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Gas chromatographic analysis of drugs and pesticides
BOOK REVIEWS
555
by BENJAMIN J. GUDZINOWICZ, Marcel ,Dekker Inc., New York, and Edward Arnold, London, 1967, ix + Go5 pp., price $28.50.
Gas Ch?omatograpkic
Alzalysis of Dwgs
nnd Pesticides,
This book is written in two parts, of which part I is a general introduction to gas chromatography and part II is a review of the application of gas chromatography to the analysis of drugs and pesticides, Part I consists of three chapters devoted to (I) Historyand.general theory of gas chromatography, (2) Detectors and their principles of operation and (3) Use of gas chromatographic data in qualitative and quantitative analysis. The material is all the good, solid stuff with which gas chromatographers are now -familiar. The author. has, perhaps, included material which is unlikely to be ,helpful to the analysts at whom the book is aimed, e.g. the mathematical treatment in chapter I is more advanced than is necessary in an analyst’s handbook, while it falls short of what would be required in a theoretical textbook. The discussion in chapter 3 on the correlation of retention data with such physical properties as ‘boiling point, density, viscosity, parachor etc. is most interesting to a physical chemist but not very relevant to the identification of a substanceunless at least ,100 ml of pure sample i,s available! I have ieservations, too, about the advice .on p. 23 to re-sieve the column packing ,material after impregnation with the ‘liquid phase; I have always preferred to handle the material as little as, possible at this stage to minimise, the risk of particles breaking up and exposing uncoated surfaces. Part ,,II: contains, the following chapters : (4) Phenbthiaiine ‘drugs and barbiturates ; (5) Phenylethylamine type and tryptamine-indole base alkaloids ; (6) Morphine, nicotine and pyrrolizidine-related alkaloids and marihuana cannabinols; (7) Antihistamines, high-boiling amine anaesthetics, and vitamins ; (8) Miscellaneous drugs and, pharmaceuticals ;, ,(g) Pesti,cides, herbicides and related compounds. Each chapter consists of a review of publishe’d work on the detection, identification and determination of the chemicals concerned. Both assay and. determination of drugs’ in body fluids are covered in many cases in chapters 4-8 ; in the case of pesticides the emphasis is on crop residues determination. The text includes many chromatograms indicating the resolution and,’ separation obtainable and many ,t&les .of retention’, data. The usefulness of a few of the latter is, unfortunately, ,impaired by the omission, of such details as the.‘stationary phase used or the column temperature; the table on, p. 20$ isan, example in which the information is not even extractable from the text. On the &hole, however, the tables of retention data should be a most useful part of the book. Various techniques to facilitate identification are described such as the use of specific and non-specific detectors, gas chromatography of pyrolysis produ,cts and temperature progr imming. One of the minor irritations of this book-and of American textbooks, generally-is the indiscriminate use of “approved” coined names and proprietary names to refer to drugs and pesticides; often proprietary names are used’ even where an name also exists, as for example “Guthion” for azinphosmethyl and “approved” “S&tphcillin” for methicillin. The purchaser of this book will obtain a comprehensive review-descriptive rather than critical-of gas chromatographic techniques which have proved useful in the drugs and pesticides fields; he should realise, however, that the author has ‘J. Chromatog.;37
(1968)555'556
556
BOOK
REVIEWS
confirmed his attention to the gas chromatography stage of the analysis and offers no advice on the preliminary clean-up of biological samples for drug determination and only abstracts of methods of clean-up for pesticide residues work. However, the book has a complete bibliography at the end of each’ chapter and the reader should have little difficulty in tracking down the experimental details of the methods referred to. The analyst about to make a start on the use of gas chromatography for drugs and pesticides analysis would be well advised to purchase this book; if he is also a newcomer to gas chromatography, part I should give enough background information to make effective use of part II. ML&try
Fisheries qlzd Food, ,Laboratory, Harpenden, H&s.
Ptartt Pathology (Great Britain)
Lipid
B. A. ROSE
of Agricztltwe,
Vol. I, edited by G. V. MARINETTI, Edward Arnold, and Marcel Dekker, New York, Ig67# 537 pp., price & 10.10.0.
Chromatogra$?& London,
Analysis,
This volume consists of separate articles by leading workers in the lipid separation field and covers paper, thin-layer and column chromatography of phosphatides, glycolipids, neutral glycerides, fatty acids, and partial hydrolysis pfoducts of phosphatides and glycolipids. Gas chromatographic separation of neutral glycerides, alkoxy lipids, fatty acids, aldehydes, sphingosides and of compounds such as inositol, glycerol, carbohydrates, and nitrogenous ,bases derived ‘from lipids is also described. As might be expected the sections vary in quality .from tiuthorative expositions to somewhat disappointing incomplete coverage. It is perhaps a pity that at this advanced stage in the development. of lipid chemistry and biochemistry sections have beon based on techniques. A more useful basis’ would be the different classes’of compound; No laboratory uses only one technique and in any case the thin-layer, plate, the liquid column and gas-liquid chromatography are not exclusive but complementary. Anyone entering the field would be somewhat baffled at the alternative methods described in widely spaced chapters. Nevertlieless this book is a useful compendium of data on the separation techniques used for lipids, even though the price is rather high. UrGZever Research J. Chromatog.,
Laboratory,
37 (1968) 555-556
Shambrook,
Bedford
(Great B&ta&)
A.T.
