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Symposium on Protein Structure
262
BOOK
REVIEWS
pictures are of the highest quality. This reviewer is anxiously awaiting the publication of Vol. II of the Hundbuch, which, according to the editors, will include 10,000 literature citations and should represent the ultimate work in this ever-expanding field of analysis. GUNTER ZWEIG, Davis, California
Gas Chromatography. A Symposium held under the Auspices of the Analysis Instrumentation Division of the Instrument Society of America, August 1957. Edited by V. J. COATES, H. J. NOEBELS and I. S. FAGERSON. Academic Press Inc., New York and London, 1958. xii + 323 pp. Price $10.00. The present volume contains the papers and discussions presented at the First Symposium on Gas Chromatography in Michigan. Of the 27 lectures, 24 originate in the United States and Canada, two in England, and one in Hungary. The work described was done predominantly in industrial laboratories of such concerns as the Perkin-Elmer Corp., Beckman, Instruments, Inc., du Pont de Nemours & Co., General Electric Co., Eastman Kodak Co., Douglas Aircraft Co., and Phillips Petroleum Company. J. E. Golay introduces the reader into “Theory and Practice” of his new method of “Coated Capillaries.” The permeability of a normally packed column lags far behind the theoretical value while the coated capillary reaches almost this value. J. F. Young demonstrates that the theoretical plate concept can be substituted by kinetic formulations which approach more closely the real conditions on the chromatographic column. New ideas are also developed by S. S. Ober in his paper on “The Interrelationship of Column Efficiency and Resolving Power in Gas Chromatography.” The following papers are concerned with improvements in the instrumentation. C. Phillips, for example, uses metal salts as column liquid, D. W. Carle describes an apparatus for precise liquid sampling, and H. R. Felton and G. W. Taylor have developed gas chromatography units for high temperatures. J. J. Kirkland describes an apparatus for “PreparativeScaleVapor Chromatography” which permits working with amounts up to 10 g. or even larger. The remaining papers are devoted to improvements of instrumentation and indication, to techniques of new analyses, and to the problem of fully automatic recording. A. I. P. Martin addressed the symposium with a paper on “Past, Present, and Future of Gas Chromatography” in which he foresees for Gas Chromatography a place of prime importance in the laboratory of the future. An extensive bibliography (up to the end of 1957) and an appendix on nomenclature make this volume particularly valuable. E. CREMER, Innsbruck, Austria
Symposium on Protein Structure. Edited by ALBERT NEUBERGER, Professor Chemical Pathology, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1958. 351 pp. Price $7.75. This book is a permanent record of a symposium sponsored by The Protein Commission of the Section of Biological Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Paris meeting, 1957). It consists of 36 articles on proteins by leading investigators from many countries, which give a good view of contemporary research on proteins with the exception of purely physical chemistry. The sub-
BOOK
REVIEWS
263
ject matter of the communications covers a wide range of topics, including general problems in the study of proteins; methods; and studies on hemoglobin, myoglobin, proteolytic enzymes, ribonuclease, tobacco mosaic virus, and numerous other proteins and peptides. Most of the papers (29) are in English, the remaining being in French or German. This book is well printed, has a good subject index, contains numerous references, and is recommended as a stimulating and informative contemporary volume on proteins . T. L. MCMEEKIN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Steric Effects in Conjugated Systems. Edited by G. W. GRAY, Professor of Chemistry, The University, Hull, England. