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Spectrometric titrations:
BOOK REVIEW!3
Ion-Seleetlve Electwles, 5: E
PUNGCJR, (editor),
353
Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989. Pages xv + 675. f85 00, $135 00
This volume includes the mvited lectures, the papers, and an account of all the (somettmes very lively) discusstons from the Fifth Symposium on Ion-Selective Electrodes held at Matrafured, Hungary, 9-13 October 1988 The papers, whtch cover a very wide range of interesting topics, are reproduced from camera-ready copy The author hst includes most of the well known names m the field of ton-selective electrodes Also included are a tribute to Professor Em6 Pungor, on the occaston of hts 65th birthday, by H. Mahssa, and some Reflections of the History of Analytical Chemtstry in Hungary, by the Historian of Analytical Chemistry, F Szabadvary MARYMKZX)N
Spectrometric Titrations: J POLSTERand H LACHMANN, VCH, Wemham, Germany, 1989. Pages XVI+ 433 DM196.0, f6600 The title “Spectrometrtc Titrations” conveyed the wrong message to me about the SubJect matter of this monograph, however, the sub-title “Analysts of Chemical Eqmhbna” clarifies matters The authors choose to distmgmsh between a photometric titration, m which a spectrophotometer IS used to locate the end-point of what we would normally consider to be a titration, and a spectrophotometnc titration, which aims to investigate, for the example, the pH-dependence of an absorptton spectrum, m order to obtain mformation about the number and type of dtssocrable groups m a substance, or establish the correspondmg dissoctation constants The authors adnnt that their use of the word titration IS mconsistent with the IUPAC definition, and give then own defimhon as “controlled displacement of a chemical eqtuhbnum by means of a titratton reagent (R), the titrant” My personal opuuon is that analytical chemists would ,be happier without redefinition of well accepted terms such as “titration” The actual subJect matter of the book IS a very mathematical treatment of the analysis of the various chemtcal eqmhbna that can be studied by making spectrophotometnc measurements of a solution at each step m a “titration” The maternal is nicely presented, with many clear diagrams, aided sometimes by the use of a second colour There are three mam parts, a brief mtroduction on “The Theoretical and Methodological Basis of Spectrophotometnc Titration”, a maJor second one on “The Formal Treatment and Evaluation of Titration Systems”, and a shorter final one on the “Instrumental Methods” that can be used to provide the data Listmgs of two computer programs for use m data analysis are also included MARYMAWN
Fuel Science and Technology Handbook: J G & Canada), $234 00 (rest of the world)
SPEIGHT(editor),
Dekker, New York, 1990 Pages XII+ 1193 S195 00 (U S A
Any reader new to this topic cannot fail to be impressed by its breadth, and all readers will undoubtedly be ~pressed by the huge amount of mformation, much of it very recent, which Dr Speight and his team of eight other writers have assembled together m one volume There are five maJor sections, dealing with Petroleum (315 pages), Tar sands (119) Coal (355), Oil shale (358) and Natural gas (113) Each section deals with Ongm, occurrence and recovery, Termmology and classification, Composition and properties, and Chemicals from each source Much of the material will be of interest to chemical engineers, but there are substantial sections relevant to pure chemists and also to analytical chemists One of the btg hurdles for a writer m this field to surmount is that it IS impossible to generalize time and again we read “ or as little as ” as each writer struggles to present an impression of the magnitude of a problem may be as big as, m production, the muumum economic scale for a process or a well, or the estimated-size of known resources. The reader will have to be patient-there is no simple answer to these questions, and likewise, to each simple question there will be as many answers as there are questioners The authors usually try to give tllustrative examples, as m the chapter on natural gas, with typical composmons of “wet” and “dry” gas as a guide and no more I found the chapters light on the chemical aspects of production, certainly of gas and oil where there is a lot of chemistry and a widespread use of chemicals m the production processes, but perhaps this was compensated for by the detail m the technology for processmg and convertmg the fuels-gasification and liquefaction of coals, retortmg of shales and so on-and also, as m the chapters on natural gas and on petroleum, on the compilation of methods (API and ASTM) for characterizmg the materials and measuring then properties Interestmg references are made to the Fischer retortmg method for shales, and the extent to which industrial processes can often obtain higher yields than this “standard” analytical method Sections on processmg tend to have rather many line diagrams which are not particularly mformative for most readers, and on pages 52 and 123 we find the same figure for the constituents of petroleum reproduced While the book is generally well referenced, it ISannoying, especially m the mtroductory chapter, to find frequent reference to earlier works by the editor, rather than to original sources A large book, at a large price, and a “mine” of mformation for engmeers m fuel technology, it will be helpful to the analytical chemist first encountering problems m the fuel mdustries, because tt will create a background awareness of the processes and the termmology For the analytical methods themselves the reader will have to look elsewhere I L MARX
