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Mechanism and theory in Organic chemistry
56
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
Courses are also available outside the department - - these may be local advanced evening classes, held over a period of weeks, or intensive residential courses held at other universities or polytechnics. If the student wishes to take advantage of such training, finance may be obtainable from the Research Council supporting the student, from departmental funds, or a variety of other sources. Courses are normally very stimulating and may open up new avenues of research; they can be very useful in establishing contacts within the scientific community and are usually very enjoyable. Details of such courses can be found in the scientific press, or may be passed on to the department by the course organizers. A specialised scientific training should not exclude more general interestsL A balanced outlook is essential, especially if the student later moves to a career outside university research, such as management or publishing; a narrow-minded researcher ignores much that the world has to offer. Wide reading helps to cultivate a critical approach, to improve one's writing style, and to foster an interest in topics beyond personal experience, whilst relaxation of some form is essential to avoid becoming involved in a world constructed solely of research problems. At present, most students enter research immediately after obtaining their first degree. Research studentships usually provide training in academic research along but with the opportunities for other activities noted above. Schemes in the U.K. involving cooperation with industry (CASE awards), post-experience postgraduate training (ASSIST awards) or wider-based courses have not proved popular, although several recommendations for less specialised postgraduate training including more formal instruction have been made in the past 12. Outside the U.K., postgraduate training often involves a larger element of theoretical and practical training other than thesis research 13. The present system in Britain has so far proved satisfactory to most of the parties concerned: however, it may be asked whether such a system combines the best training in pure research with a general advanced education - - does it generate trained biochemists who are incapable of critical thinking in other areas? I( We feel that research students and supervisors should ensure that this is not the case: the products of the system depend upon the people within it, rather than the formal structure it is given.
July 1977
Vol. 5
No. 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS J.H.W. and N.P. are supported by research studentships from the S.R.C. and M.R.C. respectively.
REFERENCES I See for example The Robbins Report (ref. 12) section 297. F. R. Jevons: "Science Observed"; George Allen & Unwin, 1973. a Bryan Magee: "Popper"; Fontana/Collins, 1973, Ch. 2. 4 R o b e r t M . Pirsig: "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance";
Bodley Head, 1974 and Corgi, 1976; Ch. 9, 10. s e.g. James Calnan: "One Way to do Research"; Heinemann Medical Books, 1977. T. S. Kuhn: "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"; University of Chicago Press, 1962. 7 e.g. The Biochemical Journal: Instructions to Authors; Biochem. J. 153 (1976) 1-21 and 161 (1977) 1-2. 8 V. Booth: "Writing a Scientific Paper"; Biochem. Soc. Trans. 3 (1975) 1-26. 9 W. Strunk & E. B. White: "The Elements of Style"; 2nd edition, 1972, Macmillan. 10 A. M. Landman; Biochemical Education 4 (1976) 70. n G. R. Barker; Biochemical Education I (1973) 30 12 e.g. The Robbins Report: Higher Education. Cmnd. 2154, HMSO, London, 1963.; The Swarm Report: The Flow into Employment of Scientists, Engineers and Technologists. Cmnd. 3760, HMSO, London, 1968; SRC/SSRC Report: Broader Education for Graduates, London, 1972. 13 e . g . S . L . Bonting: Biochemical Education 1 (1973) 55-56 J. N. Wood: Biochemical Education 3 (1975) 64 1( j. R. Ravetz: "Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems"; Oxford University Press, 1971.
Mechanism and Theory in Organic Chemistry By Thomas H. Lowry and Kattfleen Schueller Richardson, Harper and Row, New York, 1976, pp xi, 748. £11.95 According to the authors this book "is intended as a text for undergraduates and first-year graduate students who have completed a one-year course in organic chemistry". The organisation of the book is in many ways along traditional lines. After introductory chapters on the Covalent Bond and Some Fundamentals of Physical Organic Chemistry (kinetics, linear freeenergy relationships, etc.) the focus is on reaction mechanisms. There are chapters on Acids and Bases, Bimolecular Substitution Reactions, Unimolecular Substitutions and Related Reactions, Intramolecular Rearrangements, Addition and Elimination Reactions, Reactions of Carbonyl Compounds, and Radical Reactions. The book is novel in its approach, however, in the amount of space it devotes to pericyclic reaction theory in three chapters (amounting to about one-fifth of the book) on Perturbation Theory and Symmetry, The Theory of Pericyclic Reactions, and Applications of the Pericyclie Selection Rules. There is also a chapter on Photochemistry. Extensive references are given, both to primary and to review and monograph literature. Problems of varying difficulty and complexity are given at the ends of the Chapters. Some of theses essentially extend the text. Even in the more 'traditional' chapters the treatment is much more advanced than in most of the well-established textbooks in the field. Much of the usual elementary material, on electronic effects
for example, is omitted. It is instructive to compare corresponding chapters, for example on Acids and Bases, in this book and in a well-known older book such as Jack Hine's Physical Organic Chemistry (McGraw-Hill, New York, Second Edition, 1962). The amount of material included is said to be sufficient for a full-year course. This claim certainly seems justified: the book is indeed substantial and a fair amount of the material is fikely to be found difficult by most of the intended clientele of undergraduates and first-year graduates, who will require very careful guidance through lectures and seminars. The book does not deal with specifically biochemical topics but insofar as the biochemist needs to have a good background in theoretical organic chemistry and reaction mechanisms, the book may have a part to play in biochemical education. The authors are to be congratulated on producing a most thorough and scholarly work, which will be of value to a wide variety of people concerned with aspects of the field. The price, at £11.95, seems very reasonable in these days for a book of such size and complexity. John Shorter Department of Chemistry The University of Hull Hull, H U t 7RX, U.K.
