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Third European Bioenergetics Conference
The book is divided into eight chapters, discussing all the important fundamental aspects of the subject: diffraction and surface structure; experimental techniques; scattering of electrons by crystals; multiple scattering calculations; kinematic theory; comparisons with theory and other surface sensitive techniques. The book was enjoyable to read, comprehensive in coverage, and recommendable for both surface chemistry and surface physics research laboratories. It is well produced and relatively free of errors, although there are occasions where ndsorption and absorption are misused. M. W. Roberts. Organic Reaction Mechanisms 1993. Edited byA.C. Knipe and W. E. Watts. Pp. 589. Wiley, Chichester. 1985. f 78.50.
When Organic Reaction Mechanisms started in 1965 it was a slim volume, produced by three authors, and cost the princely sum of f5. The large 1983 version of ORM is a many-authored volume selling at f78.50. However, the ration d’&tre for the production of the first volume is as valid today as it was in 1965; the increased volume of published work and inflation have played havoc with the price. Knipe and Watts are to be congratulated on producing yet another volume which, in spite of all the work involved, shows no fall in standard from that established by previous volumes. The team of contributors includes some of the best chemical brains in Britain and readers cannot help but benefit from their distillation of the literature. The coverage, as always, is comprehensive. ORM is of obvious use to all who study organic mechanisms but its value is quite as great to those for whom mechanistic studies are rather remote. I have in mind biochemists, molecular biologists, and synthetic organic chemists. Consultation of ORM may, with little effort, give just the insight they need. John Wiley is to be congratulated on maintaining this series when so many similar publications have disappeared without trace. This volume is an essential library purchase even in times of reduced library funding. A. R. Butler Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy Methods and Applications: Part I. Edited by S. G. Schulman. Pp x + 826. Wilei, Chichester. 1985. f98.25.
The aim of producing a short title has resulted in one which is so short as to be misleading, since the book deals primarily with Chemical Analysis. More informative titles would seem to be ‘Applications of Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy to Chemical Analysis: Part I’ and ‘Chemical Analysis by Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy. Methods and Applications: Part I’. This book is Volume 77 in ‘A Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and Its Applications’ and provides an up-date on
an earlier treatise entitled ‘Luminescence Spectroscopy in Analytical Chemistry’ (1972, Vol. 38). After a brief Chapter on basic principles, major review chapters follow on: ‘Fluorescence and Phosphorescence of Pharmaceuticals’; ‘Fluorescence of Organic Natural Products’; ‘Determination of Inorganic Substances by Luminescence Methods’; ‘Bioinorganic Luminescence Spectroscopy’; ‘Excited-state Optical Activity’; ‘Fluoresence Detection in Chromatography’; and ‘Luminescence Immunoassay’. All chapters are unashamedly encyclopaedic and comprise huge numbers of references. These chapters may be invaluable to specialist research groups but the book is unlikely to be bought by individuals (cost) nor libraries (cost and space). The book provides a useful data base but has several limitations: including repetition of the earlier volume, already two years out of date, and a lack of critical assessment of the material presented. Antony J. Rest. Stereochemistry of Heterogeneous Metal Catalysis. By M. Bartdk et al. Pp. 632. Wiley, Chichester. 1985. f85.00.
It is remarkable that no book devoted to this important area has been previously published, and Bartok and his nine coauthors are to be congratulated upon both recognizing this hiatus and so admirably filling it. This volume specifically contains a detailed review and discourse concerning the stereochemistry of the reactions of alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, alcohols and dials, carbonyl compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds (viz. amines, imines, oximes, and amino acids), and oxygen- and nitrogen-containing cyclic compounds at the surfaces of metal catalysts. This is followed by two shorter chapters describing enantioselective hydrogenation on modified metals, and hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions of C-X (X = halide), C-S, Si-H, and Si-C bonds. The book is typeset and profusely illustrated with clear well-defined structural diagrams, cites 2956 references (up to the end of 1982; many to Russian and Japanese articles), and has a detailed subject and author index. It is not possible to do justice to this comprehensive tome in two hundred words, but the authors have used this work to bring order to an inherently chaotic subject. No industrial and few university libraries should be without a copy of this invaluable book, and it should be on the private bookshelves of all workers in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Ktilon gratulalok a szerzoknek! Kenneth R. Seddon Organic Photochemistry, Vol. 7. Edited by Albert Padwa. Pp. 498. Dekker, New York. 1985. $89.75 (US and Canada), $107.50 (all other countries).
