylene and acetylene, eonjugated hydrocarbon chains, bensenoid hydrocarbons, and weakly interacting ehrornophores. Kext are treated the important class of transitions of nonbonding electrons. The inductive effect, mesomeric eKects, and steric effects arising from substitutions are taken up next. Then come the spectra of non-alternant hydrocarbons, radicals, and ions, and of molecular complexes. The book ends with a. chapter on Fluorescence and Phosphorescence. There are several short appendices amplifying certain theoretical points, tabulating group theoretical notation, and giving a completely worked out example of the calculation of the L, band energy of naphthalene by the P-method. The book contains numerous well chosen references to the original literature, about 100 dated 1960 or more recent, and, of course, many others datedin the 1950's or earlier. I n addition, a t the end of each
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BOOK REVIEWS chapter are a number of well-chosen suggestions for further reading. The style in a bit terse, but completely clear and pleasant. Although there are less than 400 pages, there is a remarkable amount of excellent msterial packed between the covers. The author has not hesitated to evaluate the current status of affairs oriticslly, and in so doing sometimes gives the feeling of being dogmatic. But I found few of his conrlusions to quarrel with. I highly recommend this volume not only to research-minded individuals in the area of spectroscopy, but to physical chemistry teachers, and to graduate students who want an authoritative and p l e ~ s m tbook to broaden their horizons, and to point tho way to future studies. HARRISON SHULL Indiana Uniwrsilg Blomnington
Interpretation of the Ultraviolet Spectra of Natural Products
A . I. Scott, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Maemillan Ca. (a. Perearnon Press book). New York. 196i. r 443 pp. ~ i g s .and tables: 17.5 X 25.5 cm. $12.50.
and ultraviolet spectra and to provide correlative data, model systems, and guide lines to aid the organic chemist in structure determinations. I t is partieularly aimed toward structural problems involving n ~ t u r a lor complex synthetic compounds. The author has effectively achieved his goal. The entire treatment is by an empirical approach. Thus, not only theoretical calculstions of spectra are excluded hut molecular (hydrogen bonding, induction, polarization, pi-elmtron delocalization, homoeonjugation, etc.) and environmental (temperature, concentration, solvation) effects are noted but not explained. This was the intention of the author. Nevertheless, by choosing a wide variety of model systems, the suthor has demonstrated how UT' spectra can serve as a powerful tool in the solution of structural problems m d in the quantitative analysis for certain natural substances. The first six chapters contain, largely in t,ahulm form, s. rich collection of the spectral characteristics of single and conjugated chromophares. There m e also valuable tables and illustrations of the use of empirical rules for estimating A,. for various ehromophoric systema. Chspter 7 presents the principal methods of speetrophotometry for quantitative analysis and list,s manv exltmnles from bhe
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The objective of this book is to describe empirical correlations between structures
drates, purines, etc. In the concluding chapters the author provides 8. wealth of examples in which he demonstrates the
application of UV speetrophotometry t o structure determination. Examples are drawn from a wide variety of natural products. There is an extensive list of spectral characteristics of steroids and colorimetric procedures far their determination in the Appendix. In spite of the printing difficulties which caused the three-year delay in puhlication of the manuscript, it is unfortunate that material from a number of important recent publications was not added to the proof. Only a few t,ypographical errors were noted and must of these are harmless or readily apparent. to the reader. One exception is the erroneous enhanced absorpt,ion cited for CaHsCH?CH2COCH3in Table 2.12. The author refers to the enhanced absorption observed far certain 8, yunsaturated ketones hut the reviewer dnubts that the author has made i t dear how useful this spectral effect e m be in making deductions about the steric relations eristing in such molecules. Also, a strurtural formula would have been move forceful in the definition of a. photodesmotic bransition. Although the author uses solvent effects in an empirical manner, it would have been informative in his introduction to say more about the efkcts of organic solvents on certain types of ahsorption bands, e.g., on r **, n r*, and E.T. hands of substituted benzenes. In summary, the reviewer believes t h a t this book will be extremely useful to organic, analyt,ieal, and biochemists in the
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