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Advances in carbohydrate chemistry. Vol. 8
ROOK
REVIEWS
521
Accumulation in Frog Muscle Cells” (G. Ling), and “Spatial and Chemical Exchange of Phosphate in the Resting and Active Nervous System” (L. Abood, R. Gerard, and R. Tschirgi). This enumeration of authors and their contributions is sullicient to show, that in this chapter, too, important subjects are dealt with by specialists. The second volume concludes, as did the first, with a clear, challenging review by Bentley Glass. The entire material is again summarized and critically discussed in about 100 pages. This volume does not call for a special recommendation, for it is indispensable to anyone interested in the actual problems of metabolism. F. LYNEN, Munich, Germany Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry. Vol. 8. Edited by C. S. HUDSON and M. L. WOLFROM. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1958. xvii + 408 pp. Price $10.00. Since its inception in 1945, the Admncee in Carbohydrate Chemistry has served as an excellent medium for keeping chemists and biochemists informed about the progress and trends in the field of carbohydrate chemistry. The high standards set in the previous years are maintained in the present volume. Volume 8 opens with a discussion of the “Relative Reactivities of Hydroxyl Groups of Carbohydrates, ” by J. M. Sugihara. This author points out that the selective reactivity of hydroxyl groups of carbohydrates in many instances appears to be a consequence of spatial arrangement of these groups and that neighboring groups in general may have a pronounced effect on the reactivity of a given hydroxyl group. Article 2, by W. G. Overend and M. Stacey, is concerned with “The Chemistry of the P-Desoxysugars.” Since the 2-deoxypentoses form the carbohydrate component of the deoxynucleic acids, they are of particular biological importance. The authors stress the developments in nucleic acid chemistry which have led to advances in the knowledge of 2-deoxypentoses, and vice versa. “Sulfonic Esters of Carbohydrates,” by R. S. Tipson, is an extensive and critical review of the literature on this subject. The author attributes the apparent earlier lack of interest of sugar chemists in this class of compounds to the fact that they were accustomed to thinking of sugar esters in terms of carboxylic esters, and failed to realize that sulfonic esters are really substituted esters of sulfuric acid. The article “The Methyl Ethers of oMannose” by G. 0. Aspinall deals with the methods of synthesis and derivations of structure of the methyl ethers of o-mannose. Similar chapters are found in Vols. 5, 6, and 7, describing the methyl ethers of n-glucose and o-galactose, and the methyl ethers of the aldopentoses and of rhamnose and fructose. Availability of detailed data pertaining to the various methylated sugar derivatives is of extreme* importance to workers engaged in structural carbohydrate chemistry. In the chapter titled “The Chemical Synthesis of n-Glucuronic Acid,” by C. L. Mehltretter, methods for chemical synthesis of n-glucuronic acid are described; while the subsequent chapter “o-Glucuronic Acid in Metabolism” by H. G. Bray is concerned with the large number of available biosynthetic n-glucuronides and with the mechanism of n-glucuronide formation.
522
BOOK
REVIEWS
“Structure of Melezitose” is an interesting original contribution by E. J. Hehre. Data obtained from chemical investigation and from enzymatic hydrolysis showed that the formula for meleaitose could be written as O-or-n-glucopyranosyl(1 + 3)-0-(?)-n-fructofuranosyl-(2) + I-or-o-glucopyranoside. This expression lacks assignment only of the cy- or p-form for the D-fructose unit. Although it was considered likely that the last two residues are united as in sucrose, no proof was available to that effect. Hehre found that Proteus vzclguris OX, bacterium is capable of splitting melezitose to glucose and sucrose, yielding from 38 to 56% of the latter. This clearly demonstrates that the fructose residue in the melezitose molecule possesses the same b-configuration as in sucrose. Under the topic “Composition of Cane Juice and Cane Final Molasses,” W. W. Brinkley and M. L. Wolfrom report a multitude of compounds found in cane sugar juice and cane sugar molasses. Since cane juice circulates in the living plant, carrying materials required for growth, its content is extremely complex. Besides being rich in carbohydrates it contains enzymes, vitamins, nitrogenous compounds, non-nitrogenous acids, fatty substances, and inorganic compounds. The final article, “Seaweed Polysaccharides,” by J. Mori, is an interesting account of polysaccharides occurring in seaweeds, their composition and structure. The volume also contains an obituary of the late noted carbohydrate chemist, Sir James Irvine, written by E. L. Hirst. Hirst points out Irvine’s important contributions to carbohydrate chemistry. Irvine was first to realize that Purdie’s recently discovered methylation process provided a technique to determine the position of the linkages in disaccharides and in the higher sugars. Volume 8 is the first in the series to use the recently revised nomenclature adopted by the American and British carbohydrate chemists and published in Chem. Eng. News 31, 1776 (1953) and in J. Chem. Sot. 1963,5108. W. Z. HASSID, Berkeley, California Some Conjugated Proteins. A Syn~posium. Edited by W. H. COLE, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N. J., 1953. viii + 73 pp. Price $1.75. This brief volume consists of six lectures presented at the Ninth Annual Conference on Protein Metabolism at Rutgers University, January, 1953. The following subjects are discussed authoritatively. “The Anatomy of Hemoglobin and Some Functions of Its Parts” (Sam Granick); “Cytochromes in the Mammal” (Walter W. Wainio); “On the Problem of Nucleoproteins” (Erwin “The Metabolism of Virus-Infected Bacteria” (Seymour S. Cohen); Chargaff); “Lipoproteins” (J. L. Oncley); and “Mucoproteins and Mucoids” (Karl Meyer). Each subject is discussed in a stimulating manner with adequate references to the Werature. THOMAS L. MCMEERIN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