This text is a collection of five review articles written by recognised experts in organic photochemistry. The chapters are
concerned with the photochemical reactions of alkynes, cumulenes, silanes, and thiocarbony1 compounds, and trapping the photochemically generated biradicals. All chapters are clearly written, well-illustrated, and have good referencing, and the coverage of the subject matter is extensive and generally stimulating. Treatment of alkyne photochemistry is deliberately biased towards synthetic aspects but does include some relevant mechanistic discussions. Although cumulene photochemistry is presently a neglected subject, the account in Chapter 2 should awaken interest and initiate further studies in this area. The attention attracted by the photochemistry of silane is rapidly increasing, so the present authoritative review is particularly timely and in view of the renewed interest in thione photochemistry the account in Chapter 4 is also most welcome. Trapping of biradicals is a subject of interest and concern to all photochemists, regardless of their particular specialisation, and such processes for species generated from a range of sources are presented and discussed in an informative last chapter. The text fulfils the objectives of timeliness and critical comment but for cost reasons is more likely to be a library than a personal acquisition. A. Gilbert Third European Bioenergetics Conference. Edited by Giinter Pp. 745. Cambridge University 1985. f50.00 ($74.50).
Schdfer. Press.
The publishers are to be congratulated in producing this large book within a year of the meeting, albeit from camera-ready material. Since the aim was to produce a work composed of contributions of sufficient size to be quotable, both the Symposia/ Colloquia lectures and poster communications were limited to two pages per paper. Additionally, some authors of Symposia papers did not use all their space allocation. While the extra information in the poster communication is valuable, most will eventually be published elsewhere and the limited length of the Symposia papers will reduce the book’s useful life. The range of topics covered is predictably large, but there is an emphasis on microbial energetics while ATPases and light-driven systems, particularly bacteriorhodopsin, also figure extensively. The current research emphasis on the structure and control of macromolecules involved in bioenergetics is also apparent in the book. Proton motive force (including H/e stoichiometry), and ion transport occupy only a comparatively small proportion of the work. Unfortunately this large volume lacks a subject index, although its contents are subdivided into broad subject areas. An overview is that the book is of greater value than many Meetings Proceedings but will retain its value for a relatively short time. S. B. Wilson
103
When Organic Reaction Mechanisms started in 1965 it was a slim volume, produced by three authors, and cost the princely sum of f5. The large 1983 version of ORM is a many-authored volume selling at f78.50. However, the ration d’&tre for the production of the first volume is as valid today as it was in 1965; the increased volume of published work and inflation have played havoc with the price. Knipe and Watts are to be congratulated on producing yet another volume which, in spite of all the work involved, shows no fall in standard from that established by previous volumes. The team of contributors includes some of the best chemical brains in Britain and readers cannot help but benefit from their distillation of the literature. The coverage, as always, is comprehensive. ORM is of obvious use to all who study organic mechanisms but its value is quite as great to those for whom mechanistic studies are rather remote. I have in mind biochemists, molecular biologists, and synthetic organic chemists. Consultation of ORM may, with little effort, give just the insight they need. John Wiley is to be congratulated on maintaining this series when so many similar publications have disappeared without trace. This volume is an essential library purchase even in times of reduced library funding. A. R. Butler Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy Methods and Applications: Part I. Edited by S. G. Schulman. Pp x + 826. Wilei, Chichester. 1985. f98.25.
