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Reviews of Books Correlation Analysis of Organic Reactivity with Particular Reference to Multiple Regression. By J. SHORTER. (Research Studies Press, Chichester, 1982.) Pp. xi+ 235. Price E18.50. This book on free-energy relationships follows an introductory text by the same author, now out of print, and the excellent Advances volumes he has edited with N. B. Chapman. Despite its modest size, by concentrating on reaction rates at the expense of spectroscopic or biological correlations and focussing on the ground between historical aspects and very recent appli- cations, it aims at and achieves a ‘reasonably comprehensive view’ of its large subject. Coverage of current work is necessarily more selective and treatment of some controversial or specialized topics, for example the ‘ reactivity-selectivity principle’, is confined to provision of leading references ‘for lack of space and time’.The emphasis on multiple regression of the subtitle is appropriate. Linear relationships remain popular but increasingly are seen as limiting forms of more complex expressions. Statistical considerations are not trivial, and an early chapter usefully reviews opinions and practices of different authors. Computers make statistics accessible but agreement on a criterion of ‘goodness of fit’ even of a straight line is lacking. The percentage error of a slope comes out well (beware zero slopes) but scope for chemical judgement, close inspection of the data and principal component analysis remains, especially as variables and the associated problems of correlation (variables with common factors) multiply.Varieties of the Hammett relationship are discussed. How many parameters should be used depends on the point of view. For the physical organic chemist concerned with reactivity of ionic reactions a quite simple separation of resonance and inductive effects may suffice, while for the spectroscopist facing the subtle interactions of neutral molecules a more detailed parametrization, such as that of Taft’s analysis, will be required. For the pharmacologist, for whom economy of parameters becomes a priority (and resonance interactions are usually weak), Swain’s and Lupton’s equation, notwithstanding its elementary failure to distinguish positive and negative resonance, proves useful. Succeeding chapters survey polar and steric effects, solvent effects and kinetic acidity and nucleophilicity.Useful introductions are provided to Taft’s and Palm’s treatments of solvent effects in terms of spectroscopic parameters and Dubois’s recent analysis of steric effects. The book is well organized and well written with admirably concise summaries of views. Authors and their equations speak for themselves with an unobtrusive but perceptive commentary that leaves scope for the reader’s own conclusions. The term ‘correlation ’ is taken as unifying the disparate relationships discussed, although it is recognized that its connotation of a casual rather than causal connection between variables is not wholly appropriate in the context of reactivity, where equations are based upon or quickly acquire the significance of chemical models.The treatment of reactivity emphasizes substituent and solvent parameters rather than reactions: CJ rather than p. This limits in some degree consideration of the Brransted equation but avoids entering too far upon a discussion of selectivity, which realistically merits a book of its own. Thus multiparameter versions of the Brernsted or other equations (e.g. multiple structure or solvent-reactivity relationships) which derive from variations in selectivity are touched upon only briefly whereas multiparameter analysis of Brransted and Lewis (hard and soft) contributions to acidity and nucleophilicity are given a full and useful account. This is perhaps not a book for beginners, for whom its breadth and conciseness may prove daunting, but for the many chemists with commitments in the field it will come as a welcome and lucid guide to the jungle surrounding their own familiar territories.Personal copies are appropriate and no doubt will stand on some shelves beside Leffler’s and Grunwald’s Rates and Equilibria of Organic Reactions, published twenty years ago, with which, notwithstanding its difference of scale (and photoready typescript), this little book bears comparison. R. A. MORE O’FERRALL Received 4th March, 1984 823824 REVIEWS OF BOOKS Reactive Intermediates. Volume 3. Ed. by R. A. ABRAMOVITCH. (Plenum Press, New York, 1983.) Pp. xiv+630. Price $59.50. This is the third of an occasional production of reviews on the chemistry of reactive intermediates. So far there have been three volumes in three years and there seems to be no shortage of