Chemistry and the living organism

All will benefit from buying this keenly priced paperback edition, not just for its clar ity, but also for the chapter describing common errors and how to avoid them, and the enormous selection of exercises, each of which is complemented by a worked answer. G. Richard Stephenson Chemistry and the Living Organism. By M. M. Bloomfield. Pp. 749. Wiley. 1992. Hardback f21.50 ISBN 0 471 51292 3. This is the updated fifth edition of a course in chemistry which sets out the basic principles of chemistry and successfully links them to fundamental applications in modem biotechnology, the health sciences and human physiological performance in response to the impacts of everyday life. The concept that an understanding of molecular behaviour is both relevant and essential to an understanding of living processes is portrayed imaginatively and realistically in the twenty-two chapters. Each starts by posing a real life situation, followed by explanations in strictly chemical terms, so unfolding the properties of matter, energy forms, atomic structures, chemical reactions, the role of water, pH, equilibrium states, oxidation processes, and the ever important hydrocarbons. This leads logically to the chemistry and biochemistry of complex molecules of living organisms, their synthesis, metabolic pathways and function - but always linked to examples that all can recognize. In combination with a laboratory manual and manuals of discussions and answers to problems set in the text, a full student course is provided. The book itself, however, stands on its own as a clearly presented, well-illustrated, and professionally selected source of carefully indexed information, valuable to any student of chemistry in either the physical or biological sciences. A very good buy. Daphne J. Osborne Nonlinear Ortoleva. Hardback

Chemical Waves. By Peter J. Pp. 302. Wiley. 1992. f70.00 ISBN 0 47193577 8.

This book, which is in the series ‘Nonlinear Science: Theory and Application’, continues the theme of the series by describing the application of nonlinear methods to a wide range of topics under the broad heading of chemical waves. Considerable interest has developed in this area and many new and interesting features have been discovered. Many of these are illustrated by the author, including the development of travelling waves, the spatiotemporal behaviour resulting from the perturbation of a stable limit cycle, the universal nature of the behaviour near criticality, electric field interactions and reactions on surfaces and membranes. Throughout, the author concentrates on methods for obtaining analytic solutions. These, to a very large extent, rely heavily on singular perturbation techniques, particularly the idea of multiple scales. This is shown to be a powerful approach both for deriving so-

lutions and for gaining insight into the basic underlying mechanisms. The book is very readable with the various arguments being clearly presented and should be followed easily by anyone having sufficient grounding in perturbation methods. It should provide a useful overview for anyone coming new to this area and those already working in this field could also benefit from seeing a wide variety of topics brought together in one presentation. No topic is treated exhaustively. However, the good selection of references at the end of most chapters will be useful to pursue subjects further. J. Merkin The Extraordinary Chemistry of Ordinary Things. By Carl H. Snyder. Pp. 634. Wiley. 1992. f38.50 ISBN 0 477 629715. This is the best book I’ve seen to entice a reader into becoming a chemist. It is a mature book, deriving from a course in Miami on the chemistry of everyday substances ‘from the banal to the contentious, from table salt to perception-altering drugs, from drinking water to nuclear power’. It lays the groundwork and achieves a commendable depth; arousing interest, curiosity and wonder through a variety of approaches - historical, etymological, practical, didactic - using good pictures and good stories. The chapters, except the ones on nuclear chemistry, begin with home experiments worthy of the Open University. Principles are explained with well-chosen examples: Le Chatelier’s principle and buffers, for example, by equilibria in the blood of carbon dioxide, carbonic acid and bicarbonate ion. There are tables of information, a comprehensive index and a glossary. You can find the chemistry of bubble gum, hair colouring, the home permanent wave, or polymers from silicates to DNA; read of the accidental discovery of guncotton, weigh up the costs and benefits of nuclear fission and fusion or cocaine. The sections end with questions, the chapters with a ‘perspective’ extending the topic, then exercises consisting of revision, sums, and to ‘think, speculate, reflect, and ponder’ (concealing more explanations, for example of thunder and Charles’ Law). This is a book for teachers, as well as students. Joan Mason Organic Chemistry. 5th Edition. By T. W. Solomons. Pp. 198. Wiley. 1992. Paperback f22.50 ISBN 0 47155223 2. Solomon’s Organic Chemistry is aimed at providing an adequate coverage for the first two years of a BSc. course. The introduction to structure, resonance, formal charge and hybridization is presented in considerable detail. Chapters on spectroscopy give a much better introduction to these subjects than is often found in general textbooks. Stereo-chemistry is very well-illustrated with coloured diagrams, and coloured illustrations are found in other difficult areas. The preparative and mechanistic aspects of aliphatic chemistry also receive good coverage. This coverage ex-

tends to include sugars, amino-acids, and peptides. Reactions discussed are utilized in a chapter on retrosynthesis. For aromatic compounds, the coverage is less extensive. Benzene chemistry receives attention but the other benzenoid hydrocarbons receive only short discussion. Heterocyclic chemistry is missing in any great detail. This section is confined to the introduction of a few structures with almost no reference to synthesis. Discussions of biochemical areas, including phospholipids and nucleic acids, are presented at a higher level than is to be expected in a general textbook. Problems are presented at the end of each chapter with answers to some given at the end of the book. Finally, there is a list of reading references for each chapter. J. Grimshaw The Science of Crystallization. By W. A. Tiller. Pp. 484. Cambridge University Press. 1992. Hardback f50.00, paperbackf 15.00 ISBN 0 52 138828 7. This volume is the second of two devoted to this general subject, the first of which considered microscopic phenomena. Together the two volumes present a complete advanced course in crystallization. Sufficient information is given in the present volume to allow its use without reference to its companion. Initially the text considers the influence of transport processes such as natural and forced convection and heat transport on the crystal growth process. The treatment is inevitably mathematical but it is well and lucidly presented. It is comprehensive and relates to a sufficiently wide enough range of practical situations to allow extrapolation to all growth problems and their geometries. The second part of the text combines these basic concepts in the consideration of the influence of transport variables on interface stability and morphological shape. These in turn, as is shown, play a major role in defining the purification and perfection of the crystalline product. The specific cases of some materials are highlighted and a final chapter is devoted to the particular problems of thin film growth. The book is presented at an advanced level but is well within the understanding of graduate students. The basic information which it contains will make the book a useful background text for all those involved in this field. J. N. Sherwood Theoretical Aspects of Physical Organic Chemistry. The S-Z Mechanism. By S. S. Shaik, M. Bernhard Schlegel and S. Wolfe. Pp. 284. Wiley. 1992. Hardback f 4 7.50 ISBN 0 4718 40416. This book is a unique attempt to present a unified treatment of the concepts of physical organic chemistry and theoretical organic chemistry. In it, the reader is led from the historical evolution of physical organic chemistry, through quantitative methods (computation and characterization of potential energy surfaces) and qualitative models (curve crossing model of chemical reactivity),

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