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
Courses are also available outside the department - - these may be local advanced evening classes, held over a period of weeks, or intensive residential courses held at other universities or polytechnics. If the student wishes to take advantage of such training, finance may be obtainable from the Research Council supporting the student, from departmental funds, or a variety of other sources. Courses are normally very stimulating and may open up new avenues of research; they can be very useful in establishing contacts within the scientific community and are usually very enjoyable. Details of such courses can be found in the scientific press, or may be passed on to the department by the course organizers. A specialised scientific training should not exclude more general interestsL A balanced outlook is essential, especially if the student later moves to a career outside university research, such as management or publishing; a narrow-minded researcher ignores much that the world has to offer. Wide reading helps to cultivate a critical approach, to improve one's writing style, and to foster an interest in topics beyond personal experience, whilst relaxation of some form is essential to avoid becoming involved in a world constructed solely of research problems. At present, most students enter research immediately after obtaining their first degree. Research studentships usually provide training in academic research along but with the opportunities for other activities noted above. Schemes in the U.K. involving cooperation with industry (CASE awards), post-experience postgraduate training (ASSIST awards) or wider-based courses have not proved popular, although several recommendations for less specialised postgraduate training including more formal instruction have been made in the past 12. Outside the U.K., postgraduate training often involves a larger element of theoretical and practical training other than thesis research 13. The present system in Britain has so far proved satisfactory to most of the parties concerned: however, it may be asked whether such a system combines the best training in pure research with a general advanced education - - does it generate trained biochemists who are incapable of critical thinking in other areas? I( We feel that research students and supervisors should ensure that this is not the case: the products of the system depend upon the people within it, rather than the formal structure it is given.
July 1977
Vol. 5
No. 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS J.H.W. and N.P. are supported by research studentships from the S.R.C. and M.R.C. respectively.
REFERENCES I See for example The Robbins Report (ref. 12) section 297. F. R. Jevons: "Science Observed"; George Allen & Unwin, 1973. a Bryan Magee: "Popper"; Fontana/Collins, 1973, Ch. 2. 4 R o b e r t M . Pirsig: "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance";
Bodley Head, 1974 and Corgi, 1976; Ch. 9, 10. s e.g. James Calnan: "One Way to do Research"; Heinemann Medical Books, 1977. T. S. Kuhn: "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"; University of Chicago Press, 1962. 7 e.g. The Biochemical Journal: Instructions to Authors; Biochem. J. 153 (1976) 1-21 and 161 (1977) 1-2. 8 V. Booth: "Writing a Scientific Paper"; Biochem. Soc. Trans. 3 (1975) 1-26. 9 W. Strunk & E. B. White: "The Elements of Style"; 2nd edition, 1972, Macmillan. 10 A. M. Landman; Biochemical Education 4 (1976) 70. n G. R. Barker; Biochemical Education I (1973) 30 12 e.g. The Robbins Report: Higher Education. Cmnd. 2154, HMSO, London, 1963.; The Swarm Report: The Flow into Employment of Scientists, Engineers and Technologists. Cmnd. 3760, HMSO, London, 1968; SRC/SSRC Report: Broader Education for Graduates, London, 1972. 13 e . g . S . L . Bonting: Biochemical Education 1 (1973) 55-56 J. N. Wood: Biochemical Education 3 (1975) 64 1( j. R. Ravetz: "Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems"; Oxford University Press, 1971.
Mechanism and Theory in Organic Chemistry By Thomas H. Lowry and Kattfleen Schueller Richardson, Harper and Row, New York, 1976, pp xi, 748. £11.95 According to the authors this book "is intended as a text for undergraduates and first-year graduate students who have completed a one-year course in organic chemistry". The organisation of the book is in many ways along traditional lines. After introductory chapters on the Covalent Bond and Some Fundamentals of Physical Organic Chemistry (kinetics, linear freeenergy relationships, etc.) the focus is on reaction mechanisms. There are chapters on Acids and Bases, Bimolecular Substitution Reactions, Unimolecular Substitutions and Related Reactions, Intramolecular Rearrangements, Addition and Elimination Reactions, Reactions of Carbonyl Compounds, and Radical Reactions. The book is novel in its approach, however, in the amount of space it devotes to pericyclic reaction theory in three chapters (amounting to about one-fifth of the book) on Perturbation Theory and Symmetry, The Theory of Pericyclic Reactions, and Applications of the Pericyclie Selection Rules. There is also a chapter on Photochemistry. Extensive references are given, both to primary and to review and monograph literature. Problems of varying difficulty and complexity are given at the ends of the Chapters. Some of theses essentially extend the text. Even in the more 'traditional' chapters the treatment is much more advanced than in most of the well-established textbooks in the field. Much of the usual elementary material, on electronic effects
for example, is omitted. It is instructive to compare corresponding chapters, for example on Acids and Bases, in this book and in a well-known older book such as Jack Hine's Physical Organic Chemistry (McGraw-Hill, New York, Second Edition, 1962). The amount of material included is said to be sufficient for a full-year course. This claim certainly seems justified: the book is indeed substantial and a fair amount of the material is fikely to be found difficult by most of the intended clientele of undergraduates and first-year graduates, who will require very careful guidance through lectures and seminars. The book does not deal with specifically biochemical topics but insofar as the biochemist needs to have a good background in theoretical organic chemistry and reaction mechanisms, the book may have a part to play in biochemical education. The authors are to be congratulated on producing a most thorough and scholarly work, which will be of value to a wide variety of people concerned with aspects of the field. The price, at £11.95, seems very reasonable in these days for a book of such size and complexity. John Shorter Department of Chemistry The University of Hull Hull, H U t 7RX, U.K.