topics; as stressed by Abramovitch in the Preface, the field of reactive intermediates is indeed burgeoning.So much so that there are actually two current series entitled Reactive Intermediates, the other being edited by Jones and Moss and published by Wiley-Interscience ! The present series is aimed purely at ‘up-to-date Reviews in relatively new areas, not only in organic chemistry, but also in inorganic, physical, bio-, industrial and atmospheric chemistry ’. The phrase in italics is, I think, indicative of the real bias of these reviews, which in the first three volums has been overwhelmingly organic. The first chapter is about selenium and tellurium atoms (Marquart, Belford and Graziano, 60 pp.).It seems that these have been studied far less extensively than sulphur atoms, but nevertheless there is a surprising body of work on the production and reactions of these atoms. It seems curious that their chemistry should be reviewed before that of sulphur atoms. A chapter on homolytic aromatic substitution by alkyl radicals (Tiecco and Testaferri, 53 pp.) is strongly orientated towards estimating the relative nucleophilic or electrophilic character of radicals. Although I realize that this is accepted nomenclature, it does seem to me a pity to confuse the general reader, who would surely like to see radical processes described as such, and hence as being quite distinct from genuine nucleophilic or electrophilic reactions. Indeed, I think many of the results interpreted in terms of this concept could well be interpreted in other ways and I would be happier to see current m.0.theory being used more widely in explanations of radical reactivity. Nevertheless, the approach clearly helps to systematise the large volume of work in this area, which is well covered in the present Review. The chapter on silyl radicals (Wilt, 86 pp.) complements chapter 4 in volume 2 on silylene intermediates, since both types are of great importance in thermal reactions of silanes. This is followed by a masterly review by Bentrude on his favourite topic, phosphoranyl radicals (100 pp.). Great weight is given to recent e.s.r. results for these radicals, which have been of help in elucidating their structures and reactivities. The next chapter (Szeimies, 67 pp.) is about bridgehead olefins. Although reactive, these are not ‘intermediates’ in the same sense as most of the other species covered in these Reviews.The work is mainly about organic syntheses and the reader is quickly immersed in page after page of complex three-dimensional structures which seem to delight organic chemists. I must say that they are well represented and easy to visualize. The major interest lies in the extent of twisting and pyramidalization enforced on the olefins by rigid rings and on the enhanced reactivity that results. Nomenclature is inevitably complex, but I was taken aback to find myself reading about ‘betweenenes’, which sounds to me like a new name for a between meals snack! This is followed by a review on the reactions of alkoxyl radicals, RO’, particularly accenting their uses in syntheses.Again, after a few pages, the reader finds himself immersed in highly complex three-dimensional structures which seem to follow the instructions of their creators possibly better than do simple molecules. In fact, this chapter is very much concerned with reactions of ROhal molecules, many of the processes being halogenations. I was taken aback by the statement that ‘most authors use an orbital model where the unpaired electron is essentially localized in one of the orbitals of the sp3 hybridized oxygen’. I certainly don’t use this model and am quite sure it isn’t! I was sorry to find no mention of recent e.s.r. studies of RO’ radicals nor of their importance as intermediates in many radiation processes.The final chapter, by Rappoport, is some 190 pages long with 354 references. This review, on vinyl cations, is a book in itself and I am surprised that the author preferred to place it in the present compilation. The layout is normal, starting with an extensive account of methods for the generation of these cations and going on to consider their structures and reactivities. Considerable emphasis is placed on the presence of ion pairs and on their reactions, a major concern being the mechanism of solvolysis of vinyl derivatives and the vexed question of whenREVIEWS OF BOOKS 825 is a solvolysis reaction genuinely S,1? Once again, the reader is inudated with complex organic reaction schemes. I conclude that this volume contains some excellent and up-to-date reviews on the chemistry of various ‘intermediates’. I stress, however, that is mainly for organic chemists.M. C. R. SYMONS Received 5th March, 1984 Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis. Volume 