- Email: [email protected]
A spreadsheet workbook for quantitative chemical analysis
1802
Book reviews / Talanta 42 (1995) 1799-1802
Overall an excellent book for those making a move into pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry research and for those who wish to broaden their knowledge of all the disciplines involved in this area. P.J. Cox
A spreadsheet workbook for quantitative chemical analysis, By R. de Levie, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1992, approx. 170 pp., spiral bound. ISBN 0-07-016274-3.
This workbook begins with a brief introduction to the use o f a spreadsheet, in this case Quattro Pro. In the rest o f the book, instructions are given for entering chemical calculations into the spreadsheet; at first, in some detail, but later, just in outline, as the student is assumed to be become more familiar with the software. The topics covered include acidbase equilibria (simple and more complicated), acid-base titrations, logarithmic concentration diagrams for calculation of pH, complexation equilibria, extraction equilibria, precipitation equilibria, electrochemical equilibria, redox ti-
trations, activity effects, curve-fitting, differentiation, integration, and finding roots. Much o f the treatment is rather detailed, and in the U K would probably be considered suitable for use in postgraduate rather than undergraduate courses, because it would be difficult to provide enough computer time for an undergraduate class to work through all the material. It will be a valuable resource for postgraduate students-I would have found it invaluable for my own Ph.D. work, in which I made use of the textbooks referred to by this author. It is a problem of books that utilize computer packages that they very quickly become dated. This book is no exception, particularly because the past two years have seen Windows applications virtually take over the DOS ones. Students find the new Windows spreadsheets (such as QP for Windows) to be very much easier to use than their DOS predecessors, so Chapter 1 will soon be seen as out-of-date. However, since much of the rest o f this book consists o f chemistry and chemical equations, it should remain of value for use with other spreadsheet packages. M. Masson
Book reviews / Talanta 42 (1995) 1799-1802
Overall an excellent book for those making a move into pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry research and for those who wish to broaden their knowledge of all the disciplines involved in this area. P.J. Cox
A spreadsheet workbook for quantitative chemical analysis, By R. de Levie, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1992, approx. 170 pp., spiral bound. ISBN 0-07-016274-3.
This workbook begins with a brief introduction to the use o f a spreadsheet, in this case Quattro Pro. In the rest o f the book, instructions are given for entering chemical calculations into the spreadsheet; at first, in some detail, but later, just in outline, as the student is assumed to be become more familiar with the software. The topics covered include acidbase equilibria (simple and more complicated), acid-base titrations, logarithmic concentration diagrams for calculation of pH, complexation equilibria, extraction equilibria, precipitation equilibria, electrochemical equilibria, redox ti-
trations, activity effects, curve-fitting, differentiation, integration, and finding roots. Much o f the treatment is rather detailed, and in the U K would probably be considered suitable for use in postgraduate rather than undergraduate courses, because it would be difficult to provide enough computer time for an undergraduate class to work through all the material. It will be a valuable resource for postgraduate students-I would have found it invaluable for my own Ph.D. work, in which I made use of the textbooks referred to by this author. It is a problem of books that utilize computer packages that they very quickly become dated. This book is no exception, particularly because the past two years have seen Windows applications virtually take over the DOS ones. Students find the new Windows spreadsheets (such as QP for Windows) to be very much easier to use than their DOS predecessors, so Chapter 1 will soon be seen as out-of-date. However, since much of the rest o f this book consists o f chemistry and chemical equations, it should remain of value for use with other spreadsheet packages. M. Masson