ANALYST, OCTOBER 1993, VOL. 118 117N Book Reviews Analysis of Paints and Related Materials: Current Tech- niques for Solving Coatings Problems Edited by William C. Golton. Pp. viii + 204. ASTM. 1992. Price f41 .OO. ISBN 0-8031-1465-6. There has been no comprehensive textbook on paint analysis since the Kappelmeier classic ‘Chemical Analysis of Resin- Based Coating Materials’ of 1959, nor is there likely to be. Modern paints are extremely complex and there are a large number of possible instrumental techniques available. Future publications are likely to be in the form of collections of individual papers written by experts, as is the present volume. This contains 11 papers, mostly written by analysts of the paint and related industries of the USA, and presented at an ASTM symposium in Pittsburgh on May 13-14, 1990.Most paints contain four groups of components, the pigments, binders, solvents (or water) and additives, which normally have to be separated prior to analysis. The easiest to deal with are the solvents, which can normally be identified by GLC. The pigments are usually separable by centrifuging and the additives by extraction or HPLC. The most difficult are the binders, which are best analysed by combinations of chromatographic methods for separation, and spectroscopic methods for identification. A very salient point is made in the first paragraph of the first paper, which points out that the complete analysis of a paint requires a whole set of modern analytical techniques, and a great deal of experience. Unfortu- nately at the present time too much attention is given to the former requirement and too little to the latter.‘A very salient point is made in the fist paragraph of the first paper, which points out that the complete analysis of a paint requires a whole set of modem analytical techniques, and a great deal of experience’ This first paper, by Schernau et al., dealing with analysis of the wholc paint reviews the current chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, with accounts of some of the newer developments, namely, diffuse-reflectance FTIR (DRIFTS) for opaque samples, I R microscopy for looking at paint layers and FT-NMR. The next, by Simonsick, Jr., reviews GC-MS and pyrolysis GC-MS techniques. Coming to individual classes of components Sheih and Benton report on HPLC techniques for analysis of bisphenol A-, novolac- and aliphatic epoxy resins.Size-exclusion chromatography, de- scribed by Cheng-Yih Kuo and Provder, originally called GPC, has been universally used for determining the relative molecular mass of coatings polymers and now has to extend its scope to cover the newer polymers required for the environ- mentally acceptable coatings, e.g., waterborne, high-solids and powder. Advances in available detectors have been particularly valuable. Coming to the pigment component, X-ray techniques, as reviewed by Snider, are often required. These are usually X-ray diffraction for structural analysis and X-ray fluores- cence for elemental analysis. Combinations of SEM and X-Ray spectrometry have proved invaluable for studying paint defects.Various GC techniques, as reported by Young, are universally used, either direct for analysing the solvents and low relative molecular mass components, or following pyrolysis for those with higher relative molecular masses. Head-space analysis has proved to be very useful for some problems. Analysis of cured films is even more difficult than that of liquid paints. Hartshorn reports on the study of the curing and ageing of autoxidatively drying products by FTIR, and van der Ven rt ul. on the curing of two-component polyurethanes. The surfaces of polymers often have diffcrcnt compositions from the bulk polymer. Gerdolla, Jr., reviews the current photo- electron and ion spcctroscopic techniques used for studying polymer surfaces, namely, ESCA, SIMS and ISS.New accessories for use with FTIR, namely diffuse reflectance, IR microscopy and photoacoustic are all described by Millon and Julian and three studies of coatings failure by Tator and Weldon. The book is well produced, in hard cover, with references to each paper, which has been peer reviewed. L. A. O’Neill Chemical Sensor Technology. Volume 4 Edited by Shigeru Yamauchi. Pp. xviii + 270. Elsevier. 1992. Price US$191.50; Dfl. 335.00. ISBN 0-444-98680-4; 4-06-205458-2 (Japan). This book contains an eclectic collection of chapters written by authors from the USA, Europe and Japan. Not surprisingly in a book that has been assembled by a Japanese editor, authors from Japan predominate. In some senses this is a courageous book, for the implication of the title is that the contributions are linked to technological aspects of sensors, by which I understand, the development of sensor types that have already been defined and researched in laboratories to the point where they are ‘near market’ devices.Certainly some of the chapters achieve this end admirably but others are obviously accounts of recent scientific research, which although worthy in themselves, could not be described as technology in its strictest sense. This, however, is a minor problem in a book that I enjoyed greatly. The opening chapter is an account of Taguchi’s heroic development of the TGS gas sensor. True, the chapter narrowly escapes being hagio- graphic, nonetheless I would be tempted to recommend the book on this contribution alone. It is a timely reminder to the scientific and technological policy makers that inventiveness and effort is not just to be found in substantial highly organized research groups working in well-founded schools, but can be found in the efforts of talented individuals anywhere on earth! Subsequent chapters develop themes such as: technologies for sensor fabrication; miniaturization of catalytic sensors; sensitization of dielectric surfaces by chem- ical grafting, application to ISFETS and ENFETS; and high-sensitivity immunosensors employing surface photovol- tage techniques.The distinctly applied nature of the book can be seen in the chapter on “on-invasive Monitoring of Glucose in Blood’ where an ISFET sensor is coupled to a suction- effusion device. Chapters such as this should help to focus the minds of those involved in sensor research so that they are always cognizant of the eventual destination of their device and its associated technology.I have a few words of minor criticism about this book. There appears to be no particular structure or rationale to the choice of topics that make up the chapters, nor is there any notable organization of the chapters within the book. This makes sensor research look rather haphazard when, in fact, there are a number of well developed and distinct lines. A rather more significant deficiency is the lack of optical sensing papers and papers on other more unusual transducers such as impedance or temperature sensing devices. This gives a somewhat biased118N ANALYST, OCTOBER 1993, VOL. 118 picture of the field of sensor technology.The book finishes with an excellent index that is accurate and extensive. This distinguishes it from some of the collections of conference papers that masquerade as research or technological mono- graphs but which lack the primary courtesy of providing any detailed means of accessing the information therein. I have enjoyed this book and would recommend others to read it as well. Tony E. Edmonds Biological Magnetic Resonance. Volume 11. In Vivo Spectroscopy Edited by Lawrence J. Berliner and Jacques Reuben. Pp. xiii + 334. Plenum. 