Inorganic Chemistry - American Chemical Society

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July 1990, and Mark was 95 in May 19901, emphasizes readily understandable concepts hut does not neglect practical applicatians and theories. Beginning with prehistoricpaintings and concluding with the latest developments in the modern coatings industry, the authors succinctly survey, in 30 relatively short chapters, such important tooics as film formation fundamentals. paint production and application techniques, pigments, additives, solvents, plastitilers, roaleacent agents, ~ I e o r e s i n u u ~ paints, acrylic polymers, testing of coatings, corrosion resistant coatings, and toxicity. They devote separate chapters to alkyds; amino resins; asphalts, bitumens, coal tar, and petroleum resins; cellulosics; engineerins resins:. eooxies: , ~. fluorocarbons:. ohenolics; polvesters; polyoleiins; polyvinyl acetaw: rubher resins; silicones and phusphanenes; styrene polymers; urethane coatings; and vinyl chloride polymers. Each self-contained chapter includes a detailed table of contents, a glossary (with some repetition of terms in different chapters), and a list of pertinent references (a total of 607 references for the entire hook, with some duplication in different chapters). The English, rather than the metric, system is used throughout, but a conversion table is provided as an appendix. For simplicity, materials are identified by simple chemical formulas, while structural formuLas are relegated to an appendix. A fourpage list of inorganic pigments and extenders and a detailed (16 two-column pages) index add to the utility of this handbook, Errors are few and limited to misspellings such as Cro-magnum far Crc-Magnon (p 3), Perkins for (William Henry) Perkin (p 14), thixotrophy for thixotropy (p 89). and Kippings for (Frederic Stanley) Kipping (p 257). This useful volume is warmly recommended to polymer scientists and practitioners in all areas of the coatings industry. George B. Kauffman CaliforniaState University, Fresna Fresno. CA 93740 ~

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Inorganic Chemistry DuwardF. Shrrver, P. W. Arkins, and C m per H. Langlord. W. H. Freeman: New York. NY. 1990 xiil t 706pp. 19 8 X 25.3 cm. $50.95. Textbooks for courses in inorganic chemistry are relatively scarce, and the publication of a new book is always an event of considerable interest to instructors of such courses. This latest addition to the genre, a joint American-English-Canadian venture is particularly welcome because of its versatility. I t is suitable for one-year courses, as a general introduction far all three years of United Kingdom courses, and as a text for one-semester courses (using Parts 1 and 2 augmented by selected material from later chapters). Furthermore, each of the 5 chapters in Part 3 contains an introduction that can stand on its own, a particularly attractive feature for one-semester courses. Because little time is available for inorganic chemistryin the United Statesand Canada, the authors have been particularly assiduous in their choice of topics to be emphesized as contrasted to those merely mentioned. As their writing progressed, they

