General chemistry

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CHEMISTRY OF CARBON COMPOUNDS. VOLUME nA: ALlCYCLlC COMPOUNDS Edited by E. H. Rodd. Elsevier Publishing Co., Houston, Texas. 487 pp. 16 X 23.5 om. Subscription price, 1953. m v 511.25; single volume price, $12.50.

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FOR an appraisal of the plan of the Elsevier series on the "Chemistry of Carbon Compounds" and criticisms of Volumes IA and IB, the reader's attention is called to the reviews of T . L. Jacobs, THIS JOURNAL, 30, 100 (1953) and W. A. Bonner, T H JOURNAL, 30, 158 (1953). All hut 80 pages of Volume IIA wa8 written by R. A. Raphael on alicyclic compounds of three to many members, spiranes, condensed systems, and bridged ring systems; R. F. Hunter contributed a chapter on carotenoids which contains 24 references to his own work; and R. G. R. Bacon wrote the chapter on olefinic polymers, both open-ehsin and ring. This last chapter, largely an rubber chemistry, was arbitrarily put in this volume. The chapter on carotenoids is perhaps the best, as might be expected of an author urho is a current worker in a restricted field. He has an excellent critical review of the work of Karrer, Kuhn, and Zechmeister. About one-fourth of the book is devoted to cyclohexane derivatives, the largest group of alieyclie compounds. Whereas Whitmore's "Oreanic Chemistrv" eomoetes favorablv as the present volume. There is a remarkable number of references to work after 1950 h t ~ smore in the present volume. The index of about 40 -pages than 4600 entries. I have no adverse criticisms of Volume IIA heyond the general ones of Jacobs and Bonner, with which I agree. An additional sheet of addenda and corrieenda. to Volume I is included; these are all of a minor nature or obvious. nnowli U N I V E R ~ ~ T ~

LEALLYN B. CLAPP

PROVIDBNCE. RHODE IBL*ND

GENERAL CHEMISTRY Linus Pauling, Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology. Second edition. W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco, 1953. xii 710 pp. 193 figs. 2 plates. 16 X 24.5 cm. $6.

the first edition already know. The paper is better, the print seems easier to read, and the setup has heen improved, e. g., problems are separated by a space. I n spite of some deletions and condensstions of material from the first edition, the expansions and additions have added 120 more pages. Dr. Psuling ~uggeststhat there is "perhaps 10%'' more material than can he covered in a one-year course, so that the instructor has some flexibility in presentation. Some of the improvements and additions are the many new, excellent drawings; more evidence for some of the dogmatic ~ statements many of us use, particularly for the structures of atoms, crystals, and molecules: cf. new Chapter 3 on Electron and the Nucleus and new Chapter 8 on Quantum Theory and Molecular Structure; the "common-sense" approach to the solution of gas-law problems; dimensions and units appear in fine print on page 7, hut are not fully utilized; an energy level diagram modified from Pmling's "Nature of the Chemical Bond" whieh this reviewer has found particularly helpful for several years; many olsrifications, e. g., the first edition used the term "optioal aotivity" but said nothing ahout it, while the new edition uses the term "right and lefehrtnded moleoules" and proceeds to clesr up the subject; and Biochemistry, new Chapter 29, with, among others, drawings of the helical structure of some proteins. Some philosophy of science is woven unobtrusively through the text; e. g., reality and explanation; the sequence of theory, prediction, and discovery; do electrons exist? what do electrons look like? and the possibility of transfer of the usefulness of the scientifio method to fields other than science. The interdependence of chemistry, physics, and mathemsties is well demonstrated. Chapter 1omits "what a chemist does" and "why study chemistry?" All summary lists of concepts are omitted from the ends of chapters. For the students who used them this seems a. lamentable deletion but perhaps this exemplifies the paradox that an aid intended for the poorer students is used largely by the better. The index, although large, is not complete enough. One cannot ask a. hook questions, so the best possihle index should be avsilahle. Some omitted terms are: concentration, molar, formal, normal, mold, weight molsrity, standard conditions, system, calorie, saturated solution, equivalent, equivalent weight,

to the well prepared chemis6ry or science major and also to the instructor. H. C.

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THE second edition of Pauling's "General Chemistry" has three'new chapters, and many others have heen completely rewritten to make it, as the author states, "especially suited to use by first-year college students who plan to major in chemistry and hv other well oreoatred students with a soecial interest in the

BENEDICT

STRUCTLTRE AND MECHANISM IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

C K. Ingold, Professor of Chemistry, University College, University of London. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 828 pp. 159 tables. 3 7 figs. 16 X 24 cm. 1953. vii $9.75.

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they wuld. Most of the drawings and diagrams of the first edition have been retained and many equally excellent new drawings have been added. Mr. Hayward, the illustrator, has a remrtrkahle ability to convey solidity or a threedimensional effect, as the readers of

THIS hook is the culmination of thirty years of research and thought on the subject of organic chemical reaction mechanism by Professor Ingold, who is generally recognized as the most eminent figure in this field today. This volume lives up to the