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Saturated Heterocyclic Chemistry, Vol. 5
151
Elementary Reaction Kinetics, by J. L. Latham and A. E. Burgess, Butterworths, London, 1977, pp. ix + 182, price 652.95. This is the third edition of a well-established textbook first published in 1962. The main purpose of the book is for it to act as an introductory text for students of chemistry and its allied fields of study and in this respect it achieves its objectives. However, students whose courses involve a more indepth treatment of chemical kinetics will certainly require one or more of the available specialist texts, some of which are mentioned at the end of the book. A wide range of topics is covered and they are illustrated with plenty of well-chosen examples from the fields of both gas and solution kinetics. One inconsistency noted was that the authors have provided complete references for the examples in some chapters, e.g. Chapter 13, which deals with the analysis of experimental results, but not others, e.g. Chapter 7, dealing with investigations of reaction mechanisms by kinetic methods. Those for the latter might in fact have been more valuable than those for the numerical examples, in that the interested reader could then return to the original work for a fuller discussion of sometimes complex arguments which are only briefly considered in the text. The first four chapters of the book set out the fundamental concepts of the study of kinetics, e.g. order of reaction, rate constant, the basic rate laws, the standard methods used for their determination and the temperature dependence of the rate constant. These are followed by concise treatments of the theories of reaction rates and examples of how kinetic information has been used to elucidate reaction mechanisms. The more complex subjects of catalysis, free radicals and chain reactions and the monitoring of fast reactions are also discussed briefly. The book concludes with examples of the analysis of experimental results and a summary of the mathematics used in the body of the text. Taken overall, and bearing in’mind that the authors cover a wide area in the field of chemical kinetics in a comparatively small book, this is a good introductory textbook for first-year chemists and should provide interesting reading for those not specializing in chemistry.
J. H. L. Saturated Heterocyclic Chemistry, Vol. 5, senior reporter G. Pattenden, Specialist Periodical Report, The Chemical Society, London, 1978, pp. ix + 314, price 626.00. This volume in the Chemical Society’s ‘Specialist Periodical Reports’ series covers the 1975 literature on saturated heterocyclic compounds. As in previous volumes of the series, the compounds
are classified according
to ring size. The
152
chapter authors have made a valiant, and largely successful, effort to bring together the major references on the various types of ring system, from oxirans and aziridines to macrocycles. The range of literature to be covered is so vast that the reviews cannot be wholly comprehensive but there are also a few uncharacteristic omissions in this volume [e.g., the report of the first stable oxazetes (Angew. Chem. Int. Edn., (1975) 70)]. The time interval between the publication of this review and of the original literature is also rather a long one, and this inevitably diminishes the value of the report as a source of up to date information. The standard of production is, as usual, very high. Only a few minor mistakes appear in the formulae and the text is remarkably free from errors. The volume, like others in the series, has an author index and a detailed list of contents which makes up for the lack of a subject index. Perhaps because it covers such a wide range of organic chemistry, this series has been less successful than other Specialist Periodical Reports, and the present volume is to be the last. Much of the material should be covered in other series; in addition, a new Report on ‘General and Synthetic Methods’ is to appear. Most chemists have found the Specialist Periodical Reports to be of great value as a guide to the literature, especially where the subject is a clearly defined one but there has never been a very strong case for regarding saturated heterocyclic compounds as a separate and distinct group. Hopefully, the new Report will provide a format which will appeal to a wider readership. T. L. G.
Biomolecular Structure and Function, edited by Paul F. Agris, Academic Press, New York, San Francisco
and London,
1978, pp. xxv + 614, price $25.00.