JAMES
555
by BENJAMIN J. GUDZINOWICZ, Marcel ,Dekker Inc., New York, and Edward Arnold, London, 1967, ix + Go5 pp., price $28.50.
Gas Ch?omatograpkic
Alzalysis of Dwgs
nnd Pesticides,
This book is written in two parts, of which part I is a general introduction to gas chromatography and part II is a review of the application of gas chromatography to the analysis of drugs and pesticides, Part I consists of three chapters devoted to (I) Historyand.general theory of gas chromatography, (2) Detectors and their principles of operation and (3) Use of gas chromatographic data in qualitative and quantitative analysis. The material is all the good, solid stuff with which gas chromatographers are now -familiar. The author. has, perhaps, included material which is unlikely to be ,helpful to the analysts at whom the book is aimed, e.g. the mathematical treatment in chapter I is more advanced than is necessary in an analyst’s handbook, while it falls short of what would be required in a theoretical textbook. The discussion in chapter 3 on the correlation of retention data with such physical properties as ‘boiling point, density, viscosity, parachor etc. is most interesting to a physical chemist but not very relevant to the identification of a substanceunless at least ,100 ml of pure sample i,s available! I have ieservations, too, about the advice .on p. 23 to re-sieve the column packing ,material after impregnation with the ‘liquid phase; I have always preferred to handle the material as little as, possible at this stage to minimise, the risk of particles breaking up and exposing uncoated surfaces. Part ,,II: contains, the following chapters : (4) Phenbthiaiine ‘drugs and barbiturates ; (5) Phenylethylamine type and tryptamine-indole base alkaloids ; (6) Morphine, nicotine and pyrrolizidine-related alkaloids and marihuana cannabinols; (7) Antihistamines, high-boiling amine anaesthetics, and vitamins ; (8) Miscellaneous drugs and, pharmaceuticals ;, ,(g) Pesti,cides, herbicides and related compounds. Each chapter consists of a review of publishe’d work on the detection, identification and determination of the chemicals concerned. Both assay and. determination of drugs’ in body fluids are covered in many cases in chapters 4-8 ; in the case of pesticides the emphasis is on crop residues determination. The text includes many chromatograms indicating the resolution and,’ separation obtainable and many ,t&les .of retention’, data. The usefulness of a few of the latter is, unfortunately, ,impaired by the omission, of such details as the.‘stationary phase used or the column temperature; the table on, p. 20$ isan, example in which the information is not even extractable from the text. On the &hole, however, the tables of retention data should be a most useful part of the book. Various techniques to facilitate identification are described such as the use of specific and non-specific detectors, gas chromatography of pyrolysis produ,cts and temperature progr imming. One of the minor irritations of this book-and of American textbooks, generally-is the indiscriminate use of “approved” coined names and proprietary names to refer to drugs and pesticides; often proprietary names are used’ even where an name also exists, as for example “Guthion” for azinphosmethyl and “approved” “S&tphcillin” for methicillin. The purchaser of this book will obtain a comprehensive review-descriptive rather than critical-of gas chromatographic techniques which have proved useful in the drugs and pesticides fields; he should realise, however, that the author has ‘J. Chromatog.;37
(1968)555'556
556
BOOK
REVIEWS
confirmed his attention to the gas chromatography stage of the analysis and offers no advice on the preliminary clean-up of biological samples for drug determination and only abstracts of methods of clean-up for pesticide residues work. However, the book has a complete bibliography at the end of each’ chapter and the reader should have little difficulty in tracking down the experimental details of the methods referred to. The analyst about to make a start on the use of gas chromatography for drugs and pesticides analysis would be well advised to purchase this book; if he is also a newcomer to gas chromatography, part I should give enough background information to make effective use of part II. ML&try
Fisheries qlzd Food, ,Laboratory, Harpenden, H&s.
Ptartt Pathology (Great Britain)
Lipid
B. A. ROSE
of Agricztltwe,
Vol. I, edited by G. V. MARINETTI, Edward Arnold, and Marcel Dekker, New York, Ig67# 537 pp., price & 10.10.0.
Chromatogra$?& London,
Analysis,
This volume consists of separate articles by leading workers in the lipid separation field and covers paper, thin-layer and column chromatography of phosphatides, glycolipids, neutral glycerides, fatty acids, and partial hydrolysis pfoducts of phosphatides and glycolipids. Gas chromatographic separation of neutral glycerides, alkoxy lipids, fatty acids, aldehydes, sphingosides and of compounds such as inositol, glycerol, carbohydrates, and nitrogenous ,bases derived ‘from lipids is also described. As might be expected the sections vary in quality .from tiuthorative expositions to somewhat disappointing incomplete coverage. It is perhaps a pity that at this advanced stage in the development. of lipid chemistry and biochemistry sections have beon based on techniques. A more useful basis’ would be the different classes’of compound; No laboratory uses only one technique and in any case the thin-layer, plate, the liquid column and gas-liquid chromatography are not exclusive but complementary. Anyone entering the field would be somewhat baffled at the alternative methods described in widely spaced chapters. Nevertlieless this book is a useful compendium of data on the separation techniques used for lipids, even though the price is rather high. UrGZever Research J. Chromatog.,
Laboratory,
37 (1968) 555-556
Shambrook,
Bedford
(Great B&ta&)
A.T.
JAMES