Ion-Seleetlve Electwles, 5: E
PUNGCJR, (editor),
353
Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989. Pages xv + 675. f85 00, $135 00
This volume includes the mvited lectures, the papers, and an account of all the (somettmes very lively) discusstons from the Fifth Symposium on Ion-Selective Electrodes held at Matrafured, Hungary, 9-13 October 1988 The papers, whtch cover a very wide range of interesting topics, are reproduced from camera-ready copy The author hst includes most of the well known names m the field of ton-selective electrodes Also included are a tribute to Professor Em6 Pungor, on the occaston of hts 65th birthday, by H. Mahssa, and some Reflections of the History of Analytical Chemtstry in Hungary, by the Historian of Analytical Chemistry, F Szabadvary MARYMKZX)N
Spectrometric Titrations: J POLSTERand H LACHMANN, VCH, Wemham, Germany, 1989. Pages XVI+ 433 DM196.0, f6600 The title “Spectrometrtc Titrations” conveyed the wrong message to me about the SubJect matter of this monograph, however, the sub-title “Analysts of Chemical Eqmhbna” clarifies matters The authors choose to distmgmsh between a photometric titration, m which a spectrophotometer IS used to locate the end-point of what we would normally consider to be a titration, and a spectrophotometnc titration, which aims to investigate, for the example, the pH-dependence of an absorptton spectrum, m order to obtain mformation about the number and type of dtssocrable groups m a substance, or establish the correspondmg dissoctation constants The authors adnnt that their use of the word titration IS mconsistent with the IUPAC definition, and give then own defimhon as “controlled displacement of a chemical eqtuhbnum by means of a titratton reagent (R), the titrant” My personal opuuon is that analytical chemists would ,be happier without redefinition of well accepted terms such as “titration” The actual subJect matter of the book IS a very mathematical treatment of the analysis of the various chemtcal eqmhbna that can be studied by making spectrophotometnc measurements of a solution at each step m a “titration” The maternal is nicely presented, with many clear diagrams, aided sometimes by the use of a second colour There are three mam parts, a brief mtroduction on “The Theoretical and Methodological Basis of Spectrophotometnc Titration”, a maJor second one on “The Formal Treatment and Evaluation of Titration Systems”, and a shorter final one on the “Instrumental Methods” that can be used to provide the data Listmgs of two computer programs for use m data analysis are also included MARYMAWN
Fuel Science and Technology Handbook: J G & Canada), $234 00 (rest of the world)
SPEIGHT(editor),
Dekker, New York, 1990 Pages XII+ 1193 S195 00 (U S A
Any reader new to this topic cannot fail to be impressed by its breadth, and all readers will undoubtedly be ~pressed by the huge amount of mformation, much of it very recent, which Dr Speight and his team of eight other writers have assembled together m one volume There are five maJor sections, dealing with Petroleum (315 pages), Tar sands (119) Coal (355), Oil shale (358) and Natural gas (113) Each section deals with Ongm, occurrence and recovery, Termmology and classification, Composition and properties, and Chemicals from each source Much of the material will be of interest to chemical engineers, but there are substantial sections relevant to pure chemists and also to analytical chemists One of the btg hurdles for a writer m this field to surmount is that it IS impossible to generalize time and again we read “ or as little as ” as each writer struggles to present an impression of the magnitude of a problem may be as big as, m production, the muumum economic scale for a process or a well, or the estimated-size of known resources. The reader will have to be patient-there is no simple answer to these questions, and likewise, to each simple question there will be as many answers as there are questioners The authors usually try to give tllustrative examples, as m the chapter on natural gas, with typical composmons of “wet” and “dry” gas as a guide and no more I found the chapters light on the chemical aspects of production, certainly of gas and oil where there is a lot of chemistry and a widespread use of chemicals m the production processes, but perhaps this was compensated for by the detail m the technology for processmg and convertmg the fuels-gasification and liquefaction of coals, retortmg of shales and so on-and also, as m the chapters on natural gas and on petroleum, on the compilation of methods (API and ASTM) for characterizmg the materials and measuring then properties Interestmg references are made to the Fischer retortmg method for shales, and the extent to which industrial processes can often obtain higher yields than this “standard” analytical method Sections on processmg tend to have rather many line diagrams which are not particularly mformative for most readers, and on pages 52 and 123 we find the same figure for the constituents of petroleum reproduced While the book is generally well referenced, it ISannoying, especially m the mtroductory chapter, to find frequent reference to earlier works by the editor, rather than to original sources A large book, at a large price, and a “mine” of mformation for engmeers m fuel technology, it will be helpful to the analytical chemist first encountering problems m the fuel mdustries, because tt will create a background awareness of the processes and the termmology For the analytical methods themselves the reader will have to look elsewhere I L MARX