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Biochemical preparations. Vol. 9
540
BOOK REVIEWS
Preparations. Vol. 9. Edited by J. COON, Professor of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. John Wiley and Sons, New York, N. Y., 1962. x + 149 pp. Price $6.95. This volume continues, in the tradition of its predecessors, to be an important service for biochemists. Authors, who are expert in their respective fields, give detailed laboratory directions for each preparation, and the reproducibility of these procedures is in turn checked by other experts. Occasionally these checkers add their valuable comments. The following preparations are included in Vol. 9 : N-acetylneuraminlactose, Pm-labeled adenosine 5’-phosphate and deoxycytidine B’-phosphate, &benzyloxyindole, enzymic synthesis of (+)-citramalic acid, chemical synthesis and resolution of (e)-citramalic acid, coenayme &lo, 2-deoxy-n-ribose &phosphate, reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPNH) oxidase, n-glucosamine 6-phosphoric acid and n-mannosamine 6-phosphoric acid, glutamate-aspartate transaminase, y-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine from glutathione, L-a-glycerylphosphorylcholine, carboxyl-C4-labeled 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid, DC-)- and L(S)+-hydroxybutyric acids, three-r-hydroxy-L-glutamic acid, threo-y-mglutamic acid, carbonyl-C14-labeled 3-hydroxynL-kynurenine, hydroxylapatite for protein chromatography, hydroxypyruvic acid and lithium hydroxypyruvate, 5-hydroxy-m-tryptophan, Lmyo-inositol l-phosphate, malic dehydrogenase from rat liver, p-nitrophenyl carbobenzoxyglycinate, oleic acid, enzymic synthesis of oleic, linoleic, and linolenic esters of cholesterol, enzymic synthesis of ribo- and deoxyribonucleoside 5’-triphosphates, sphingosine, and tobacco mosaic virus. The subject index is cumulative from Vol. 1. This reviewer is gratified to see that gas chromatography has been added to the modern physical methods for detecting impurities in various preparations, particularly oleic acid and sphingosine. While the nomenclature does not correspond in certain instances with the latest recommendations of International Commissions, e.g., DPNH is used rather than the newly recommended NADH, this is unlikely to create confusion and is certainly the nomenclature which is familiar to most biochemists. Biochemical
MINOR
DONALD
D.
CLARKE,
New York, New York
Comprehensive Biochemistry. Vol. 2. (Organic and Physical Chemistry). Edited by MARCEL FLORKIR’ and ELMER H. STOTZ. Elsevier, New York, N. Y., 1962.xiv + 328 pp. Price $14.50. The work under review is one of the first vol-
umes to be published as part of an extensive series divided into five sections: (1) physicochemical and organic aspects of biochemistry (4 volumes); (2) chemistry of biological compounds; (3) biochemical reaction mechanisms; (4) metabolism ; (5) chemical biology and general index. In the organization of this series, the editors are assisted by a distinguished international advisory board of 14 members. The general purpose of the series is stated to be to provide “an advanced treatise in biochemistry which assembles the principal areas of the subject in a single set of books.” Volume 2 contains three chapters: I. “Mechanisms of Organic Reactions” (218 pp.) by M. L. Bender and R. Breslow; II. “Behaviour of Molecules in Solution” (64 pp.) by W. D. Stein; III. “Diffusion and Osmosis” (26 pp.) by W. D. Stein. Chapter I is essentially a monograph on a subject treated in several other recent books, with which it compares extremely favorably. Drs. Bender and Breslow have themselves made important contributions to the study of organic-chemical mechanisms that may be operative in enzyme-catalyzed reactions, and their discussion is authoritative and critical. The recent literature in this active field is covered up to about 1960. It is a source of regret that the proof reading of this chapter was not more thorough. In the two chapters by Dr. Stein, the large subjects are covered competently but perhaps too briefly. For example, the student seeking an advanced treatment of the behavior of polymers in solution will probably have to go to works such as Flory’s Principles of Polymer Chemistry for a more thorough discussion, as indeed Dr. Stein advises him to do. The price set for this volume suggests that the publishers expect the series to be purchased primarily by institutional libraries rather than by individual scientists or by research students. JOSEPH
S.
