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Ion exchange resins
BOOK REVIEWS
J. A. KITCHENER: Ion Exchange Resins. Methuen, London, 1956. VII + 109 pp., 9s. 6d.
Tins Methuen monograph sets out to describe the basic principles governing the behaviour of ion exchange resins and membranes. Actually it does rather more than this, for the two chapters (which oocupy nearly half the book) on the physical chemistry of exchange equilibria and the kinetics of ion exchange are up-to-date and reasonably complete accounts of present theory. The writing is very concise, 'but the condensation has been most skilfully done, and the book will make easy reading for anyone with the necessary background of classical physical chemistry. A short list of selected references is given at the end of each chapter. The applications of resins that are discussed are the more spectacular successes in water treatment, uranium extraction, and rare-earth and amino-acid separations; a diagram from the recent literature also shows the successful separation of the trans-uranic elements 95-101. There is, in addition, an informative table which summarizes the other possible uses of ion-exchange resins; butit is, perhaps, a pity that the author could not spare a page or two to illustrate the ubiquity of resins as tools in ordinary preparative and analytical work. In other respects the book provides an excellent guide for the non-specialist, and gives an attractively written account of the achievements and potentialities of ion-exchange resins. C. W. DAVIES
Chemlgry of the Co-ordination Compot~ls. Edited by JOHN C. BAILAR,JR., Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1956. x + 834 pp. $18.50 (148s). PROF. BAILAR is ideally suited to e ~ t a treatise on co-ordination chemistry. He has worked many years in this research field and has stimulated many students to continue research on this subject after they completed their research training with him. He, and his former students who have joined him in writing the various chapters of this book, represent then a formidable combination. There is an imaginative choice of topics. These include such diverse subjects as the occurrence of co-ordination compounds in natural products, as well as in the industrially important dyes and pigments, and metal carbonyis. Chapters which particularly appealed to this reviewer (probably largely dictated by his own interests) included the following: Chapter 1 (J. C. BAILARJR. and DARYLE H. BUSCH), an interesting general account of the subject, from the point of view of the various donor atoms encountered, which cleverly introduces and refers to many of the other twenty-two chapters; Chapters 3 and 4 (Roem~T W. PARRYand RAYMONDN. KELLER),containing a well-conceived account of the theoretical basis of co-ordination binding (spiced occasionally with a little provocativeness); Chapters 8 and 9 (F. BASOLOand B. P. BLOCK respectively), dealing with the stereoisomerism of 6- and 4-covalent compounds; and finally Chapter 18 (R. C. BRAS3ZDand W. E. CooL~Y), an interesting and thorough account of the applications of physical methods to co-ordination chemistry. In a book of such a scope (there are over 5000 literature references included) it is inevitable that important facts will have been omitted. There are no references later than 1952 included in a chapter dealing with the less common co-ordination numbers, a subject in which significant developments have occurred since that date. The limitations of Joe's Method of Continuous Variations (p. 569) and the CoTTON effect (p. 581) are not emphasized, and some important developments in thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of complex ion chemistry are barely mentioned. In addition, some final 162
J. A. KITCHENER: Ion Exchange Resins. Methuen, London, 1956. VII + 109 pp., 9s. 6d.
Tins Methuen monograph sets out to describe the basic principles governing the behaviour of ion exchange resins and membranes. Actually it does rather more than this, for the two chapters (which oocupy nearly half the book) on the physical chemistry of exchange equilibria and the kinetics of ion exchange are up-to-date and reasonably complete accounts of present theory. The writing is very concise, 'but the condensation has been most skilfully done, and the book will make easy reading for anyone with the necessary background of classical physical chemistry. A short list of selected references is given at the end of each chapter. The applications of resins that are discussed are the more spectacular successes in water treatment, uranium extraction, and rare-earth and amino-acid separations; a diagram from the recent literature also shows the successful separation of the trans-uranic elements 95-101. There is, in addition, an informative table which summarizes the other possible uses of ion-exchange resins; butit is, perhaps, a pity that the author could not spare a page or two to illustrate the ubiquity of resins as tools in ordinary preparative and analytical work. In other respects the book provides an excellent guide for the non-specialist, and gives an attractively written account of the achievements and potentialities of ion-exchange resins. C. W. DAVIES
Chemlgry of the Co-ordination Compot~ls. Edited by JOHN C. BAILAR,JR., Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, 1956. x + 834 pp. $18.50 (148s). PROF. BAILAR is ideally suited to e ~ t a treatise on co-ordination chemistry. He has worked many years in this research field and has stimulated many students to continue research on this subject after they completed their research training with him. He, and his former students who have joined him in writing the various chapters of this book, represent then a formidable combination. There is an imaginative choice of topics. These include such diverse subjects as the occurrence of co-ordination compounds in natural products, as well as in the industrially important dyes and pigments, and metal carbonyis. Chapters which particularly appealed to this reviewer (probably largely dictated by his own interests) included the following: Chapter 1 (J. C. BAILARJR. and DARYLE H. BUSCH), an interesting general account of the subject, from the point of view of the various donor atoms encountered, which cleverly introduces and refers to many of the other twenty-two chapters; Chapters 3 and 4 (Roem~T W. PARRYand RAYMONDN. KELLER),containing a well-conceived account of the theoretical basis of co-ordination binding (spiced occasionally with a little provocativeness); Chapters 8 and 9 (F. BASOLOand B. P. BLOCK respectively), dealing with the stereoisomerism of 6- and 4-covalent compounds; and finally Chapter 18 (R. C. BRAS3ZDand W. E. CooL~Y), an interesting and thorough account of the applications of physical methods to co-ordination chemistry. In a book of such a scope (there are over 5000 literature references included) it is inevitable that important facts will have been omitted. There are no references later than 1952 included in a chapter dealing with the less common co-ordination numbers, a subject in which significant developments have occurred since that date. The limitations of Joe's Method of Continuous Variations (p. 569) and the CoTTON effect (p. 581) are not emphasized, and some important developments in thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of complex ion chemistry are barely mentioned. In addition, some final 162