This book represents the proceedings of a symposium, “Cellular Function and Molecular Structure: Biophysical Approaches to Biological Problems”, held in 1977 to commemorate 75 years of cellular research at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The book is divided into four sections, each beginning with papers presented by the principal speakers, followed by several shorter papers directed at the same subject. The first section deals with the importance of membranes in biology and the work which is currently directed at the understanding of structural dynamics of membrane constitution in relation to function. The two principal authors, I. C. P. Smith and P. Jost, show how the dynamic behaviour of membranes can be probed on different time scales by NMR and EPR, respectively. There are 16 shorter papers in this section dealing with such topics as headgroup conformation in phospholipid bilayers, ESR study of spectrin-phospholipid associations, fluorescence probes, and changes in the physical state of membrane lipid during senescence. Section II is concerned with molecular dynamics and structure of tissues and whole cells. The first paper, presented by G. K. Radda, concerns phos-
Elementary Reaction Kinetics, by J. L. Latham and A. E. Burgess, Butterworths, London, 1977, pp. ix + 182, price 652.95. This is the third edition of a well-established textbook first published in 1962. The main purpose of the book is for it to act as an introductory text for students of chemistry and its allied fields of study and in this respect it achieves its objectives. However, students whose courses involve a more indepth treatment of chemical kinetics will certainly require one or more of the available specialist texts, some of which are mentioned at the end of the book. A wide range of topics is covered and they are illustrated with plenty of well-chosen examples from the fields of both gas and solution kinetics. One inconsistency noted was that the authors have provided complete references for the examples in some chapters, e.g. Chapter 13, which deals with the analysis of experimental results, but not others, e.g. Chapter 7, dealing with investigations of reaction mechanisms by kinetic methods. Those for the latter might in fact have been more valuable than those for the numerical examples, in that the interested reader could then return to the original work for a fuller discussion of sometimes complex arguments which are only briefly considered in the text. The first four chapters of the book set out the fundamental concepts of the study of kinetics, e.g. order of reaction, rate constant, the basic rate laws, the standard methods used for their determination and the temperature dependence of the rate constant. These are followed by concise treatments of the theories of reaction rates and examples of how kinetic information has been used to elucidate reaction mechanisms. The more complex subjects of catalysis, free radicals and chain reactions and the monitoring of fast reactions are also discussed briefly. The book concludes with examples of the analysis of experimental results and a summary of the mathematics used in the body of the text. Taken overall, and bearing in’mind that the authors cover a wide area in the field of chemical kinetics in a comparatively small book, this is a good introductory textbook for first-year chemists and should provide interesting reading for those not specializing in chemistry.
J. H. L. Saturated Heterocyclic Chemistry, Vol. 5, senior reporter G. Pattenden, Specialist Periodical Report, The Chemical Society, London, 1978, pp. ix + 314, price 626.00. This volume in the Chemical Society’s ‘Specialist Periodical Reports’ series covers the 1975 literature on saturated heterocyclic compounds. As in previous volumes of the series, the compounds
are classified according
to ring size. The
152
chapter authors have made a valiant, and largely successful, effort to bring together the major references on the various types of ring system, from oxirans and aziridines to macrocycles. The range of literature to be covered is so vast that the reviews cannot be wholly comprehensive but there are also a few uncharacteristic omissions in this volume [e.g., the report of the first stable oxazetes (Angew. Chem. Int. Edn., (1975) 70)]. The time interval between the publication of this review and of the original literature is also rather a long one, and this inevitably diminishes the value of the report as a source of up to date information. The standard of production is, as usual, very high. Only a few minor mistakes appear in the formulae and the text is remarkably free from errors. The volume, like others in the series, has an author index and a detailed list of contents which makes up for the lack of a subject index. Perhaps because it covers such a wide range of organic chemistry, this series has been less successful than other Specialist Periodical Reports, and the present volume is to be the last. Much of the material should be covered in other series; in addition, a new Report on ‘General and Synthetic Methods’ is to appear. Most chemists have found the Specialist Periodical Reports to be of great value as a guide to the literature, especially where the subject is a clearly defined one but there has never been a very strong case for regarding saturated heterocyclic compounds as a separate and distinct group. Hopefully, the new Report will provide a format which will appeal to a wider readership. T. L. G.
Biomolecular Structure and Function, edited by Paul F. Agris, Academic Press, New York, San Francisco
and London,
1978, pp. xxv + 614, price $25.00.
This book represents the proceedings of a symposium, “Cellular Function and Molecular Structure: Biophysical Approaches to Biological Problems”, held in 1977 to commemorate 75 years of cellular research at the University of Missouri, Columbia. The book is divided into four sections, each beginning with papers presented by the principal speakers, followed by several shorter papers directed at the same subject. The first section deals with the importance of membranes in biology and the work which is currently directed at the understanding of structural dynamics of membrane constitution in relation to function. The two principal authors, I. C. P. Smith and P. Jost, show how the dynamic behaviour of membranes can be probed on different time scales by NMR and EPR, respectively. There are 16 shorter papers in this section dealing with such topics as headgroup conformation in phospholipid bilayers, ESR study of spectrin-phospholipid associations, fluorescence probes, and changes in the physical state of membrane lipid during senescence. Section II is concerned with molecular dynamics and structure of tissues and whole cells. The first paper, presented by G. K. Radda, concerns phos-