modified, refined, or discarded ideas in approach or emphasis in response to classroom experience or suggestions from reviewers (The assistance of 14 domestic and foreign, academic and industrial chemists is acknowledged). 'The result is an extremely attractive, well designed, and thoughtfully organized hook that presmrs a hnlanced blend of hoth descriptive and theoretical inonanrc chemistry, in which the former is ingeniously integrated with the latter Although theauthors modestly declare, "Our aim from the start was to be selective and interpretative across the full range of the subject: we never intended to be comprehensive," their coverage of all the usual and some unusual topics leaves little to be desired in breadth or depth. Taking the view that students require a knowledge and appreciation of the varied syntheses, reactions, structures, and mechanisms encountered among inorganic rompounds, they have diwded their book into five parts: (1) "Stnrcrure" (141 OD.!, emphasizing how theories of bonding account for diverse structures; (2) "Reactions" (118 pp.), classifying most reactions into acid-base, redox, and radical, and discussing the structures and properties of transition metal complexes as a special case of acid-basereactions; (3) "s- andp-Block Elements" (166pp, the longest part) and (4) "dand f-Block Complexes" (106 pp), in which the properties and reactions of individual elements and compounds are explained in detail in terms of the models of hondingand structure developed previously; and (5) "Interdisciplinary Topics" (93 pp, the shortest part), considering areas of recent research activity-catalysis, solid state chemistry, and bioinorganic chemistry. The format and style are uncommonly clear, and in keeping with the importance of the three-dimensional aSDects of inoreanie n~~ structures, more than 500 rarefully draun illustrations and many tnhles and figures areprovided. Each uf rhe 19rhsptrrs brgins witha concise overview and includes numerous worked-out examples as well as in-chapterand end-of-chapter exercises. In contrast to most inorganic texts, which provide only a few perfunctory end-of-chapter exercises, as many as 27 of these are provided for a single chapter. Examples, exercises, equations, and laboratory techniques are highlighted in boxes (some an entire page long), and answers are provided for all in-chapter and end-of-chapter exercises. (Detailed solutions are given in the companion book far students, Guide to Solutions for Inorganic Chemistry, by Steven H. Strauss (W.H. Freeman: New York, 1990;vi 302 pp., 18.9 X 23.3 cm. $15.95)). Each chapter includes a number of references ("Further Reading") to the current literature (some as late as 1989) as well 8s problems (no answers furnished). The book abounds with little known, interesting facts and anecdotes, historical and otherwise, that add an extra dimension. I t concludes with seven appendices, detailed four-column formula ( 5 pp) and general (8 pp) indices. For a book of such scope, detail, and length, the number of errors is extremely small, being limited largely tomisspelling of names, e.g., HBrault for HCoult (P 2331, Margarum for Margerum (p 4291, K. Katakis for D. Katakis (p 4951, Streitweiser for Streitwieser (p 499), and Hoffman for Hoff~

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Volume 67

I strongly recommend this hook for careful consideration by instructors of inorganic chemistry courses.

George - B. Kauffman

Celilornia Slate University, Fresno Fresno. CA 93740

Liquid ChromatographylMass Spectrometry M. A. Brown. American Chemical Society: Washington. DC. 1990. xii 298 pp. Figs. an0 tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $64.95.

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Instructors in instrumental analysis who wish current references on applrcations of L C W S techndugy will find this volnme useful. It is No. 424.1 in the ACS Ssmposium series and covers a program of the &ision of Agrochemicals at the Dallas meeting in April 1989. It presents applications of LC/ MS in agricultural, pharmaceutical, and environmental chemistry, with demonstrations of the method's unique capabilities in handling problems of topical importanee. Papers in this series are peer reviewed, hutan expert practitioner in the field isconcerned that the only chapter describing instrumentation in focussing an equipment then commercially available tends to neglect newer techniques dependent on momentum separation (MAGIC and Thermabeam) and electrospraying, hut the pereentage of useful papers is high. Malcolm M. Renfrew Universily of ldaho MOSCOW. ID 83843

Advances in Photochemistry, Volume 15 David H Volman, George S. Hammond, and Klaus Gollnick, Editors. Wiley: New York, NY. 1990. lx 390 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.7 X 23.8 cm. $95.00.

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Transition Metals In Total Synthesis Peter J. Harrington. Wiley: New York, NY. 1990. xvi X 26 cm.

+ 484 pp. Figs. and tables. 18.4

This volume describes the use of transition metal complexes for the synthesis of c o m ~ l e oreanic xmolecules. The text focuses on the overviews oi 20 reactions that represent reproducible and predictable metalhased methods in describing their spplrcations to natural product synthesis. These 20 reactions were chosen based on the fdlowing criteria: (1) biological, pharmacological sienificance, (2) a novel disconnertron in the retrosynthetic analysis, due to (3) application of organotransition metal chemistry in what might be considered the key step in the synthetic sequence, (4) a sufficiently broad scope in the organotransition metal chemistry to make the material hoth instructive and thought provoking, and (5) a recently completed total synthesis. ~

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