BOOK REVIEWS

Instrumental Methods of Chemical An­alysis, 3rd Edition. Galen W. Ewing. χ + 627 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd St., New York, Ν. Υ. 10036. 1969. $12.50

Reviewed by Jonathan W. Amy, De­partment of Chemistry, Purdue Univer­sity, Lafayette, Ind. 47907

This Third Edition is an attempt to survey modern analytical instruments and techniques and to present this in­formation in a comprehensible manner for undergraduate or first-year gradu­ate students. I t is designed to follow or run concurrently with Physical Chemistry. Like previous editions, the book is divided into a descriptive sec­tion and a section containing 25 labo­ratory experiments.

As in the Second Edition, related methods are grouped together; basic principles are discussed in an introduc­tory chapter, followed by detailed de­scriptions of specific methods. Thus, the interaction of matter is treated in the general case. Terms are defined, using 1963 NBS designations, relation­ships are presented, and the physics of emission, dispersion, and detection of radiant energy is discussed in a read­able manner. Following this is a long chapter on absorption of ultraviolet and visible radiation, complete with 13 problems. Both the methodology and instrumentation are covered.

A separate chapter defines fluorim-etry and phosphorimetry and briefly describes several commercial instru­ments. This is work done prior to 1966, and omits mention of high-speed pulse systems. The chapter on infra­red spectrometry covers structural cor­relations, instrumentation, and sampling techniques. Problems associated with the chapter emphasize the quantitative aspects of infrared, as does the sug­gested experiment on the quantitation of xylene isomers. A long chapter on the analytical aspects of flames helps to put flame emission, atomic absorp­tion, atomic fluorescence, and flame ab­sorption in proper perspective. Polar-imetry, ORD, scattering of radiation, emission, and X-ray methods complete the section on spectrometry.

Electrochemistry is covered in five chapters, starting with an introductory chapter defining terms and conventions. A number of problems are given with each chapter and operational amplifier circuitry is used in many of the equip­ment illustrations.

NMR, radioactivity, and mass spec­trometry have been grouped together as methods which look at the nuclei and the interaction of matter and electro­magnetic forces. This material is suffi­cient to give an understanding of the physical basis of the methods, but does not go into nearly the detail some would like.

A good chapter on interphase separa­tions introduces chromatography, ex­traction, and electrical separation meth­ods. These need to be unified, as done by the author, so that students will re­late the various techniques. Some would argue that separations are not instrumental analysis, but there is a lot of effort being expended in this area and it belongs in such a book.

A book of this type crams a great deal of subject matter between its cov­ers. The treatment of individual sub­jects may seem slighted, yet expansion could come only at the expense of other material or of price. The Third Edition is 170 pages longer than its predecessor, and a definite improvement; at two cents a page, done in nice type and binding, it is a bargain. There are omissions, such as a page index for the experiments, references to high-speed liquid chromatography, the excellent mass spectrometry books of McLafferty and Djerassi, data handling and acqui­sition, and automation. There are in­correct statements, such as the state­ment that the Mattauch-Herzog design is the most widely used double-focus­sing mass spectrometer. References are mostly 1966 or before. By nature, in­strumentation books are bound to be obsolete by the time they are published. This effort provides a sound base for a course in instrumental methods of an­alysis.

Catalytic and Kinetic Waves in Polarog-raphy. Stal' G. Mairanovskii. xiv + 352 pages. Plenum Publishing Corp., 227 W. 17th St., New York, Ν. Υ. 10011. 1968. $19.50

Reviewed by Stanley Bruckenstein, Chemistry Department, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, Ν. Υ. 14214

Mairanovskii sets as his goal in this book to demonstrate, using selected ex­amples, the importance of kinetic cur­rents in polarography. He proceeds by discussing methods of investigating elec­trode processes at the DME which are complicated by chemical and electro­

chemical steps, then illustrates how the relevant kinetic parameters may be ob­tained. Next he discusses how the re­activity of organic compounds can be determined from half wave potential after taking into account the structure of the electric double layer, adsorption phenomena, and concomitant chemi­cal reactions.

The presentation and organization of this book is excellent, and it is a suc­cess using a viewpoint broader than that proposed by Mairanovskii. No existing monograph on polarography presents and discusses polarographic kinetic currents and the factors which affect them with such an excellent bal­ance of theory and experiment. This authoritative book should be useful at the senior/graduate student level, pro­viding a lucid introduction to the in­fluence of adsorption, the ψ-potential, and chemical reactions upon polaro­graphic current-potential curves.

Even though the author states that the work cited in this book is largely drawn from his laboratory (N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chem­istry in Moscow), adequate mention of the key non-Soviet literature is given. Aside from an occasional non-idiomatic word or phrase, the transla­tion is excellent.