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1958. viii + 181 pp. Price $6.59. This small volume embodies the Proceedings of the Chemical Society Symposium held at the University of Hull, England, during July 1517, 1958. It comprises 15 papers with discussion whose conceptual common denominator is steric influences on various properties of aromatic molecules. From E. E. Turner’s introductorily factual, albeit brief survey of molecular dissymmetry of substituted and 2,2’-bridged biphenyls, to E. A. Johnson’s experimental epilog on vapor-phase column chromatographic separation and identification of 21 tetramethyldiphenyls, this little book contains such theoretical peaks, as C. A. Coulson’s discussion of the fundamental phenomenon responsible for, and a wavemechanical estimation of shifts in the ultraviolet spectra of strained biphenyls and crowded polynuclear aromatics; and M. J. S. Dewar’s molecular orbital examination of the effects of noncoplanarity of cyanine dyes on ultraviolet absorption spectra. Not unexpectedly, Professor Dewar renews his criticism of resonance theory, and his ingenuous questions, notably of H. C. Brown, are the flint on which many of the discussions are sparked. G. H. Beaven interprets the ultraviolet spectra of a number of alkylbiphenyls and adds his support to the hypothesis that increasing deviations from coplanarity result in progressive reduction of conjugation across the pivot bond. There is an unplanned balance between some of the articles. Thus W. F. Forbes adds a third group (steric interaction where conjugation is almost completely inhibited and the molecule absorbs as two distinct entities) to the Type I and Type II classification of spectra introduced by this author in collaboration with his mentor, the late Professor E. A. Braude, while a low-temperature ultraviolet examination of ketones indicates to E. S. Waight and R. L. Erskine that Professor Braude’s rationalization of Type I effects as a decrease in transition probability is unlikely. B. M. Wepster’s experimentally substantiated viewpoint that a careful interpretation of electronic spectra leads to a better understanding of chemical data is disputed by H. C. Brown’s discussive caution that there is no experimental justification for the assumption that a simple relationship exists between spectral and chemical behavior in specific systems. Professor Brown reports on (r + electrophilic substituent constants calculated from rate data of the solvolysis of phenyldimethylcarbinyl derivatives. Of less general interest are C. C.Barker’s preliminary investigation of steric effects in Michler’s hydrol blue, malachite green, and crystal violet; N. B. Chapman’s review of steric effects in nucleophilic substitution; and A. C. Farthing and B. Nam’s development of a four-parameter modification of Hammett’s equation for o-substituted aromatic systems. Almost tramontane but equally stimulating are the steric effects on dipole moments (J. W. Smith), basicity constants (G. Dallinga, P. J. Smit,
BOOK
REVIEWS
pictures are of the highest quality. This reviewer is anxiously awaiting the publication of Vol. II of the Hundbuch, which, according to the editors, will include 10,000 literature citations and should represent the ultimate work in this ever-expanding field of analysis. GUNTER ZWEIG, Davis, California
Gas Chromatography. A Symposium held under the Auspices of the Analysis Instrumentation Division of the Instrument Society of America, August 1957. Edited by V. J. COATES, H. J. NOEBELS and I. S. FAGERSON. Academic Press Inc., New York and London, 1958. xii + 323 pp. Price $10.00. The present volume contains the papers and discussions presented at the First Symposium on Gas Chromatography in Michigan. Of the 27 lectures, 24 originate in the United States and Canada, two in England, and one in Hungary. The work described was done predominantly in industrial laboratories of such concerns as the Perkin-Elmer Corp., Beckman, Instruments, Inc., du Pont de Nemours & Co., General Electric Co., Eastman Kodak Co., Douglas Aircraft Co., and Phillips Petroleum Company. J. E. Golay introduces the reader into “Theory and Practice” of his new method of “Coated Capillaries.” The permeability of a normally packed column lags far behind the theoretical value while the coated capillary reaches almost this value. J. F. Young demonstrates that the theoretical plate concept can be substituted by kinetic formulations which approach more closely the real conditions on the chromatographic column. New ideas are also developed by S. S. Ober in his paper on “The Interrelationship of Column Efficiency and Resolving Power in Gas Chromatography.” The following papers are concerned with improvements in the instrumentation. C. Phillips, for example, uses metal salts as column liquid, D. W. Carle describes an apparatus for precise liquid sampling, and H. R. Felton and G. W. Taylor have developed gas chromatography units for high temperatures. J. J. Kirkland describes an apparatus for “PreparativeScaleVapor Chromatography” which permits working with amounts up to 10 g. or even larger. The remaining papers are devoted to improvements of instrumentation and indication, to techniques of new analyses, and to the problem of fully automatic recording. A. I. P. Martin addressed the symposium with a paper on “Past, Present, and Future of Gas Chromatography” in which he foresees for Gas Chromatography a place of prime importance in the laboratory of the future. An extensive bibliography (up to the end of 1957) and an appendix on nomenclature make this volume particularly valuable. E. CREMER, Innsbruck, Austria