16. Preparation of Catalysts 111: Scientific Bases for the Preparation of Heterogeneous Catalysts. Ed. by G. Poncelet, P. Grange and P. A. Jacobs. (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1983.) Pp. xvf854. Price Dfl 400. This book records the lectures, papers and discussion given at the third symposium on the preparation of catalysts held at Louvain-la-Neuve in September 1982. The size of the volume and the range of the contributions underline the growth of publishable work in the field of catalyst preparation. This area of investigation, which has always been of the greatest practical importance, has become recognized as a component of fundamental studies of catalysts and their performance and is no longer relegated to the obscurities of the patent literature.Of course there is the inevitable spread in the quality of the papers but most people concerned with catalysis will find something of use in t h s book. There is also a valuable section containing six contributions covering ‘catalyst normalization ’. These contributions relate to the attempts that are being made in various countries to provide standard or reference catalysts for study by interested groups. The volume is produced in camera-ready format but is of a satisfactory standard. C. KEMBALL Received 5th March, 1984 Structure-Property Relationships of Polymeric Solids. Ed.by A. HILTNER. (Plenum Press, New York, 1983.) Pp. viii+270. Price E40.38. This volume is a collection of seventeen papers which were originally presented at an American Chemical Society meeting in the spring of 198 1. The meeting was arranged to mark the presentation of the American Chemical Society’s Bordon Award to Professor Eric Baer. The contributors to the volume are colleagues or students who are either working with Prof. Baer at present or have worked with him during his long and distinguished career. The preface states that papers in this text ‘represent many of the areas which he has explored’. Three of the papers included in the volume are co-authored by Prof. Baer. It is difficult to find a strong theme in this collection although, as the title of the book suggests, one can see a tenuous thread which is the relationship between microscopic phenomena and continum properties.The three papers co-authored by Prof. Baer are concentrated on craze behaviour. One is theoretical in nature and relates to crack propagation and the others deal with monodisperse polystyrene and high-impact polystyrene. The three papers are a useful current account of the subject. There is also an interesting paper on staining techniques for the enhancement of contrast in the transmission electron microscopic study of crazes and other morphological features. Fives papers cover a separate area of crystal structure, crystallization, nucleation and gelation. A review by Keller on thermoreversable gelation is a comprehensive reference source which introduces and expands on flow-induced crystallization and orientation processes. The other four papers mainly report studies on melts which cover hydrostatic extrusion of filled and virgin polyoxymethylene, crystal nucleation in hydrogenated polybutadienes, electrical properties of poly(viny1idene fluoride) and the melt orientation of polyethylene and polypropylene.The editor co-authors a paper on the crystal surface of a range linear polyethylenes which use surface halogenation as a probe. A separate paper develops this approach by using larger826 REVIEWS OF BOOKS substituents grafted into the amorphous regions. The remaining five papers cannot be grouped under the topics described. They include: the strength of short fibre composites, the use of thermally stimulated currents to study solid pullulan, the cross-linking of polydimethylsiloxane films, the application of time-temperature transformation diagrams to thermosetting systems, a study of the structure of nascent polyethylenes and the nature of the cross-linking in polydodeca-1,ll-di yne.In all, the book is a very diverse collection of high-quality and carefully presented work. There is no attempt to interrelate the papers. Indeed, an opportunity to do so by the adoption of a different order of presentation has not been taken. One could ask whether a collection of this sort is useful. Are there not many archival journals readily available for just this purpose? To pose this question leads us away from the intent of the editor and contributors.The text is published to honour a man who has made many significant and important contributions to polymer science and engineering. It is equal to this task. B. J. BRISCOE Received 1 l t h May, 1984 An Introduction to the Physical Chemistry of Biological Organization. By A. R. ~EACOCKE. Most