REVIEWS
521
Accumulation in Frog Muscle Cells” (G. Ling), and “Spatial and Chemical Exchange of Phosphate in the Resting and Active Nervous System” (L. Abood, R. Gerard, and R. Tschirgi). This enumeration of authors and their contributions is sullicient to show, that in this chapter, too, important subjects are dealt with by specialists. The second volume concludes, as did the first, with a clear, challenging review by Bentley Glass. The entire material is again summarized and critically discussed in about 100 pages. This volume does not call for a special recommendation, for it is indispensable to anyone interested in the actual problems of metabolism. F. LYNEN, Munich, Germany Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry. Vol. 8. Edited by C. S. HUDSON and M. L. WOLFROM. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1958. xvii + 408 pp. Price $10.00. Since its inception in 1945, the Admncee in Carbohydrate Chemistry has served as an excellent medium for keeping chemists and biochemists informed about the progress and trends in the field of carbohydrate chemistry. The high standards set in the previous years are maintained in the present volume. Volume 8 opens with a discussion of the “Relative Reactivities of Hydroxyl Groups of Carbohydrates, ” by J. M. Sugihara. This author points out that the selective reactivity of hydroxyl groups of carbohydrates in many instances appears to be a consequence of spatial arrangement of these groups and that neighboring groups in general may have a pronounced effect on the reactivity of a given hydroxyl group. Article 2, by W. G. Overend and M. Stacey, is concerned with “The Chemistry of the P-Desoxysugars.” Since the 2-deoxypentoses form the carbohydrate component of the deoxynucleic acids, they are of particular biological importance. The authors stress the developments in nucleic acid chemistry which have led to advances in the knowledge of 2-deoxypentoses, and vice versa. “Sulfonic Esters of Carbohydrates,” by R. S. Tipson, is an extensive and critical review of the literature on this subject. The author attributes the apparent earlier lack of interest of sugar chemists in this class of compounds to the fact that they were accustomed to thinking of sugar esters in terms of carboxylic esters, and failed to realize that sulfonic esters are really substituted esters of sulfuric acid. The article “The Methyl Ethers of oMannose” by G. 0. Aspinall deals with the methods of synthesis and derivations of structure of the methyl ethers of o-mannose. Similar chapters are found in Vols. 5, 6, and 7, describing the methyl ethers of n-glucose and o-galactose, and the methyl ethers of the aldopentoses and of rhamnose and fructose. Availability of detailed data pertaining to the various methylated sugar derivatives is of extreme* importance to workers engaged in structural carbohydrate chemistry. In the chapter titled “The Chemical Synthesis of n-Glucuronic Acid,” by C. L. Mehltretter, methods for chemical synthesis of n-glucuronic acid are described; while the subsequent chapter “o-Glucuronic Acid in Metabolism” by H. G. Bray is concerned with the large number of available biosynthetic n-glucuronides and with the mechanism of n-glucuronide formation.
522
BOOK
REVIEWS
“Structure of Melezitose” is an interesting original contribution by E. J. Hehre. Data obtained from chemical investigation and from enzymatic hydrolysis showed that the formula for meleaitose could be written as O-or-n-glucopyranosyl(1 + 3)-0-(?)-n-fructofuranosyl-(2) + I-or-o-glucopyranoside. This expression lacks assignment only of the cy- or p-form for the D-fructose unit. Although it was considered likely that the last two residues are united as in sucrose, no proof was available to that effect. Hehre found that Proteus vzclguris OX, bacterium is capable of splitting melezitose to glucose and sucrose, yielding from 38 to 56% of the latter. This clearly demonstrates that the fructose residue in the melezitose molecule possesses the same b-configuration as in sucrose. Under the topic “Composition of Cane Juice and Cane Final Molasses,” W. W. Brinkley and M. L. Wolfrom report a multitude of compounds found in cane sugar juice and cane sugar molasses. Since cane juice circulates in the living plant, carrying materials required for growth, its content is extremely complex. Besides being rich in carbohydrates it contains enzymes, vitamins, nitrogenous compounds, non-nitrogenous acids, fatty substances, and inorganic compounds. The final article, “Seaweed Polysaccharides,” by J. Mori, is an interesting account of polysaccharides occurring in seaweeds, their composition and structure. The volume also contains an obituary of the late noted carbohydrate chemist, Sir James Irvine, written by E. L. Hirst. Hirst points out Irvine’s important contributions to carbohydrate chemistry. Irvine was first to realize that Purdie’s recently discovered methylation process provided a technique to determine the position of the linkages in disaccharides and in the higher sugars. Volume 8 is the first in the series to use the recently revised nomenclature adopted by the American and British carbohydrate chemists and published in Chem. Eng. News 31, 1776 (1953) and in J. Chem. Sot. 1963,5108. W. Z. HASSID, Berkeley, California Some Conjugated Proteins. A Syn~posium. Edited by W. H. COLE, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, N. J., 1953. viii + 73 pp. Price $1.75. This brief volume consists of six lectures presented at the Ninth Annual Conference on Protein Metabolism at Rutgers University, January, 1953. The following subjects are discussed authoritatively. “The Anatomy of Hemoglobin and Some Functions of Its Parts” (Sam Granick); “Cytochromes in the Mammal” (Walter W. Wainio); “On the Problem of Nucleoproteins” (Erwin “The Metabolism of Virus-Infected Bacteria” (Seymour S. Cohen); Chargaff); “Lipoproteins” (J. L. Oncley); and “Mucoproteins and Mucoids” (Karl Meyer). Each subject is discussed in a stimulating manner with adequate references to the Werature. THOMAS L. MCMEERIN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania