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Electronic structure and magnetism of inorganic compounds: Vol. 3
.I. inorg, nucl. Chem., 1975. Vot. 37, pp. 2027-2028. Pergamon Press. Printed in Great Britain
BOOK REVIEWS S P E C I A L I S T P E R I O D I C A L REPORTS
Inorganic Chemistry of The Transition Elements, Vol. 2 (1973) and Vol. 3 (1974): The Chemical Society, Senior
Electronic Structure and Magnetism of Inorganic Compounds: Vol. 3: P. Day (Senior Reporter), p x l +433.
Reporter, Dr. B. F. G. Johnson; Vol. 2,501 pp., £9.50: Vol. 3, 512 pp., £15.00. BOTH volumes contain four Chapters: "The Early Transition Metals" (C. D. Garner); "Elements of The First Transitional Period" (R. Davis); "The Noble Metals" (L. A. P. Kane-Maguire); "Scandium, Yttrium, The Lanthanides and the Actinides" (J. A. McCleverty). I have had the pleasure of reviewing or reading several Specialist Periodical Reports in the past and at first sight it appeared that these two volumes would maintain the high reputation established by other titles in the series. Certainly the first three chapters in each volume provide a wealth of information and probably little of importance has been overlooked. Thus, they cover a total of approximately 3,500 publications in each volume. Each contribution is carefully produced and will serve as a useful reference work for those interested in the chemistry of d-transition elements, and for such readers these volumes are warmly recommended. The articles on lanthanide and actinide elements (Chapter 4 in each volume) have been considered in more detail from a specialist point-of-view and both fail to provide the "systematic and comprehensive review coverage" claimed by the general comments on the outer jackets of Specialist Periodical Reports. These articles, despite their brevity, abound in glaring errors and misquotes. For example, in Vol. 2 the comments concerning the contents of references 138, 155, 162, 174 and 206 are incorrect, whilst AmTS3 (p. 464) should read AmzS3, Pu(II) (p. 465) should be Pu(lll), CfO (p. 468) should read Cf203, PuF (p. 467) should be PuF3 and PuOCI3 (Table 2) should read PuOCI. Furthermore. reports of this type should not contain trivial, established facts such as "EuCh reacted with aqueous ammonia giving Eu(OH)/' and "Plutonium dissolved in HCI giving blue Pu(IlI) solutions which, on treatment with base. afforded Pu(OH)~'. In Vol. 3 the contents of reference 163 are misquoted, reference 164 is surely incorrect since it does not deal with single crystal studies of the actinide tetrahalides, the heading for Table 5 is incomplete, 10-coordination is quoted as dodecahedral (p. 450) and for some reason it is stated that hexamethylphosphoramide [N(CH3):]~PO in Pr(hmpa)3Cl3 is coordinated via one oxygen atom. Actinide chemists will undoubtedly be amazed to find only 82 references quoted in Vol. 2 and only 134 in Vol. 3 with mention of only one of the various review articles and books published during the periods covered. Articles of this calibre can only provide ammunition for the critics of "publication proliferation" and neither of these volumes can be recommended to the practising actinide chemist or even as a source of information for those scientists having a general interest in this field.
Chemical Society, London, 1974, £14.00, SBN 85186 271 3. THE third volnme in this series follows the pattern of the previous volumes except that there is no longer a separate chapter devoted to theoretical calculations. Separate chapters are devoted to "l--Electronic Spectra" (P. Day), "2--Natural and Magnetic Optical Activity" (R. G. Denning), "3--Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements" (A. K. Gregan) and "4--Photoelectron Spectroscopy" tA. Hammett and A. F. Orchard) with the last chapter being by far the largest and representing 50% of the text. The typographic quality of the text is excellent, especially that of the figure reproductions and the criticisms made of Vol. 2 of this series have clearly been noted by the publishers and rectified. The overall length of the report is only slightly longer than that of Vol. 2 (373 pp.) and would hardly seem to justify the extraordinary increase in price (75%) of this volume compared with that of Vol. 2. An increase that will surely mean that few individuals will be prepared to purchase personal copies and will aly,o mean that all but the largest libraries will not be able to afford an automatic contribution to the series. The five authors are to be congratulated on producing a most readable volume that does not degenerate into a mere list, involving a nice balance in reporting on, the improvements in experimental techniques, a critical sifting of the new data and, most valuable of all. the occasional critical comment on the new ideas that have been produced in the various fields over the period of the review. That over 50% of Vol. 3 is devoted to electron spectroscopy reflects the continuing increase in interest in this subject and provides a useful review of the subject which brings a nonspecialist in the field readily up-to-date to early 1973. While this proved invaluable to the present reviewer it must also be realised that at the time of reading this Report is nearly two years out-of-date, a situation that places this Annual Specialist Report of the Chemical Society in no better position than most large reviews or books on the subjects involved. As the latter generally aim to give a total coverage of a subject area at a particular point in time they are not restricted to the publications in a limited period of time, consequently they have a clear advantage over the Annual Specialist Reports. As the escalating cost of these Specialist Reports of the Chemical Society now makes this volume comparable in price to the most expensive sections of the Journal of the Chemical Society, namely £12.50, and as most chemists will probably have interests in at least three of the present 32 titles in this series, I would suggest that the time has come for the Chemical Society to set an example in the world of Chemical Literature and cease publication of all 32 titles in this series. This suggestion is not intended to question the high standard of the articles in the present volume (or in those of the other titlesi but does question whether a policy decision correctly made
D. BROWN
2027
2028
BookReviews
by the Chemical Society in 1967 is still valid in 1975. To cease publication of the Specialist Reports would certainly earn the Chemical Society the gratitude of many Librarians all over the world, who when faced with escalating costs, have to decide whether or not their libraries can afford to continue purchasing such expensive series. B. J. HATHAWAY
Electron Spin Resonance, Vol. 2: (1974): The Chemical Society: Senior Reporter, Professor R. O. C. Norman: pp. 349, £9.50. THIS book covers the developments and applications of ESR during the period June 1972 to November 1973. It includes contributions covering a wide range of different fields with chapters on "Theoretical Aspects of Hyperfine Splittings and g-factors", "Endor and Eidor", "Relaxation
Processes and Line Widths", "Triplets and Biradicals", "Radical Ions", "Ion Pairs", "Dynamic Processes", "Transition Metal Ions", "Inorganic Radicals", "Organic Radicals", "Organometallic Radicals", "g-factors of Free Radicals in Fluid Solutions", and "Biological Systems". Covering this enormous area presents considerable problems and the authors are confined to reporting the literature published during the year without being able to set it properly in perspective. It is of most use for those using ESR as a principle tool but unfortunately these compilations rapidly become out of date. For those interested in learning the applications of ESR to their own area of work it is less useful since the relevant information may appear across several chapters. The chapter on transition metal ions is well laid out and easy to follow and is a useful reference for information over the period covered. A. J. TENCH
BOOK REVIEWS S P E C I A L I S T P E R I O D I C A L REPORTS
Inorganic Chemistry of The Transition Elements, Vol. 2 (1973) and Vol. 3 (1974): The Chemical Society, Senior
Electronic Structure and Magnetism of Inorganic Compounds: Vol. 3: P. Day (Senior Reporter), p x l +433.
Reporter, Dr. B. F. G. Johnson; Vol. 2,501 pp., £9.50: Vol. 3, 512 pp., £15.00. BOTH volumes contain four Chapters: "The Early Transition Metals" (C. D. Garner); "Elements of The First Transitional Period" (R. Davis); "The Noble Metals" (L. A. P. Kane-Maguire); "Scandium, Yttrium, The Lanthanides and the Actinides" (J. A. McCleverty). I have had the pleasure of reviewing or reading several Specialist Periodical Reports in the past and at first sight it appeared that these two volumes would maintain the high reputation established by other titles in the series. Certainly the first three chapters in each volume provide a wealth of information and probably little of importance has been overlooked. Thus, they cover a total of approximately 3,500 publications in each volume. Each contribution is carefully produced and will serve as a useful reference work for those interested in the chemistry of d-transition elements, and for such readers these volumes are warmly recommended. The articles on lanthanide and actinide elements (Chapter 4 in each volume) have been considered in more detail from a specialist point-of-view and both fail to provide the "systematic and comprehensive review coverage" claimed by the general comments on the outer jackets of Specialist Periodical Reports. These articles, despite their brevity, abound in glaring errors and misquotes. For example, in Vol. 2 the comments concerning the contents of references 138, 155, 162, 174 and 206 are incorrect, whilst AmTS3 (p. 464) should read AmzS3, Pu(II) (p. 465) should be Pu(lll), CfO (p. 468) should read Cf203, PuF (p. 467) should be PuF3 and PuOCI3 (Table 2) should read PuOCI. Furthermore. reports of this type should not contain trivial, established facts such as "EuCh reacted with aqueous ammonia giving Eu(OH)/' and "Plutonium dissolved in HCI giving blue Pu(IlI) solutions which, on treatment with base. afforded Pu(OH)~'. In Vol. 3 the contents of reference 163 are misquoted, reference 164 is surely incorrect since it does not deal with single crystal studies of the actinide tetrahalides, the heading for Table 5 is incomplete, 10-coordination is quoted as dodecahedral (p. 450) and for some reason it is stated that hexamethylphosphoramide [N(CH3):]~PO in Pr(hmpa)3Cl3 is coordinated via one oxygen atom. Actinide chemists will undoubtedly be amazed to find only 82 references quoted in Vol. 2 and only 134 in Vol. 3 with mention of only one of the various review articles and books published during the periods covered. Articles of this calibre can only provide ammunition for the critics of "publication proliferation" and neither of these volumes can be recommended to the practising actinide chemist or even as a source of information for those scientists having a general interest in this field.