readers of Faraday Transactions (this reviewer included) are probably fairly conven- tionally trained physical chemists whose everyday concern is with topics such as the various types of spectroscopy, equilibrium thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, statistical mechanics of tractable systems and other properties of reasonably well behaved molecules. To such individuals this book will serve as something of an eye-opener. Although written for the most part in a language that educated physical chemists should be able to understand, it describes ideas and concepts which are alien to most physical chemists : the organized complexity of living organisms.The author deals with the various aspects of molecular and supramolecular organization which form the basis of growth, metabolism, reproduction and mutability. Of necessity, the systems approach is emphasized and the treatment borders on philosophy. What can a physicochemical approach contribute to an understanding of such complex processes? We must strive to find answers to the questions: What is its structure? How does it work? How did it arise? What are its constraints? The author deals with all these aspects in turn. The book is divided into two main parts, one devoted to chemical thermodynamics and the other to kinetics.Biological structures are dissipative so that Boltzmann thermodynamics are inapplicable. On the other hand, linear irreversible thermodynamics is also inapplicable because its techniques are limited to systems which are close to equilibrium; such approaches bear little relevance to life processes. The author describes non-linear thermodynamic treatments of the types used extensively by Prigogine. Few biological examples or applications are discussed, but the author himself points out that few biological systems have been adequately examined for the non-linear thermodynamic approaches to be tested. The section on the applications of network theory to the interchange and transmission of energy in biological systems is particularly instructive, and here the author guides the reader through a number of interesting examples, notably the conversion of chemical into heat energy through the oxidation of fatty acids, the coupling of ion transport, ATP metabolism and protein synthesis and the gelatinization of starch.In the second part of the book the author develops the kinetic aspects, beginning with simple (chemical) kinetics, then via single steady-state systems to multiply steady-state, oscillatory and periodic processes. Here again the emphasis is on self-organization, the description of which requires an open system approach with strong coupling between the various processes involved. Examples are drawn from enzyme processes, including activation, inhibition and cooperativity, and from neural processes, motility and contraction.I found of particular interest his discussion of the possible consequences of periodic cyclic-AMP release, e.g. chemotaxis, self-reproduction, repair, ageing and defence against external perturbations. The book ends with shorter sections dealing with selection and evolution and the interpreta- (Oxford University Press/Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1983.) Pp. xi + 302. Price &35.REVIEWS OF BOOKS 827 tion of biological systems in terms of hierarchies of complexity. In a book which leans on the methods and reasoning of Prigogine, speculations on life and death are probably inevitable, but they are kept within reasonable bounds. Altogether the author has produced a fascinating account of the contributions which macroscopic physicochemical approaches cirn provide to the study of life processes.He could have served the reader even better had he adopted a simpler style of writing. The subject-matter is difficult enough to assimilate; comprehension is not helped by the many 50-word sentences and the occasional 90-word sentence. Nevertheless, this book will surely serve to widen the horizons of physical scientists and act as a signpost to the many fascinating problems posed by the structural and temporal complexities of living organisms. F. FRANKS Received 1st June, 1984 Soot in Combustion Systems and its Toxic Properties. Ed. by J. LAHAYE and G. PRADO. (Plenum Press, New York, 1983.) Pp. viii+433. Price $57.50. This volume contains the text of the papers presented at a four-day NATO Workshop held at Le Bischenberg, Obernai, France, during the late summer of 198 1.The two opening papers in the introductory session, by Thilly and Boyland, respectively, consider specifically the toxic properties of soot as well as the possible genetic hazards associated with certain of the components. The mutagenicity of soot is also discussed in a paper by Rivin and