"Catalytic and Kinetic Waves in Polarography" is a welcome contribu­tion to the literature and belongs in the library of the serious electrochemist.

Analysis of Paper. B. L. Browning, ix + 342 pages. Marcel Dekker, Inc., 95 Madison Ave., New York, Ν. Υ. 10016. $18.75

Reviewed by O. A. Battista, FMC Cor­poration, Princeton, N. J. 08540

Dr. Browning has compiled a useful book in "Analysis of Paper" which has value for investigators in fields ranging far beyond the paper industry per se.

Today, the impact of a growing host of polymer, even metal, coatings on paper and paperboard products is evi­dent all about us. The underlying ve­hicles of such products are paper webs, cellulose fibers, or more crude vegetable fibers. This reviewer has often searched for a definitive volume to help in the accurate measurement of specific chemical and physical properties of pa­per and paperboard without satisfac­tory success. This new book fills this need and does even more.

In addition to providing test meth-

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ods for determining a wide range of components in coatings—be they rosin, starch, proteins, waxes, or pigments— it does describe the key processing steps so vital to the commercialization of pa­per and paper-based products. The test methods are, of course, most useful to the paper laboratory technicians and scientists. The descriptive informa­tion relating to processing techniques and terminologies native to the vast papermaking science are of special use to investigators concerned more with processes and products indirectly re­lated to the paper industry.

One of the hazards of authoring a book such as this one, which is the first of its kind, is that it may be very well done and become a classic reference work, or it may be nothing more than a hodge-podge of disjointedly-orga-nized previously-published material. I believe this volume will stand the test of time and qualify for much use by anyone sufficiently involved with the paper and paperboard industry who decides to give it some space on his bookshelf.

Calculations of Analytical Chemistry. 7th ed. L. F. Hamilton, S. G. Simp­son, and D. W. Ellis. 511 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42ndl St., New York, Ν. Υ. 10036. 1968. $8.50

Reviewed by Gilbert H. Ayres, De­partment of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712

The seventh edition of this well-known book retains the general features that have made previous editions so use­ful—-namely, brief discussion of prin­ciples and methods, illustrative calcu­lations, and many problems (some with answers) for student practice. Some parts of the book are suitable for nearly every academic level, from fresh­men to beginning graduate students. Problems on "classical" methods are widely varied in terms of the unknown quantity, thus giving the student ex­perience in a variety of applications of analytical measurements.

Titrimetric methods involving EDTA are now included. An important change from previous editions is the use of the ITJPAC conventions for half-cell reactions and electrode potentials. Teachers who cover several of the physico-chemical techniques will wel­come the inclusion of sections and prob­lems on absorption and emission spec­trometry, NMR, mass spectrometry, chromatography, X-ray and radio­chemical methods, TGA and DTA, etc.: these are areas in which appropriate problems are not easily manufactured, and several problems are based on

methods reported in the recent litera­ture.

For teachers who prescribe this book for the same course semester after semester, it is unfortunate that there are relatively few new—i.e., different numerical data—problems on classical methods; indeed, many of these prob­lems have been carried through several previous editions. (The implications should be obvious.) The treatment of simultaneous equilibria—for example, polyprotic acids and composition of buffer mixtures—is very brief and ele­mentary. In the area of compleximetric titrations, this reviewer has a prefer­ence for what seems to be a more logical definition of equivalent weight than that used by the authors.

More recent (and presumably more reliable) values of some of the ioniza­tion constants and solubility product constants, than those given in the Ap­pendix tables, have been published. Of course, this does not detract from the utility of calculation methods based on the constants. In Table 12, it is noted that mercurous sulfide is listed as HgS.

In Chapters 20 and 21, the authors still retain the obsolete symbols / and I0 ("intensity"), along with the correct symbols Ρ and P0. In defining the terms in the Beer-Lambert law, A = abc, the authors state "the concentra­tion c is expressed in grams per liter." In this form of the law, c could be ex­pressed in any concentration units whatever, such as parts per million, or even ounces per gallon, whereupon the absorptivity a would have the dimen­sions consistent with the units in which c (and also b) is expressed. It is only the molar absorptivity, e, that stipu­lates the concentration units that must be used. I t is difficult to guess how rapidly the long-used wavelength unit ταμ (millimicron) will give way to the recently adopted nm (nanometer).

Very few typographical errors were noted. The larger size and modern style of type and the general format of the seventh edition make for easier reading and for quicker location of specific sections and problems. The book is highly recommended as a source of problems for student drill; as for any skill, proficiency in problem solv­ing comes only with much practice.

New Books

Analytical Applications of 1,10-Phen-anthroline and Related Compounds. Alfred A. Schilt. viii + 193 pages. Pergamon Press, Inc., 44-01 21st St., Long Island City, Ν. Υ. 11101. 1969. $9

The author, in writing this book, had in mind first the provision of a

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