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Book reviews |
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Analyst,
Volume 104,
Issue 1242,
1979,
Page 892-896
W. I. Stephen,
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摘要:
892 Book Reviews Analyst, Vol. 104 BUFFERS FOR PH AND METAL ION CONTROL. By D. D. PERRIN and BOYD DEMPSEY. Pp. viii + 176. London: Chapman and Hall. 1979. (First published in hardback 1974.) Price k4.95 (softback). This book, in the original hardback edition, was reviewed in The Analyst in 1976 (1976, 101, 70). The text of the present soft-covered edition, now in the Chapman and Hall series of Science Paperbacks, is the same as that of the original edition. It is, perhaps, a sign of the times that the hardback version cost L3.50 when published in 1974, whereas the paperback of 1979 is priced at k4.95! W. I. STEPHEN COLORIMETRIC DETERMINATION OF NONMETALS. Second Edition. Edited by DAVID F. BOLTZ and JAMES A. HOWELL. Chemical AHalysis, Volume 8. Pp. xxviii + 544. New York, Chichester, Brisbane and Toronto: John Wiley.1978. Price k23.95; $45.30. Twenty years have elapsed since the late Noel Allport reviewed the first edition of this book in The Analyst. During the intervening years, Professor Boltz has kept the objectives of this new edition firmly in mind and it is sad that his untimely death in 1976 prevented him from completing this task. Professor Howell, a friend and associate of David Boltz, has undertaken the final editing of the present volume, which follows very closely the format of the first edition. The other chapters deal with boron, bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, nitrogen, phosphorus, selenium and tellurium, silicon and, finally, sulphur. In addition to the two editors, several other authors have contributed to the individual chapters, which deal with the most widely accepted procedures for the determination of these elements in a wide variety of forms and substrates. Of course, in a compilation of methods such as that now presented, some form of selection is necessary to keep the book within reasonable bounds.Hence, the principal procedures described in the text are essentially time-honoured ones, although there are suggestions that other, newer methods might prove useful in certain circumstances. Reviewers might differ in their attitude to such an approach, but from a practical viewpoint, the reader is assured that the method he selects is tried, tested and reliable. This is essentially a conservative book, full of useful practical information and likely to prove as popular and successful as the first edition has been.The new text is considerably enlarged to include new chapters on carbon and oxygen. W. I. STEPHEN LABORATORY HANDBOOK OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC AKD ALLIED METHODS. Edited by 0. MIKES. Pp. 764. Distributed by John Wiley in Australasia, South-east Asia, Canada, Europe and Africa and by Halsted Press in North and South America and the rest of the world. Chichester, New York, Brisbane and Toronto: Ellis Horwood. 1979. Price k38.50. This is said to be a replacement for “Laboratory Handbook of Chromatographic Methods” (1966), which had become out of date. On comparing the two books it is clear that the 1966 text has been expanded considerably; 14 eminent authors have contributed to this volume, which has 13 chapters dealing with types and theory of chromatography, and with paper, adsorption, ion-exchange, gel, affinity, thin-layer and gas - liquid techniques.Little in the way of afinity chromatography and counter-current distribution methods could be found in the 1966 text but this edition has complete chapters devoted to each of these. In addition, the chapter on electro-migration methods now includes isotachophoresis. The sections on theory and fundamental details are much as usual, as is to be expected, because there is a limit to what can be said further about Tswett et al. (although passing mention is made of purification of sea water in the time of Aristotle). I t is stated that “the future quite surely belongs to HPLC, which will become the predominating method” (as against liquid - solid and thin-layer chromatography) but surprisingly little space is devoted to it.The longest chapter concerns ion-exchange chromatography and discusses applica- tions for the use of ion exchangers in biochemistry.September, 1979 BOOK REVIEWS a93 Besides including over 1000 references, the final chapter is devoted to a review of the mono- graphic “literature of chromatography, electrophoresis and counter-current distribution from 1962 up to mid-1978. The volume is packed with facts of all kinds that will be useful to the practical worker but, as is often the case with books of this nature, applications seem to play a minor rather than a major part. Equipment available for the particular types of chromatography and related procedures is discussed in each of the chapters about techniques, and the separate chapter on automation and mechanisation of column operations in liquid chromatography is particularly cogent about contemporary requirements for fully automated facilities.Good practical details are given for each type of method and applications considered include : separation of organic oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus-containing compounds, vitamins, antibiotics, glycosides, proteins