Medalia, which compares the properties of different soots both with each other and with carbon blacks, as well as in a contribution by Longwell, which deals with the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during the combustion of fuels in various combustion devices. These four papers, all of which are concerned to some extent with the possible adverse health effects of soot, provide a justification for the large amount of work which has been and is being devoted to the control of soot formation in practical combustion systems.All the papers in the next session, which between them constitute roughly one-half of the book, deal with the mechanisms of formation in flames of soot and polcyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. An opening paper by Howard and Bittner gives a useful account of the structure of sooting flames and a subsequent contribution by Bittner, Howard and Palmer describes work on the identification and determination of both stable and radical species in benzene-rich flames. Warnatz gives a succinct review of free-radical processes leading to the production of soot and discusses measurements of higher hydrocarbons during the combustion of acetylene, while the paper by Prado, Lahaye and Haynes deals specifically with the mechanisms involved in the nucleation and subsequent growth of soot particles. Smith describes a simple physical model for the formation of soot in diesel engines and Wagner discusses in some detail the mass growth of soot in various combustion systems.The next three papers, by Calcote, Homann and Stofer and Weinberg, deal with different aspects of the r6le of charged species in flames and with the possible control of sooting by the application of electric fields. The final paper in this Session, by Donnet and Lahaye, discusses the further oxidation of soot particles in flames. The next, relatively brief, session is devoted to the aerodynamics of sooting flames and consists of two papers, one by Barrere on the aerothermicity of diffusion flames and the other by Beer, Togam, Farmayan, Jacques and Prado on carbon formation in highly turbulent flames. The fourth session is concerned with the development of optical techniques for studies of the mechanisms of formation of soot in flames.Two papers, by D’Alessio, Beretta, Cavalliere and Menna and by Gouesbet and Grehan, describe the usefulness of light-scattering techniques, while a paper by Weill, Flament and Gouesbet outlines possible applications of diffusion broadening spectroscopy. Finally the book contains a very useful section in which summaries are given of the main conclusions reached following the presentation of the various papers and the subsequent discussions thereof, and recommendations are made as to possible fruitful lines of future work.The impression one obtains, as a result of reading this collection of authoritative papers, the discussions which follow them and the suggestions for further work, is that all the authors, while well respected experts in their own fields, have made every attempt not only to make the828 REVIEWS OF BOOKS accounts of their own work as intelligible and of as general interest as possible to those engaged in other areas but also to acquaint themselves with aspects of the subject with which they were not previously familiar. The result is a well integrated account of those facets of soot formation in combustion systems with which the NATO Workshop was specifically concerned. The volume would perhaps have been of even greater value if each paper had been preceded by a brief informative abstract, an author index had been included as well as the not-very-comprehensive subject index and it had been possible to reduce the interval (well over two years) between the holding of the Workshop and the publication of the volume giving an account of its proceedings.C. F. CULLIS Receiued 30th May, 1984 Biological Magnetic Resonance, Volume 5. Ed. by L. J. BERLINER and J. REUBEN. (Plenum This is a good series. On a previous occasion when I reviewed volume 2 I made a small complaint in that the topics in its different chapters were not closely related. The same criticism hardly applies here. The chapters are on the use of 13C (in uiuo), 15N (in vitro and in uiuo), 31P (in uitro and a little in uiuo), l60, 170, ln0 (in uitro) and, slightly out of place, magnetic resonance studies of lipid-protein interactions.It is fair to ask first what had been learnt by the end of 1981 (very few more recent references) from studies of biological systems by the n.m.r. probes. The first chapter on 13C (by Baxter, Mackenzie and Scott) gives a tentative answer. It shows the peculiar advantage of following in viuo reactions in unicellular organisms when more than one