FRUTON,
New Haven, Connecticut
Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Techniques. Vol. I: Chromatography. Edited by IVOR SMITH, Lecturer, Courtauld Institute, Middlesex Hospital and Brunel College of Technology, London. William Heinemann, Medical Books, London, England and Interscience Publishers, New York, N. Y., 1960.xviii + 617 pp. Price $10.75. In 1958, Ivor Smith and ten collaborators prepared a useful book entitled Chromatographic Techniques-Clinical and Biochemical Applications. In 17 chapters and 309 pages, these authors described standardized procedures for the paper chromatography of many substances of biochemical and clinical significance. Now, only two years later, Smith and 22 collabo-
BOOK REVIEWS
Preparations. Vol. 9. Edited by J. COON, Professor of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. John Wiley and Sons, New York, N. Y., 1962. x + 149 pp. Price $6.95. This volume continues, in the tradition of its predecessors, to be an important service for biochemists. Authors, who are expert in their respective fields, give detailed laboratory directions for each preparation, and the reproducibility of these procedures is in turn checked by other experts. Occasionally these checkers add their valuable comments. The following preparations are included in Vol. 9 : N-acetylneuraminlactose, Pm-labeled adenosine 5’-phosphate and deoxycytidine B’-phosphate, &benzyloxyindole, enzymic synthesis of (+)-citramalic acid, chemical synthesis and resolution of (e)-citramalic acid, coenayme &lo, 2-deoxy-n-ribose &phosphate, reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPNH) oxidase, n-glucosamine 6-phosphoric acid and n-mannosamine 6-phosphoric acid, glutamate-aspartate transaminase, y-L-glutamyl-L-cysteine from glutathione, L-a-glycerylphosphorylcholine, carboxyl-C4-labeled 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid, DC-)- and L(S)+-hydroxybutyric acids, three-r-hydroxy-L-glutamic acid, threo-y-mglutamic acid, carbonyl-C14-labeled 3-hydroxynL-kynurenine, hydroxylapatite for protein chromatography, hydroxypyruvic acid and lithium hydroxypyruvate, 5-hydroxy-m-tryptophan, Lmyo-inositol l-phosphate, malic dehydrogenase from rat liver, p-nitrophenyl carbobenzoxyglycinate, oleic acid, enzymic synthesis of oleic, linoleic, and linolenic esters of cholesterol, enzymic synthesis of ribo- and deoxyribonucleoside 5’-triphosphates, sphingosine, and tobacco mosaic virus. The subject index is cumulative from Vol. 1. This reviewer is gratified to see that gas chromatography has been added to the modern physical methods for detecting impurities in various preparations, particularly oleic acid and sphingosine. While the nomenclature does not correspond in certain instances with the latest recommendations of International Commissions, e.g., DPNH is used rather than the newly recommended NADH, this is unlikely to create confusion and is certainly the nomenclature which is familiar to most biochemists. Biochemical
MINOR
DONALD
D.
CLARKE,
New York, New York
Comprehensive Biochemistry. Vol. 2. (Organic and Physical Chemistry). Edited by MARCEL FLORKIR’ and ELMER H. STOTZ. Elsevier, New York, N. Y., 1962.xiv + 328 pp. Price $14.50. The work under review is one of the first vol-
umes to be published as part of an extensive series divided into five sections: (1) physicochemical and organic aspects of biochemistry (4 volumes); (2) chemistry of biological compounds; (3) biochemical reaction mechanisms; (4) metabolism ; (5) chemical biology and general index. In the organization of this series, the editors are assisted by a distinguished international advisory board of 14 members. The general purpose of the series is stated to be to provide “an advanced treatise in biochemistry which assembles the principal areas of the subject in a single set of books.” Volume 2 contains three chapters: I. “Mechanisms of Organic Reactions” (218 pp.) by M. L. Bender and R. Breslow; II. “Behaviour of Molecules in Solution” (64 pp.) by W. D. Stein; III. “Diffusion and Osmosis” (26 pp.) by W. D. Stein. Chapter I is essentially a monograph on a subject treated in several other recent books, with which it compares extremely favorably. Drs. Bender and Breslow have themselves made important contributions to the study of organic-chemical mechanisms that may be operative in enzyme-catalyzed reactions, and their discussion is authoritative and critical. The recent literature in this active field is covered up to about 1960. It is a source of regret that the proof reading of this chapter was not more thorough. In the two chapters by Dr. Stein, the large subjects are covered competently but perhaps too briefly. For example, the student seeking an advanced treatment of the behavior of polymers in solution will probably have to go to works such as Flory’s Principles of Polymer Chemistry for a more thorough discussion, as indeed Dr. Stein advises him to do. The price set for this volume suggests that the publishers expect the series to be purchased primarily by institutional libraries rather than by individual scientists or by research students. JOSEPH
S.
FRUTON,
New Haven, Connecticut
Chromatographic and Electrophoretic Techniques. Vol. I: Chromatography. Edited by IVOR SMITH, Lecturer, Courtauld Institute, Middlesex Hospital and Brunel College of Technology, London. William Heinemann, Medical Books, London, England and Interscience Publishers, New York, N. Y., 1960.xviii + 617 pp. Price $10.75. In 1958, Ivor Smith and ten collaborators prepared a useful book entitled Chromatographic Techniques-Clinical and Biochemical Applications. In 17 chapters and 309 pages, these authors described standardized procedures for the paper chromatography of many substances of biochemical and clinical significance. Now, only two years later, Smith and 22 collabo-