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Superheavy elements: Proceedings of the International Symposium on superheavy elements, March 1978
Photometric of Analysis,
and Fluorimetric Methods Parts 1 and 2 by F. D. Snell.
Pp. 2 167. John Wiley, f98.00 ($795.00).
Chichester.
19 79.
This is a most important contribution to the literature of analytical chemistry. The 57 chapters on elementsor groups of elementsare essentially monographs and cite all the relevant literature for the last 20 years, in excessof 8700 references overall. Each chapter is complete with a minimum of cross referencing. Earlier references are not given as all the significant methods have been up-dated in this period. The book has beenwritten assumingthe user will have a basic practical and theoretical background of analytical chemistry. Hence experimental details such as how to prepare calibration graphs, size of cuvettes needed,and descriptions of equipment and their operation are omitted. For each element detailed methods are provided for each main reagent in common use and for each type of sample, including procedures and other dissolution pretreatments. Interferences and the role of any necessary masking agents are clearly explained. Nothing significant is omitted. Lead may serve as for an example, of the detailed approach: procedures for 14 main reagents are given and for one (dithizone) methods for 41 samples ranging from iron and steel to beer. The chapters conclude with reviews of the less common reagentsand procedures. The printing, layout, and indexing (205 pp.) are excellent. References are at the page bottom, repeated if necessarywhich savestime and the frustration of looking at the end of the wrong chapter! The index covers all possible means of access to the information be it via reagent, metal, or sample. This book is essential to the practising analytical chemist and to all tertiary educational level libraries and when coupled with the 4th edition of Sandell (and Onishi) ‘Photometric Determination of Traces of Metals’ will provide an up-to-date and almost complete library of photometric analysis for metals. In view of the contents, the wide cover, critical approach, and the potential time saving in literature abstraction and evaluation the pair of volumes representsexcellent value. It should be noted that the author is the American doyen of the subject area. The first edition of ‘Calorimetric Methods of Analysis’ appeared in I92 I, and he is to be congratulated on a lifetime’s contributions and service to analytical chemistry in this his 80th year. D. Thorburn Burns
also be of interest to the physical organic chemist. Of the five chapters the first deals with the experimental methods of measuring equilibrium acidities; these inevitably vary from the precise physical chemists approach for the more acidic acids to the more qualitative approach adopted for the very weak kind. The way in which structural factors can influence the acidity is discussed,rather briefly, in the second chapter. The kinetic aspects of the ionisation process, as measured through hydrogen isotope exchange studies, are dealt with next, followed by a discussion on the stereochemistry of proton transfer. The last chapter, quite logically, discusses the relationship between equilibrium and kinetic acidity. More than 600 referencesare quoted and an additional list covering the period 1975-78 is given. There are a fair number of small errors, probably inevitable in a translation of this kind: fortunately they detract very little from a very readable book.
range of disciplines from atomic and nuclear physics to geophysics and astrophysics which impinge on the superheavy element field only chemistry receives scant attention. The first session describes the attempts which have been made to synthesise superheavy elements by nuclear reactions. The second session papers both describe some of the extensive searchesthat have been made to discover them in nature and speculate about them as the cause of lunar paleomagnetism. The third and fifth sessionpapers cover nuclear theory and synthesis of superheavy elements during stellar evolution. The fourth session, devoted to atomic physics, includes papers on X-ray spectra for superheavy quasi-molecules and quantum electrodynamics in super critical fields. Although this book makes stimulating reading it is certain to date rapidly. One therefore wonders who will buy it at the price which is excessive for a book which is not typeset but produced from photographs of the original typed manuscripts.
Atomic edition
Chlorophyll Organization and Energy Transfer in Photosynthesis. Ciba Foundation Symposium No.61. Pp. 374. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam. 1979. $38.25 (Dfl.86.00)
J. R. Jones
Wiley,
Absorption by Morris Chichester.
Spectroscopy,
2nd
Slavin. Pp. vi + 193. John 19 79. f 14.00 ($26.001.
The intervening decade since the original publication of this monograph has seen many developments in the field of atomic absorption spectroscopy. The more important of these are now included in this revised and up-dated second edition; for example, flameless atomisation, which is now regarded as a routine procedure by many workers. Also new is a chapter which presents the reader with various physical and chemical data necessary to effect the atomic absorption analysis of all elements able to be determined by the technique. This compact reference includes details on wavelengths for the most sensitive and secondary lines, practical sensitivities, and suitable compounds and weights for the preparation of stock solutions of the elements. Elsewhere in the book, the practising atomic absorption analyst can find valuable information about every stage of the analytical determination, such as sampling, dissolution, interferences, the calibration curve, accuracy, and reproducibility. Typical methods are summarised from recent papers covering the application of the technique to fields as diverse as foods and animal feedsto metallurgical and geological samples. Almost 300 referencesare included, and an appendix briefly makes recommendations on the often neglected subject of safety. A good practical book. G. Glossop
CH-Acids
by 0. A. Reutov, I. P. Beletskaya andK. P. Butin. Translation Editor T. R. Crompton. Pp. v + 228. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1979. f 15.00.
The appearance of this book is most timely, reflecting as it does the considerable amount of work that has been carried out in recent years on various aspects of the ionisation of carbon acids. Written by three eminent Russian chemists who themselveshave made important contributions to the subject matters it is addressed to organometallic and organic chemists, although much of the material will
Superheavy Elements: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Superheavy Elements, March 1978. Editedby M. A. K. Lodhi. Pp. 583. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1979. f27.50 ($55.001.
This book is a collection of all the papers presented at a recent symposium devoted to super heavy elements, (those as yet undiscovered elements having nuclear charges greater than 110).The symposium consistedof five main sessions supplemented by short inaugural and closing ones. From the wide
N. C. Pyper
Chlorophyll organisation and energy transfer in photosynthesis is a specialised subject studied by a relatively small number of people many of whom, in recen: years, have come perilously close to tedious repetition in a plethora of symposia and special publications. Several features, however, raise this symposium above the general level. Porter introduces the subject by stating clearly the important unanswered questions concerning the organisation and kinetics of energy transfer in the photosynthetic unit: the sixteen articles which follow explore these questions. There is a welcome emphasis on experimental work, with theoretical background kept in tight control; a state of affairs which has not always obtained. Picosecondspectroscopy using pulsed lasers is yielding many new measurementsrelating to energy transfer in photosynthetic units but one gets the impression that a theorist of Forster’s calibre is needed to interpret them. Work on chlorophyll in model systems continues to provide information but the papers on fine structure and chlorophyll orientation in membrane using polarisation of fluorescence, emphasise the wide gap still existing between knowledge of chlorophyll in vivo and in vitro. The range of techniques for the study of chlorophyll protein complexes in vivo has widened to include resonance Raman spectroscopy but regrettably there is no discussion of structural inferencesdrawn from X-ray diffraction studies and measurementsof circular dichroism. This book provides a concise and clear resume of progress in a theoretically and technically difficult field. Above all it has that vitally important quality of presenting, in an exciting way, the vista of a multitude of problems in photosynthetic energy transfer which are now within reach of experimentalists. H. W. Woolhouse
39
and Fluorimetric Methods Parts 1 and 2 by F. D. Snell.
Pp. 2 167. John Wiley, f98.00 ($795.00).
Chichester.
19 79.
This is a most important contribution to the literature of analytical chemistry. The 57 chapters on elementsor groups of elementsare essentially monographs and cite all the relevant literature for the last 20 years, in excessof 8700 references overall. Each chapter is complete with a minimum of cross referencing. Earlier references are not given as all the significant methods have been up-dated in this period. The book has beenwritten assumingthe user will have a basic practical and theoretical background of analytical chemistry. Hence experimental details such as how to prepare calibration graphs, size of cuvettes needed,and descriptions of equipment and their operation are omitted. For each element detailed methods are provided for each main reagent in common use and for each type of sample, including procedures and other dissolution pretreatments. Interferences and the role of any necessary masking agents are clearly explained. Nothing significant is omitted. Lead may serve as for an example, of the detailed approach: procedures for 14 main reagents are given and for one (dithizone) methods for 41 samples ranging from iron and steel to beer. The chapters conclude with reviews of the less common reagentsand procedures. The printing, layout, and indexing (205 pp.) are excellent. References are at the page bottom, repeated if necessarywhich savestime and the frustration of looking at the end of the wrong chapter! The index covers all possible means of access to the information be it via reagent, metal, or sample. This book is essential to the practising analytical chemist and to all tertiary educational level libraries and when coupled with the 4th edition of Sandell (and Onishi) ‘Photometric Determination of Traces of Metals’ will provide an up-to-date and almost complete library of photometric analysis for metals. In view of the contents, the wide cover, critical approach, and the potential time saving in literature abstraction and evaluation the pair of volumes representsexcellent value. It should be noted that the author is the American doyen of the subject area. The first edition of ‘Calorimetric Methods of Analysis’ appeared in I92 I, and he is to be congratulated on a lifetime’s contributions and service to analytical chemistry in this his 80th year. D. Thorburn Burns
also be of interest to the physical organic chemist. Of the five chapters the first deals with the experimental methods of measuring equilibrium acidities; these inevitably vary from the precise physical chemists approach for the more acidic acids to the more qualitative approach adopted for the very weak kind. The way in which structural factors can influence the acidity is discussed,rather briefly, in the second chapter. The kinetic aspects of the ionisation process, as measured through hydrogen isotope exchange studies, are dealt with next, followed by a discussion on the stereochemistry of proton transfer. The last chapter, quite logically, discusses the relationship between equilibrium and kinetic acidity. More than 600 referencesare quoted and an additional list covering the period 1975-78 is given. There are a fair number of small errors, probably inevitable in a translation of this kind: fortunately they detract very little from a very readable book.