isotope is available, e.g. D/H, 13C/12C, 160/lR0 but notice only 31P. New information is about the way a given atom, say a label in glucose, finds its way to ‘all’ other carbons in metabolic pathways. Not only does this study confirm in uivo the existence of known pathways, i.e.known from in uitro analysis, but it often throws light quantitatively on special metabolic aspects. Again complex syntheses, e.g. of porphyrins, have been followed. Turning to whole-organ studies, e.g. hearts and livers, the situation is less clear. Studying such mixed-cell populations is very difficult. The authors express the view that the full value of the technique is not yet known. The 15N chapter (Blomberg and Ruterjans) shows that most work with the difficult isotopes of nitrogen has been carried out on amino acids, peptides and small nucleotides. An heroic attempt at solving the problem of the proton relay in serine proteases by labelling the active-site histidine was a partial success but uncertainties remain. (Will we ever solve any enzyme mechanism clearly?) There have also been a few in uiuo studies.Again the full value of the method is not yet known. The chapter on 31P n.m.r. (by Rao) is limited to enzyme systems. The results serve to illustrate how difficult it is to study enzymes as complicated as alkaline phosphatase and phosphorylase. Why and when in phosphate transfer is it necessary to form a protein-phosphate covalent bond? Some of the consequences of different mechanisms can be studied very well by the use of combinations of 31P and l6O, 170, lRO and 32S. The experiments of Cohn, Knowles and Lowe are particularly noteworthy. The fourth chapter (by Tsai and Bruzik) goes into these problems in much greater depth. Some insight is given on symmetry of reaction intermediates but little on energetics. Before turning to the final chapter, which is not related to the others, it is wise to take a look back.Overall the view is of the complexity of n.m.r. and of expressions of (pious) hope. In the fields tackled n.m.r. is often insensitive and difficult to interpret cleanly, so that with the exception of a few outstanding observations it cannot be said that n.m.r. has yet added greatly to our picture of metabolism or enzyme mechanism. Turning to the last chapter on lipid-protein interactions we move to a structural study using both n.m.r. and e.s.r. (by Devaux). This chapter fills more than one-third of the book. Unfortunately it also has an atmosphere of investigations brilliantly analysed in terms of models but generating uncertain conclusions. Time and again as earlier in the book one is brought up against old problems in the understanding of relaxation of chemical shift in complex systems, especially in the description of structure.Press, New York, 1983.) Pp. xixf303. Price E34.65REVIEWS OF BOOKS 829 I am driven to ask why is a biological system so difficult to pin down using these very advanced physical techniques? The answer lies perhaps in false expectation. We strive to describe in structural terms but there is no static structure in biology. We are always confronted with dynamic ensemble information. We must settle for answers within the limits of the systems and not expect them to resemble a model at 0 K or a time-averaged X-ray crystallographic ‘ structure ’. R. J. P. WILLIAMS Received 24th February, 1984 Bimetallic Catalysts: Discoveries, Concepts and Applications.By J. H. SINFELT. (Wiley, Chichester, 1983.) Pp. xi+ 164. Price E26.75. Bimetallic catalysts are employed extensively in the petroleum-reforming industry and considerable interest exists in the design and development of alloy formulations for application to other catalytic processes. Apart from providing commercial benefits, the associated research has made a major contribution to the general understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. Dr Sinfelt has played a leading role in this area for two decades. His expertise is apparent in this monograph, which provides the reader with a detailed account of the properties of alloy catalysts and the methodology involved in their study, After an introductory chapter, in which historical aspects and an overview of the book are presented, chapter 2 moves on to consider perhaps the most important feature of bimetallic catalysts, namely their high selectivities for particular molecular transformations.The well known characteristics of catalysed reactions involving hydrocarbons, encompassing hydro- genolysis, isomerization and (de)hydrogenation, are summarized. This information is then used to rationalise catalyst selectivity phenomena observed for a number of miscible Group VIII-Group IB bimetallic systems. In chapter 3 the vital concept relating to the ability of metals