1992. Price US$85.00 ISBN 0-306- 44276-0. This volume is the latest in a series concerned with techniques and applications of NMR and ESR spectroscopy. Volume 11 contains seven chapters generally concerned with in vivo spectroscopy and, to a lesser extent, magnetic resonance imaging.Chapter 1 on ‘Localization in clinical NMR spectro- scopy’ begins very usefully with a good description of basic nuclear properties and NMR parameters of biological interest. One of the problems of the use of NMR imaging techniques to obtain spectra of only specific regions of a sample, is that NMR resonances from within one region but with different chemical shifts will appear to come from different regions. Whilst this problem is discussed, some information on the magnitude of the effect would be useful to the interested non-specialist. The chapter is restricted to a description of techniques and no examples are actually given of localized clinical NMR spectra. Chapter 2 is concerned with an explanation of using off-resonance irradiation in NMR and the title includes ‘in vivo MRS and MRI applications’.This is a long and highly theoretical chapter with a number of computer simulated experiments. Most of the applications are concer- ned with the dynamics of proteins in solution or tissue homogenates rather than in vivo, although right at the very end of the chapter, an example of how off-resonance irradiation can improve NMR images is shown. The NMR methods for probing brain ischaemia are the subject of Chapter 3. This section of the book has a good practical ‘the volume contains reviews covering a wide range of biological magnetic resonance approaches and, in general, will be of use to the reader interested in the applications’ section and explains how 31P and 1H NMR using surface coil and localization techniques can give information on brain biochemistry.The authors provide a detailed guide on how the spectral results can be quantified with the many assumptions well discussed and they are realistic in not ignoring the substantial problems. Chapter 4 is concerned with 23Na NMR spectroscopy in biology where it is used to measure sodium flux into and out of cells. The chapter contains a well- referenced background section and is clear on the theory and on application areas of 23Na NMR. This is a very practical chapter with a good critique of the experimental approaches and describes the assumptions involved in quantification of the results. A chapter entitled ‘In vivo 19F NMR’ comes next in the book. This approach promises to be very useful because of the high sensitivity of 1YF NMR, and a number of applications have appeared in the literature over the last few years.It is a pity that the references are mainly limited to 1988 and earlier, and this book is therefore describing at best work that is five years old. The main areas of application of *9F NMR spectroscopy are to study the distribution and metabolism of drugs and model compounds and to monitor intracellular pH through the use of specially designed molecules, which can penetrate cells; 1gF NMR imaging of drugs in vivo in a major goal and is also discussed. Chapter 6 is devoted to another potentially important biological NMR nucleus, namely 2H. This has found application as a monitor of drug metabolism and for measuring blood flow in vivo, for example to tumours, by observing the washout of a D20 NMR signal with time after a single injection.This chapter provides a good review of the literature but is short on experimental details. Chapter 7, on ESR, is a short section that describes the new and difficult exploratory experiments in ESR imaging, ESR spectroscopic studies of nitroxide reduction in vivo and the identification of endogenous free radicals using spin traps. It finishes on an intriguing note-the trapping of drug intermediates. Overall the volume contains reviews covering a wide range of biological magnetic resonance approaches and, in general, will be of use to the reader interested in the applications. The problem of such a varied content is that individuals will not want to buy a volume for one article but libraries will find it a useful addition to their shelves.J . C. Lindon Electrochemical Oxygen Technology By Kim Kinoshita. The Electrochemical Society Series. Pp. xvi + 432. Wiley. 1992. Price f98.00. ISBN 0-471-57043-5. Not so much a book for practising analytical chemists as one that is a reference source for researchers. The book covers the general physicochemical properties of oxygen and its electro- chemistry as a basis for the next chapter, which considers the preparation and properties of oxygen electrodes, wherein there is a good and well-explained discussion of various electrode structures for oxygen reduction and evolution. An extensive range of electrode types are then described in the following chapters under the headings of fuel cells, metauair batteries and oxygen recombination in batteries.In each case, this is done under various sub-divisions with much interesting information and the basis of ideas being drawn from the published literature. Among the interesting points are those involving the phosphoric acid fuel cell, with the mention that these are the closest to commercialization with field tests of power plants up to 4.8 MW having been completed! This point emphasizes that electrochemical tech- nology is very widely based, and that the provision of a book for analytical chemists is a prospect that has to be separately addressed. Nevertheless, as mentioned, this can be an information source for researchers thirsting for ideas. For this purpose the text is well supplied with diagrams, detailed tables and a host of references. ‘Not so much a book for practising analytical chemists as one that is a reference source for researchers’ It is only in the final chapter, on industrial electrochemistry, that analytical prospects and applications are specifically addressed. This being in a 13 page discussion of oxygen sensors of potentiometric and amperometric types along with the detection of hydrogen peroxide and ozone. Therefore, analytical chemists might prefer to stick to the ‘Measurement of Dissolved Oxygen, Chemical Analysis’, by M. L. Hitch- man, from the same publishing house, and perhaps to also turn to some of the other ten references on oxygen sensors given on p. 420 of this book. J. D. R . Thomas