Chemical Society, London, 1974, £14.00, SBN 85186 271 3. THE third volnme in this series follows the pattern of the previous volumes except that there is no longer a separate chapter devoted to theoretical calculations. Separate chapters are devoted to "l--Electronic Spectra" (P. Day), "2--Natural and Magnetic Optical Activity" (R. G. Denning), "3--Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements" (A. K. Gregan) and "4--Photoelectron Spectroscopy" tA. Hammett and A. F. Orchard) with the last chapter being by far the largest and representing 50% of the text. The typographic quality of the text is excellent, especially that of the figure reproductions and the criticisms made of Vol. 2 of this series have clearly been noted by the publishers and rectified. The overall length of the report is only slightly longer than that of Vol. 2 (373 pp.) and would hardly seem to justify the extraordinary increase in price (75%) of this volume compared with that of Vol. 2. An increase that will surely mean that few individuals will be prepared to purchase personal copies and will aly,o mean that all but the largest libraries will not be able to afford an automatic contribution to the series. The five authors are to be congratulated on producing a most readable volume that does not degenerate into a mere list, involving a nice balance in reporting on, the improvements in experimental techniques, a critical sifting of the new data and, most valuable of all. the occasional critical comment on the new ideas that have been produced in the various fields over the period of the review. That over 50% of Vol. 3 is devoted to electron spectroscopy reflects the continuing increase in interest in this subject and provides a useful review of the subject which brings a nonspecialist in the field readily up-to-date to early 1973. While this proved invaluable to the present reviewer it must also be realised that at the time of reading this Report is nearly two years out-of-date, a situation that places this Annual Specialist Report of the Chemical Society in no better position than most large reviews or books on the subjects involved. As the latter generally aim to give a total coverage of a subject area at a particular point in time they are not restricted to the publications in a limited period of time, consequently they have a clear advantage over the Annual Specialist Reports. As the escalating cost of these Specialist Reports of the Chemical Society now makes this volume comparable in price to the most expensive sections of the Journal of the Chemical Society, namely £12.50, and as most chemists will probably have interests in at least three of the present 32 titles in this series, I would suggest that the time has come for the Chemical Society to set an example in the world of Chemical Literature and cease publication of all 32 titles in this series. This suggestion is not intended to question the high standard of the articles in the present volume (or in those of the other titlesi but does question whether a policy decision correctly made
D. BROWN
2027
2028
BookReviews
by the Chemical Society in 1967 is still valid in 1975. To cease publication of the Specialist Reports would certainly earn the Chemical Society the gratitude of many Librarians all over the world, who when faced with escalating costs, have to decide whether or not their libraries can afford to continue purchasing such expensive series. B. J. HATHAWAY
Electron Spin Resonance, Vol. 2: (1974): The Chemical Society: Senior Reporter, Professor R. O. C. Norman: pp. 349, £9.50. THIS book covers the developments and applications of ESR during the period June 1972 to November 1973. It includes contributions covering a wide range of different fields with chapters on "Theoretical Aspects of Hyperfine Splittings and g-factors", "Endor and Eidor", "Relaxation
Processes and Line Widths", "Triplets and Biradicals", "Radical Ions", "Ion Pairs", "Dynamic Processes", "Transition Metal Ions", "Inorganic Radicals", "Organic Radicals", "Organometallic Radicals", "g-factors of Free Radicals in Fluid Solutions", and "Biological Systems". Covering this enormous area presents considerable problems and the authors are confined to reporting the literature published during the year without being able to set it properly in perspective. It is of most use for those using ESR as a principle tool but unfortunately these compilations rapidly become out of date. For those interested in learning the applications of ESR to their own area of work it is less useful since the relevant information may appear across several chapters. The chapter on transition metal ions is well laid out and easy to follow and is a useful reference for information over the period covered. A. J. TENCH