- Email: [email protected]
Metal Ions in Solution
308 The strength of this volume mirrors that of the team of specialists who so unselfishly devoted so much of their time to the production of this high quality publication. This is a book for the generalist to dip into as well as for the specialist to submerge himself in. It will surely stimulate further research. W.J. O-T.
Metal Ions in Solution, by J. Burgess, Ellis H o r w o o d / J o h n Wiley, 1978, pp. 481, cloth: price £25.00, paper: price £8.50. Let me say at the outset that I consider that Dr. Burgess has written a good book; n o t only that, it is in an area which was badly in need of such a work. It is a wide field, spanning two of the three traditional major divisions of chemistry; this is a book which would be equally at home on the shelves of an inorganic or a physical chemist. Following a general introduction, there are three approximately equal chapters on the methods which have been used for studying the solvation of metal ions covering, respectively, NMR spectroscopy, other spectroscopic techniques and non-spectroscopic methods (primarily electrochemical, thermochemical and diffraction techniques). Chapter 5 summarises the work done using these techniques and completes the first third of the book entitled "Solvation Numbers": it compares and correlates the frequently discrepant results which have been obtained by the methods described earlier and then draws an overall picture of the dependence of solvation numbers on the nature of the cation, especially its size, charge, and position in the Periodic Table. The following five chapters are entitled "Mixed Solvents and Selective Solvation", "Thermochemistry of Metal Ion S o l v a t i o n " , " R e d o x Potentials", "Hydrolysis", and "Polymerisation", while the remaining one third of the book is concerned with kinetics and mechanism. This final section looks first at the exchange of solvent molecules between the primary solvation shell of a cation and the " b u l k " solvent (as studied largely by NMR spectroscopy), then at the more general process of complex formation, and finally at redox reactions (with a short post-script on reactions of coordinated solvents). As Dr. Burgess points out in his preface, there is a copious literature on the subject of metal ions in solution, ranging from elementary text books through to the most detailed and erudite reviews. He modestly places the present book in an intermediate position in this literary spectrum and in a sense he is right to do so: not because of any failure to produce a work of scholarship but because the book is likely to succeed equally well in reaching the senior undergraduate (but not, alas, in entering his own collection -- unless he is particularly well-endowed) and the research worker. It is very well written and fully documented, and there are many tables and figures containing useful summaries of data. I noted a few infelicities of text and production but have decided that it would be churlish to mention them. This is a first-rate book which should be found a place on the shelves of all chemistry libraries. D. N. H.
Metal Ions in Solution, by J. Burgess, Ellis H o r w o o d / J o h n Wiley, 1978, pp. 481, cloth: price £25.00, paper: price £8.50. Let me say at the outset that I consider that Dr. Burgess has written a good book; n o t only that, it is in an area which was badly in need of such a work. It is a wide field, spanning two of the three traditional major divisions of chemistry; this is a book which would be equally at home on the shelves of an inorganic or a physical chemist. Following a general introduction, there are three approximately equal chapters on the methods which have been used for studying the solvation of metal ions covering, respectively, NMR spectroscopy, other spectroscopic techniques and non-spectroscopic methods (primarily electrochemical, thermochemical and diffraction techniques). Chapter 5 summarises the work done using these techniques and completes the first third of the book entitled "Solvation Numbers": it compares and correlates the frequently discrepant results which have been obtained by the methods described earlier and then draws an overall picture of the dependence of solvation numbers on the nature of the cation, especially its size, charge, and position in the Periodic Table. The following five chapters are entitled "Mixed Solvents and Selective Solvation", "Thermochemistry of Metal Ion S o l v a t i o n " , " R e d o x Potentials", "Hydrolysis", and "Polymerisation", while the remaining one third of the book is concerned with kinetics and mechanism. This final section looks first at the exchange of solvent molecules between the primary solvation shell of a cation and the " b u l k " solvent (as studied largely by NMR spectroscopy), then at the more general process of complex formation, and finally at redox reactions (with a short post-script on reactions of coordinated solvents). As Dr. Burgess points out in his preface, there is a copious literature on the subject of metal ions in solution, ranging from elementary text books through to the most detailed and erudite reviews. He modestly places the present book in an intermediate position in this literary spectrum and in a sense he is right to do so: not because of any failure to produce a work of scholarship but because the book is likely to succeed equally well in reaching the senior undergraduate (but not, alas, in entering his own collection -- unless he is particularly well-endowed) and the research worker. It is very well written and fully documented, and there are many tables and figures containing useful summaries of data. I noted a few infelicities of text and production but have decided that it would be churlish to mention them. This is a first-rate book which should be found a place on the shelves of all chemistry libraries. D. N. H.