to form small bimetallic aggregates while exhibiting no appreciable bulk solubility is described. This is largely achieved through a report of the author’s studies on Cu-Ru powders, using the techniques of selective chemisorption, kinetic measurements, X-ray diffraction and surface electron spectroscopies.The following chapter comprises nearly half the book. It involves a detailed review of Dr Sinfelt’s work on the structural characterization of supported bimetallic cluster catalysts. The systems covered include Ru-Cu, 0s-Cu, Pt-Ir and Pt-Re catalysts and the experimental techniques are broadened to include EXAFS, X-ray threshold and Mossbauer spectroscopies. A particularly detailed account of the analysis and interpretation of EXAFS measurements is given. The penultimate section of the book describes the background to petroleum reforming and the applications of bimetallic catalysts in this area. Attention is devoted to the industrially important Pt-Ir and Pt-Re systems and the improvements over conventional catalysts, in terms of improved selectivity, activity and activity maintenance, which these catalysts offer are outlined.Concluding comments by the author then complete the book. This book should appeal to a wide readership. A readable state-of-the-art summary of an important area of catalysis is offered which will be useful to many, both in and outside the particular specialized field. Those concerned with the applications of EXAFS in catalysis will also find much to interest them in the book. J. S. FWRD Received 1st June, 1984 Specialist Periodical Reports, Electrochemistry. Volume 8. Senior Reporter D. PLETCHER. (Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 1983.) Pp. x + 252.Price E40, $69, members price &24. What is electrochemistry? Bockris called the principal areas ‘ ionics’ and ‘ electrodics’, and these two fields shared the honours in vol. 1 of the Electrochemistry S.P.R. in 1970. Since then there has been a gradual takeover by electrodics, vol. 5 in 1975 being the last in which a chapter was devoted to electrolyte solutions. For future volumes the present reviewer would like to see a restoration of the former balance, since restricted coverage inevitably leads to restricted readership.830 REVIEWS OF BOOKS The electrodics chapters in vol. 8 are all of a high standard and cover well the recent advances within their purviews. N. A. Hampson and A. J. S. McNeil, in ‘The Electrochemistry of Porous Electrodes: Flooded, Static (Natural) Electrodes’ (53 pp.), begin with a short but useful theoretical section and then describe the work done with 17 types of electrode; J.Robinson reviews ‘ Electrode Processes in Molten Salts’ (27 pp.) with special emphasis on chloroaluminate melts; C. J. Pickett provides a useful and wide-ranging survey of recent advances in ‘The Electrochemistry of Transition-metal Complexes’ (45 pp.); and D. J. Schiffrin, writing on ‘The Electrochemistry of Oxygen’ (45 pp.), deals with the reduction of oxygen on different metals and metal oxides as well as on electrode surfaces modified by a variety of transition-metal compounds. The book ends with a further instalment on ‘Organic Electrochemistry - Synthetic Aspects’ (82 pp.) by J. Grimshaw and D. Pletcher, which summarises the reductions and oxidations of a wide range of organic compounds.For the first time there is no author index at the end, which is a pity. This volume should take its predestined place in libraries and on the personal shelves of electrochemists working in the areas surveyed. Received 28th February, 1984 M. SPIRO Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, Volume 34. Ed. by B. S. RABINOVITCH, J. M. SCHURR and H. L. STRAUSS. (Annual Reviews Inc., Palo Alto A, 1983.) Pp. xvi+669. Price $31. The Annual Review of Physical Chemistry series is too well known to need a detailed description. This volume contains twenty-one timely reviews by distinguished authors, each with numerous references. At less than 5 4 a page this must be the best bargain of the year. The reviews are preceded by two articles by J.0. Hirschfelder of Wisconsin. The first is a short tribute to his Ph.D. supervisor, the late Henry Eyring, who was the editor of this series for twenty years. He rightly concentrates on the work for which Eyring will be best remembered: his 1935 paper in J. Chem. Phys. entitled ‘The Activated Complex in Chemical Reactions’ and the great spate of research to which it led. In his second and longer article Hirschfelder gives a fascinating account of his own prentice years as a theoretical chemist with Condon, Eyring and Wigner in Princeton in the 1930s. The Annual Review may still carry the more traditional title of Physical Chemistry, but those were the years in which