range of disciplines from atomic and nuclear physics to geophysics and astrophysics which impinge on the superheavy element field only chemistry receives scant attention. The first session describes the attempts which have been made to synthesise superheavy elements by nuclear reactions. The second session papers both describe some of the extensive searchesthat have been made to discover them in nature and speculate about them as the cause of lunar paleomagnetism. The third and fifth sessionpapers cover nuclear theory and synthesis of superheavy elements during stellar evolution. The fourth session, devoted to atomic physics, includes papers on X-ray spectra for superheavy quasi-molecules and quantum electrodynamics in super critical fields. Although this book makes stimulating reading it is certain to date rapidly. One therefore wonders who will buy it at the price which is excessive for a book which is not typeset but produced from photographs of the original typed manuscripts.
Atomic edition
Chlorophyll Organization and Energy Transfer in Photosynthesis. Ciba Foundation Symposium No.61. Pp. 374. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam. 1979. $38.25 (Dfl.86.00)
J. R. Jones
Wiley,
Absorption by Morris Chichester.
Spectroscopy,
2nd
Slavin. Pp. vi + 193. John 19 79. f 14.00 ($26.001.
The intervening decade since the original publication of this monograph has seen many developments in the field of atomic absorption spectroscopy. The more important of these are now included in this revised and up-dated second edition; for example, flameless atomisation, which is now regarded as a routine procedure by many workers. Also new is a chapter which presents the reader with various physical and chemical data necessary to effect the atomic absorption analysis of all elements able to be determined by the technique. This compact reference includes details on wavelengths for the most sensitive and secondary lines, practical sensitivities, and suitable compounds and weights for the preparation of stock solutions of the elements. Elsewhere in the book, the practising atomic absorption analyst can find valuable information about every stage of the analytical determination, such as sampling, dissolution, interferences, the calibration curve, accuracy, and reproducibility. Typical methods are summarised from recent papers covering the application of the technique to fields as diverse as foods and animal feedsto metallurgical and geological samples. Almost 300 referencesare included, and an appendix briefly makes recommendations on the often neglected subject of safety. A good practical book. G. Glossop
CH-Acids
by 0. A. Reutov, I. P. Beletskaya andK. P. Butin. Translation Editor T. R. Crompton. Pp. v + 228. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1979. f 15.00.
The appearance of this book is most timely, reflecting as it does the considerable amount of work that has been carried out in recent years on various aspects of the ionisation of carbon acids. Written by three eminent Russian chemists who themselveshave made important contributions to the subject matters it is addressed to organometallic and organic chemists, although much of the material will
Superheavy Elements: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Superheavy Elements, March 1978. Editedby M. A. K. Lodhi. Pp. 583. Pergamon Press, Oxford. 1979. f27.50 ($55.001.
This book is a collection of all the papers presented at a recent symposium devoted to super heavy elements, (those as yet undiscovered elements having nuclear charges greater than 110).The symposium consistedof five main sessions supplemented by short inaugural and closing ones. From the wide
N. C. Pyper
Chlorophyll organisation and energy transfer in photosynthesis is a specialised subject studied by a relatively small number of people many of whom, in recen: years, have come perilously close to tedious repetition in a plethora of symposia and special publications. Several features, however, raise this symposium above the general level. Porter introduces the subject by stating clearly the important unanswered questions concerning the organisation and kinetics of energy transfer in the photosynthetic unit: the sixteen articles which follow explore these questions. There is a welcome emphasis on experimental work, with theoretical background kept in tight control; a state of affairs which has not always obtained. Picosecondspectroscopy using pulsed lasers is yielding many new measurementsrelating to energy transfer in photosynthetic units but one gets the impression that a theorist of Forster’s calibre is needed to interpret them. Work on chlorophyll in model systems continues to provide information but the papers on fine structure and chlorophyll orientation in membrane using polarisation of fluorescence, emphasise the wide gap still existing between knowledge of chlorophyll in vivo and in vitro. The range of techniques for the study of chlorophyll protein complexes in vivo has widened to include resonance Raman spectroscopy but regrettably there is no discussion of structural inferencesdrawn from X-ray diffraction studies and measurementsof circular dichroism. This book provides a concise and clear resume of progress in a theoretically and technically difficult field. Above all it has that vitally important quality of presenting, in an exciting way, the vista of a multitude of problems in photosynthetic energy transfer which are now within reach of experimentalists. H. W. Woolhouse
39