Symposium on Protein Structure. Edited by ALBERT NEUBERGER, Professor Chemical Pathology, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N. Y., 1958. 351 pp. Price $7.75. This book is a permanent record of a symposium sponsored by The Protein Commission of the Section of Biological Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Paris meeting, 1957). It consists of 36 articles on proteins by leading investigators from many countries, which give a good view of contemporary research on proteins with the exception of purely physical chemistry. The sub-
BOOK
REVIEWS
263
ject matter of the communications covers a wide range of topics, including general problems in the study of proteins; methods; and studies on hemoglobin, myoglobin, proteolytic enzymes, ribonuclease, tobacco mosaic virus, and numerous other proteins and peptides. Most of the papers (29) are in English, the remaining being in French or German. This book is well printed, has a good subject index, contains numerous references, and is recommended as a stimulating and informative contemporary volume on proteins . T. L. MCMEEKIN, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Steric Effects in Conjugated Systems. Edited by G. W. GRAY, Professor of Chemistry, The University, Hull, England. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1958. viii + 181 pp. Price $6.59. This small volume embodies the Proceedings of the Chemical Society Symposium held at the University of Hull, England, during July 1517, 1958. It comprises 15 papers with discussion whose conceptual common denominator is steric influences on various properties of aromatic molecules. From E. E. Turner’s introductorily factual, albeit brief survey of molecular dissymmetry of substituted and 2,2’-bridged biphenyls, to E. A. Johnson’s experimental epilog on vapor-phase column chromatographic separation and identification of 21 tetramethyldiphenyls, this little book contains such theoretical peaks, as C. A. Coulson’s discussion of the fundamental phenomenon responsible for, and a wavemechanical estimation of shifts in the ultraviolet spectra of strained biphenyls and crowded polynuclear aromatics; and M. J. S. Dewar’s molecular orbital examination of the effects of noncoplanarity of cyanine dyes on ultraviolet absorption spectra. Not unexpectedly, Professor Dewar renews his criticism of resonance theory, and his ingenuous questions, notably of H. C. Brown, are the flint on which many of the discussions are sparked. G. H. Beaven interprets the ultraviolet spectra of a number of alkylbiphenyls and adds his support to the hypothesis that increasing deviations from coplanarity result in progressive reduction of conjugation across the pivot bond. There is an unplanned balance between some of the articles. Thus W. F. Forbes adds a third group (steric interaction where conjugation is almost completely inhibited and the molecule absorbs as two distinct entities) to the Type I and Type II classification of spectra introduced by this author in collaboration with his mentor, the late Professor E. A. Braude, while a low-temperature ultraviolet examination of ketones indicates to E. S. Waight and R. L. Erskine that Professor Braude’s rationalization of Type I effects as a decrease in transition probability is unlikely. B. M. Wepster’s experimentally substantiated viewpoint that a careful interpretation of electronic spectra leads to a better understanding of chemical data is disputed by H. C. Brown’s discussive caution that there is no experimental justification for the assumption that a simple relationship exists between spectral and chemical behavior in specific systems. Professor Brown reports on (r + electrophilic substituent constants calculated from rate data of the solvolysis of phenyldimethylcarbinyl derivatives. Of less general interest are C. C.Barker’s preliminary investigation of steric effects in Michler’s hydrol blue, malachite green, and crystal violet; N. B. Chapman’s review of steric effects in nucleophilic substitution; and A. C. Farthing and B. Nam’s development of a four-parameter modification of Hammett’s equation for o-substituted aromatic systems. Almost tramontane but equally stimulating are the steric effects on dipole moments (J. W. Smith), basicity constants (G. Dallinga, P. J. Smit,