the field of Chemical Physics was born and from which much of its present content is derived, even down to the logo on the spine.J. S. ROWLINSON Received 12th March, 1984 BASIC Microcomputing and Biostatistics. By D. W. ROGERS. (Humana Press, Clifton NJ, 1983.) Pp. xi+274. Price $49.50. This book is primarily a text on statistical methods for biologists rather than a text on BASIC programming. The first chapter introduces some basic concepts in computing but subsequent chapters are concerned with statistical ideas. The book covers ideas such as the mean, standard derivation, probability, the binomial distribution, the Poisson distribution and the normal distribution. Other chapers discuss the x2 test and the Student t test, least-squares fitting and the solution of simultaneous equations by determinantal and matrix methods.The text is illustrated throughout by worked examples and BASIC programming is developed within the context of the statistics. The book contains numerous programs illustrating function evaluation, simple graphics and simple matrix manipulation. Each chapter includes a useful glossary and is accompanied by a set of problems, some of which require the writing of a computer program. The statistical ideas are explained clearly in simple terms and the text is illustrated by many diagrams. The book assumes a very limited mathematical background and readers trained in the physical sciences will find that the treatment is laboured at times. On the other hand, the discussion of determinants and matrices lacks sufficient detail. For example, I doubt whether the reader would be able to calculate the inverse of a 3 x 3 matrix from the exposition of matrix inversion.The BASIC programs also seems fairly elementary and there is no discussion of subroutines. The programs given in the book should be used with care since the program onREVIEWS OF BOOKS 83 1 page 51, for the calculation of the standard deviation, would appear to be in error. I doubt whether the book will appeal to practising physical scientists because of its bias to the life sciences, the limited treatment of BASIC programming and the elementary mathematical level. The book is also very expensive and does not represent good value for money. D. M. HIRST Received 30th May, 1984 Springer Series in Chemical Physics, Volume 33. Surface Studies with Lasers. Ed. by F.R. AUSSENEGG, A. LEITNER and M. E. LIPPITSCH. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1983.) Pp. ix + 241. Price DM62, 824.70. This is an account of a conference held in Austria in March 1983 attended by some 100 scientists from seventeen countries and sponsored by the European and Austrian Physical Societies. The papers are reported under four general headings : General Surface Spectroscopy (3 papers), Surface Enhanced Optical Processes (14 papers), Laser Surface Spectroscopy (9 papers) and Laser Induced Processes (1 4 papers). The physics and chemistry of solid surfaces is not only an important area of basic scientific research, but has equally important technological implications. Although the main theme of the book is ‘Lasers and Surfaces’, there is a sprinkling of papers which do not rely on lasers. These include papers dealing with the vibrational spectroscopy of adsorbed molecules, mainly through electron-energy-loss and infrared spectroscopies. Laser techniques may, however, provide increased resolution in the probing of molecular vibrations at surfaces, thereby providing more information on vibration-level shifts and broadenings. The availability of tunable lasers will clearly be an advantage. Lasers have provided a unique means for fast and controlled surface heating, mainly applied in semiconductor physics. This facility enables doping, defect generation, chemical-vapour deposition and controlled oxidation to be implemented under controlled surface conditions. On the other hand, studies of laser-induced fluorescence of diatomic molecules (such as nitric oxide) before and after being scattered or desorbed from a metal surface are providing import- ant fundamental information on the redistribution of internal energy in different electronic states. Laser spectroscopy is clearly a powerful tool for the study of molecule-surface scattering providing ultimately (hopefully) detailed information on the dynamics of gas-solid interactions, which in turn are responsible for the kinetics of surface reactions. This is a most stimulating, high-quality book, published expeditiously after the Conference, and it provides an excellent pointer for future research in the physics and chemistry of solid surfaces. The price is reasonable. M. W. ROBERTS Received 30th May, 1984

ISSN:0300-9599    

DOI:10.1039/F19858100823

出版商:RSC    

年代:1985

数据来源: RSC