and peptides, amino acids and nucleic acids, and relative molecular mass determinations of proteins, steroids, alkaloids, mono- and oligosaccharides and various cations. In general, the applications incline towards biochemistry and it is a little disappointing that a book of this size contains nothing on the application of, for example, gel chromatography, to plastics and polymers.The title could perhaps have indicated the biochemical accent to a greater extent. Dr. Mike5 is to be congratulated on his editorial work in compiling this volume of chromato- graphic and allied methods from so many sources and Dr. Chalmers also, for the considerable work he must undoubtedly have done as translation editor. As a handbook for both newer and more experienced people in the fields of biochemistry, pharmacology, medicine and some aspects of agriculture it will provide a very useful source of reference and practical details in employing the various techniques. UK sources of materials and equipment are also given. D. SIMPSON APPLICATIONS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY.By A. PRYDE and M. T. GILBERT. Pp. xii + 256. London: Chapman and Hall. Distributed by Halsted Press in the USA. 1979. Price jJ0.50. Books on applied techniques, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) , are notoriously difficult to write. They have to be thoroughly up to date and also be a sound critical appraisal of the literature. If they are not, then they are an expensive literature compilation that is out of date. The literature coverage is only up to early 1977. Many of the examples cited employ either obsolescent methods or materials, and the whole character of HPLC has changed greatly in the past two years. Far too often, the text is merely a collection of literature systems with little or no critical evaluation. Another disappointment is to discover that the first third of this book is devoted to a brief and sometimes patchy rt%suune‘ of the theory and practice of HPLC. These aspects have been covered better in other recent publications.In short, there is little to recommend this book to either the seasoned chromatographer or the novice. C. BURGESS Regrettably, this book comes in the latter category. INTERPRETATION AND PROCESSING OF VIBRATIONAL SPECTRA. By MILAN HORLK and ANTON~N V~TEK. Pp. 414. Chichester, New York, Brisbane and Toronto: John Wiley. 1978. Price f[18.50. During the last 30 years infrared spectroscopy has become accepted as an essential procedure in all laboratories concerned with structural and analytical studies on organic compounds, and several excellent introductory accounts of the theory and practical application of the technique are now available.This book, which is a translation by K. Stulik of a monograph written for graduate chemists by two Czechoslovak spectroscopists, surveys the theoretical background to the interpretation of vibrational spectra and describes the measuremefit and handling of infrared and Raman spectra of gases, liquids and solids and the analysis and assignment of spectral bands. Applications of infrared and Raman spectroscopy in qualitative and quantitative analysis and in the elucidation of molecular structures are discussed, and a collection of FORTRAN IV programs for the computer solution of basic problems in molecular spectroscopy is appended.894 BOOK REVIEWS Analyst, Vol. 104 The volume provides a good introduction to the interpretation of infrared and Raman spectra of organic compounds, and it contains much sound advice on the accuracy and precision of spectroscopic measurements.However, although books containing tables correlating absorption frequencies with chemical structure are listed, detailed structure correlation tables are not provided in this book. A proper understanding of the scope and reliability of such tables is essential for the correct interpretation of the spectra of complex compounds. The complementary nature of the structural information available from allied techniques, such as ultraviolet and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, is not discussed. The English text is comprehensible, b u t careful editorial attention by an English spectroscopist could have made it more readable and would have prevented infelicities, such as “cells tempered in the cell room” of a spectrometer (p.266) ! J. E. PAGE STATISTIQUE APPLIQU~E A L’EXPLOITATION DES MESURES. Tomes 1 and 2. By COMMISARIAT A Tome 1, pp. xx + 1-148 and 1-128; Tome 2, pp. xii + 149-415. L’ENERGIE ATOMIQUE. Paris, New York, Barcelona and Milan: Masson. 1978. Into these two relatively small volumes have been packed all the apparent needs of any chemist wishing to undertake statistical criticism of quantitative measurements. The usual format of statistical books is followed : definitions, simple mathematical treatment of the laws of probability, common distributions and the evaluation of the error in y from that of x in the formula y = f(x) form the introductory section.The second section places particular emphasis on the obedience of data to several types of distribution together with the necessary preliminary calculations and mathematical tests, illustrated by examples. In this connection considerable assistance is given to the reader in the handling of wild results. Rather strangely, perhaps, the differences between random and systematic error and between