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Physical aspects of organic chemistry
Sept., L937.]
BOOK REVIEWS.
399
BOOK REVIEWS. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, by" William A. Waters. 5Ol pages, illustrations, 14 X 22 cms. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., I936. Price $9.50. The " n e w physics" which had its beginnings about the period of the Great War caused upheavals in the conservative and set conceptions in many fields. The physical conceptions of atomic and molecular structure that emerged from this period were startling and they opened the door to much work in the way of orienting the existing thought in other sciences which were based upon these conceptions. Not only this, but they helped toward settlement of controversies of many years standing. This book is a survey of a rather wide range of chemical theories with relation to this matter. In the first chapter, on chemical affinity, there is told of the struggle between the unitary and dualistic theories which was carried on for nearly a century between inorganic and organic chemists, and how this was resolved in modern work by modern knowledge. Physical theories of molecular structure are then discussed including ionization of molecules, polarization of molecules and ionpairs, and intramolecular ionic charges. The third chapter, on valency, takes up the threads left from the first chapter from the point after the treatment on the two principal types of valency, that is, the first which is dependent on electron transfer an d the second depending on electron sharing. It describes some of the variants on these principal types that have been suggested from time to time, including the mixed or semi-polar bond, the dative bond or co6rdinate link, the hydrogen bond, odd electron bonds, bivalent carbon, and the oxygen bond. From here the author launches his treatment into the subjects of electrical dipoles, free radicals and their non-ionic reactions, the reactivity of halogen compounds, hydrolysis and esterification, ionotropic change, and conjugation. The historic aspect is kept continually in view throughout the book and, necessarily, there is much reference made to the work of others. These are listed at the bottom of various pages and in an author index. The developments outlined in the book are by no means conclusive. There are many that, today, are open to criticism. But the review of the past leading up to the present position is opportune. In view of an indicated novel type of organic chemistry being developed in which the course of a reaction is traced back to the electrical properties of the molecule and ultimately to the electronic structure of the component atoms, this book should prove informative to chemical technologists. R. H. OPPER.~.~NN. AN OUTLINE OF ATOMIC PHYSICS, by members of the Physics staff of the University of Pittsburgh: Oswald H. Blaekwood, Elmer Hutchisson, Thomas H. Osgood, Arthur E. Ruark, Wilfred N. St. Peter, George A. Scott and Arehie G. Worthing. Second Edition, 414 pages, illustrations, I5. 5 X 23.5 cms. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., I937. Price 83.75. As those familiar with the first edition of this book are aware, the object of the authors was to present a volume on atomic and molecular physics which steered a middle course between the difficult mathematical treatise on the one hand, and the unsatisfying " p o p u l a r " work, on the other hand. In this aim the authors have been successful, and a second edition of the book is entirely justified.
BOOK REVIEWS.
399
BOOK REVIEWS. PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, by" William A. Waters. 5Ol pages, illustrations, 14 X 22 cms. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., I936. Price $9.50. The " n e w physics" which had its beginnings about the period of the Great War caused upheavals in the conservative and set conceptions in many fields. The physical conceptions of atomic and molecular structure that emerged from this period were startling and they opened the door to much work in the way of orienting the existing thought in other sciences which were based upon these conceptions. Not only this, but they helped toward settlement of controversies of many years standing. This book is a survey of a rather wide range of chemical theories with relation to this matter. In the first chapter, on chemical affinity, there is told of the struggle between the unitary and dualistic theories which was carried on for nearly a century between inorganic and organic chemists, and how this was resolved in modern work by modern knowledge. Physical theories of molecular structure are then discussed including ionization of molecules, polarization of molecules and ionpairs, and intramolecular ionic charges. The third chapter, on valency, takes up the threads left from the first chapter from the point after the treatment on the two principal types of valency, that is, the first which is dependent on electron transfer an d the second depending on electron sharing. It describes some of the variants on these principal types that have been suggested from time to time, including the mixed or semi-polar bond, the dative bond or co6rdinate link, the hydrogen bond, odd electron bonds, bivalent carbon, and the oxygen bond. From here the author launches his treatment into the subjects of electrical dipoles, free radicals and their non-ionic reactions, the reactivity of halogen compounds, hydrolysis and esterification, ionotropic change, and conjugation. The historic aspect is kept continually in view throughout the book and, necessarily, there is much reference made to the work of others. These are listed at the bottom of various pages and in an author index. The developments outlined in the book are by no means conclusive. There are many that, today, are open to criticism. But the review of the past leading up to the present position is opportune. In view of an indicated novel type of organic chemistry being developed in which the course of a reaction is traced back to the electrical properties of the molecule and ultimately to the electronic structure of the component atoms, this book should prove informative to chemical technologists. R. H. OPPER.~.~NN. AN OUTLINE OF ATOMIC PHYSICS, by members of the Physics staff of the University of Pittsburgh: Oswald H. Blaekwood, Elmer Hutchisson, Thomas H. Osgood, Arthur E. Ruark, Wilfred N. St. Peter, George A. Scott and Arehie G. Worthing. Second Edition, 414 pages, illustrations, I5. 5 X 23.5 cms. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., I937. Price 83.75. As those familiar with the first edition of this book are aware, the object of the authors was to present a volume on atomic and molecular physics which steered a middle course between the difficult mathematical treatise on the one hand, and the unsatisfying " p o p u l a r " work, on the other hand. In this aim the authors have been successful, and a second edition of the book is entirely justified.