The aim of producing a short title has resulted in one which is so short as to be misleading, since the book deals primarily with Chemical Analysis. More informative titles would seem to be ‘Applications of Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy to Chemical Analysis: Part I’ and ‘Chemical Analysis by Molecular Luminescence Spectroscopy. Methods and Applications: Part I’. This book is Volume 77 in ‘A Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and Its Applications’ and provides an up-date on
an earlier treatise entitled ‘Luminescence Spectroscopy in Analytical Chemistry’ (1972, Vol. 38). After a brief Chapter on basic principles, major review chapters follow on: ‘Fluorescence and Phosphorescence of Pharmaceuticals’; ‘Fluorescence of Organic Natural Products’; ‘Determination of Inorganic Substances by Luminescence Methods’; ‘Bioinorganic Luminescence Spectroscopy’; ‘Excited-state Optical Activity’; ‘Fluoresence Detection in Chromatography’; and ‘Luminescence Immunoassay’. All chapters are unashamedly encyclopaedic and comprise huge numbers of references. These chapters may be invaluable to specialist research groups but the book is unlikely to be bought by individuals (cost) nor libraries (cost and space). The book provides a useful data base but has several limitations: including repetition of the earlier volume, already two years out of date, and a lack of critical assessment of the material presented. Antony J. Rest. Stereochemistry of Heterogeneous Metal Catalysis. By M. Bartdk et al. Pp. 632. Wiley, Chichester. 1985. f85.00.
It is remarkable that no book devoted to this important area has been previously published, and Bartok and his nine coauthors are to be congratulated upon both recognizing this hiatus and so admirably filling it. This volume specifically contains a detailed review and discourse concerning the stereochemistry of the reactions of alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, alcohols and dials, carbonyl compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds (viz. amines, imines, oximes, and amino acids), and oxygen- and nitrogen-containing cyclic compounds at the surfaces of metal catalysts. This is followed by two shorter chapters describing enantioselective hydrogenation on modified metals, and hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions of C-X (X = halide), C-S, Si-H, and Si-C bonds. The book is typeset and profusely illustrated with clear well-defined structural diagrams, cites 2956 references (up to the end of 1982; many to Russian and Japanese articles), and has a detailed subject and author index. It is not possible to do justice to this comprehensive tome in two hundred words, but the authors have used this work to bring order to an inherently chaotic subject. No industrial and few university libraries should be without a copy of this invaluable book, and it should be on the private bookshelves of all workers in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Ktilon gratulalok a szerzoknek! Kenneth R. Seddon Organic Photochemistry, Vol. 7. Edited by Albert Padwa. Pp. 498. Dekker, New York. 1985. $89.75 (US and Canada), $107.50 (all other countries).
This text is a collection of five review articles written by recognised experts in organic photochemistry. The chapters are
concerned with the photochemical reactions of alkynes, cumulenes, silanes, and thiocarbony1 compounds, and trapping the photochemically generated biradicals. All chapters are clearly written, well-illustrated, and have good referencing, and the coverage of the subject matter is extensive and generally stimulating. Treatment of alkyne photochemistry is deliberately biased towards synthetic aspects but does include some relevant mechanistic discussions. Although cumulene photochemistry is presently a neglected subject, the account in Chapter 2 should awaken interest and initiate further studies in this area. The attention attracted by the photochemistry of silane is rapidly increasing, so the present authoritative review is particularly timely and in view of the renewed interest in thione photochemistry the account in Chapter 4 is also most welcome. Trapping of biradicals is a subject of interest and concern to all photochemists, regardless of their particular specialisation, and such processes for species generated from a range of sources are presented and discussed in an informative last chapter. The text fulfils the objectives of timeliness and critical comment but for cost reasons is more likely to be a library than a personal acquisition. A. Gilbert Third European Bioenergetics Conference. Edited by Giinter Pp. 745. Cambridge University 1985. f50.00 ($74.50).
Schdfer. Press.
The publishers are to be congratulated in producing this large book within a year of the meeting, albeit from camera-ready material. Since the aim was to produce a work composed of contributions of sufficient size to be quotable, both the Symposia/ Colloquia lectures and poster communications were limited to two pages per paper. Additionally, some authors of Symposia papers did not use all their space allocation. While the extra information in the poster communication is valuable, most will eventually be published elsewhere and the limited length of the Symposia papers will reduce the book’s useful life. The range of topics covered is predictably large, but there is an emphasis on microbial energetics while ATPases and light-driven systems, particularly bacteriorhodopsin, also figure extensively. The current research emphasis on the structure and control of macromolecules involved in bioenergetics is also apparent in the book. Proton motive force (including H/e stoichiometry), and ion transport occupy only a comparatively small proportion of the work. Unfortunately this large volume lacks a subject index, although its contents are subdivided into broad subject areas. An overview is that the book is of greater value than many Meetings Proceedings but will retain its value for a relatively short time. S. B. Wilson
103