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Modern organic elemental analysis
ANALYTICAL
BIOCHEMISTRY
103, 435 (1980)
BOOK REVIEW Organic Elemental Analysis. By T. S. Ma and Robert C. Rittner, Marcel Dekker, New YorMBasel, 1979.
Modern
This book has long been awaited. Nothing comparable has been published in the United States since Steyermark’s work, and its German Equivalent, Ehrenberger and Gorbach’s “Methoden der organischen E~ment~nd S~ren~yse,” is already slightly dated. The authors’ aim is to organize in a single volume all methods of determining the elements in organic materials. Corresponding to current practice, most of the methods they describe are for samples in the milligram range, but a chapter on submilligram methods and another on trace analysis (which, of course, requires much larger samples are included. The elements are treated approximately in the order of the likelihood of their being found in an organic compound, i.e., beginning with CHN and ending with the metals, except in that all related elements are discussed along with the most important one, all the halogens are treated together, as are S, Se, Te and P, As, Sb. Bi. The chapters are uniformly organized: first, general considerations; second, a discussion of current practice and a review of recent developments; last, actual procedures for selected determinations. Thus, the book should serve well both as a laboratory manual and as a textbook. The general considerations together with current practice result in thorough discussions of problems and difficulties that might be encountered. The expert should find especially valuable the review of recent developments, with a tabulated summary of recent literature. Here, procedures are ordered by the decomposition method used; the product determined as well as the final technique are listed with the reference
435
number. Thus, an unusually large number of sources (the author index is 28 pages) is presented in a compressed and easily used form. Also included is a chapter on simultaneous determinations. Most of those merely listed seem of dubious practical value, but the few actually described are useful. The authors’ choices of methods for inclusion in the section of the book intended for use as a manual are excellent. For the biochemist the most interesting chapter is probably that on trace analysis. It briefly discusses decomposition techniques and modes of finish-including amplification and catalytic methods-with the usual caveats and cautions added. Carbon in water, oxygen in petroleum, and nitrogen in various matrices are mentioned, as well as the halides, the sulfur and phosphorus groups, and the metals. Mercury and lead are treated separately. Again, the tabulated survey of the recent literature is most valuable; a large amount of information is provided in very little space. Here, the order is by trace element sought; both the bulk material involved and the decom~sition method are given. The procedures described are for fluorine (uns~cified matrix), mercury in fish and coal, and trace carbon in inorganic matrix. This book is a necessity for the microanalyst, and of great value for researchers seeking solutions to particular analytical problems. It is also an excellent source of information for the chemist who wonders what happens to his sample after it disappears behind the analyst’s door. FR. KASLER Department of Chemistry University of Maryland College Park, Ma~land 20742 Received October IO, 1979
BIOCHEMISTRY
103, 435 (1980)
BOOK REVIEW Organic Elemental Analysis. By T. S. Ma and Robert C. Rittner, Marcel Dekker, New YorMBasel, 1979.
Modern
This book has long been awaited. Nothing comparable has been published in the United States since Steyermark’s work, and its German Equivalent, Ehrenberger and Gorbach’s “Methoden der organischen E~ment~nd S~ren~yse,” is already slightly dated. The authors’ aim is to organize in a single volume all methods of determining the elements in organic materials. Corresponding to current practice, most of the methods they describe are for samples in the milligram range, but a chapter on submilligram methods and another on trace analysis (which, of course, requires much larger samples are included. The elements are treated approximately in the order of the likelihood of their being found in an organic compound, i.e., beginning with CHN and ending with the metals, except in that all related elements are discussed along with the most important one, all the halogens are treated together, as are S, Se, Te and P, As, Sb. Bi. The chapters are uniformly organized: first, general considerations; second, a discussion of current practice and a review of recent developments; last, actual procedures for selected determinations. Thus, the book should serve well both as a laboratory manual and as a textbook. The general considerations together with current practice result in thorough discussions of problems and difficulties that might be encountered. The expert should find especially valuable the review of recent developments, with a tabulated summary of recent literature. Here, procedures are ordered by the decomposition method used; the product determined as well as the final technique are listed with the reference
435
number. Thus, an unusually large number of sources (the author index is 28 pages) is presented in a compressed and easily used form. Also included is a chapter on simultaneous determinations. Most of those merely listed seem of dubious practical value, but the few actually described are useful. The authors’ choices of methods for inclusion in the section of the book intended for use as a manual are excellent. For the biochemist the most interesting chapter is probably that on trace analysis. It briefly discusses decomposition techniques and modes of finish-including amplification and catalytic methods-with the usual caveats and cautions added. Carbon in water, oxygen in petroleum, and nitrogen in various matrices are mentioned, as well as the halides, the sulfur and phosphorus groups, and the metals. Mercury and lead are treated separately. Again, the tabulated survey of the recent literature is most valuable; a large amount of information is provided in very little space. Here, the order is by trace element sought; both the bulk material involved and the decom~sition method are given. The procedures described are for fluorine (uns~cified matrix), mercury in fish and coal, and trace carbon in inorganic matrix. This book is a necessity for the microanalyst, and of great value for researchers seeking solutions to particular analytical problems. It is also an excellent source of information for the chemist who wonders what happens to his sample after it disappears behind the analyst’s door. FR. KASLER Department of Chemistry University of Maryland College Park, Ma~land 20742 Received October IO, 1979