reproducibility, repeatability and sensitivity are reserved for the third section of Volume 1, but the rather more vexed and advanced question of limits of detection for various systems does fit with these items quite snugly. Finally, confidence limits and the method of expressing results are treated briefly but emphatically. The last 128 pages consist of statistical tables and nomograms, probably in a diversity far beyond that required of any chemist.However, i t may well be that reference to this book may save a chemist a great deal of time by the discovery of a relatively obscure function that leads to the solution of a statistical problem. Each of the functions and its tabulated data receives a basic treatment and a simple, lucid guidance to its application is given. Although the contents of Volume 2 can seemingly be dismissed by stating that they consist of tests of significance, analysis of variance and correlation, i t will be appreciated that these are extensive subjects and they receive their just and thorough treatment. The whole book is written exceptionally crisply and with clarity and, although in French, the unilingual English should find little difficulty in following the text.Most statistical words and symbols are common to both languages. It is obvious that the authors had a practising scientist in mind when writing this book as great pains are taken in explaining the processes involved and in assessing the significance of results. Careful description and clear examples assist greatly in these respects. The value of this book is so overwhelming that minor aberrations are easily forgiven and the two volumes are recommended unreservedly as a laboratory purchase. D. A. PANTONY MASS SPECTROMETRY OF NATURAL PRODUCTS. Plenary Lectures presented at the International Mass Spectrometry Symposium on Natural Products, Rehovot, Israel, 28 August-2 September 1977.INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY (ORGANICHEMISTRY DIVISION) IN CON JUNCTION WITH ISRAEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES AND ISRAEL CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Edited by B. SKLARZ. Pp. vi + 96. Oxford, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Paris and Frankfurt: Pergamon Press. 1978. Price $20. This slim volume is a hard-covered, bound reprint with unchanged pagination of the texts of eight lectures originally published in Pure and Applied Chemistry. The lectures, which were presented by internationally known mass spectroscopists who are pre-eminent in their respective fields, survey applications of mass spectrometry in natural product chemistry.September, 1979 BOOK REVIEWS 895 The topics discussed include amino acid sequencing of polypeptides and proteins with special reference to cyclic peptides and to the sweet-tasting protein monellin (K.Biemann), the elucida- tion of the structures of nucleic acid degradation products and the sequencing of oligonucleotides (H. Budzikiewicz), the elucidation of the structures of new sterols of marine origin (C. Djerassi), the assignment of stereochemical configurations by studying unimolecular rearrangements of mole- cular ions (M. M. Green), computer-aided identification and interpretation of mass spectra (F. W. McLafferty), the “profiling” steroids and acids occuring in body fluids and the use of such profiles in clinical diagnosis (G. Spiteller), structural studies on peptides, proteins and glycopeptide antibiotics containing unusual amino acids (D. H. Williams) and the fragmentation mechanisms of ethylene ketals of substituted cycloalkanones (M.Fetizon) . Much of the work described was undertaken by the lecturers in their own laboratories, where they made full use of gas chromatography - mass spectrometry procedures, new ionisation methods and special techniques, such as deuterium labelling and metastable de-focusing. The lectures, which have been supplemented with useful sets of literature references, provide stimulating “state of the art” surveys of their specialised subjects; they should interest all natural product chemists. J. E. PAGE 75 YEARS OF CHROMATOGRAPHY-A HISTORICAL DIALOGUE. Edited by L. S. ETTRE and A. ZLATKIS. Journal of Chromatography Library, Volume 17. Pp. xiv + 502. Amsterdam, Oxford and New York: Elsevier.Distributed by Elsevier North Holland in the USA and Canada. 1979. Price Dfl112. This constitutes Volume 17 in the Journal of Chromatography Library and it is presented in the same elegant format as the other 16. It has been issued as a celebration of what is said to be the 75th anniversary of the invention of chromatography; it has 59 contributors, including the two editors (who also contribute chapters to the book). The contributions are in alphabetical order by contributor and comprise in each instance a short biography of the author or authors of the particular chapter, together with a photograph of each, and then follow autobiographical details covering the career in chromatography of the contributor concerned (the “Historical Dialogue” of the book’s title).The lengths of the chapters (including biography) range from 4 to 14 pages, including any references given. In the final chapter are remembered some of the pioneers no longer with us, with brief bio- graphies of M. S. Tswett (1872-1919), L. S. Palmer (1887-1944), L. Zechmeister (1889-1972), A. W. K. Tiselius (1902-1971), F. H. Pollard (1907-1965), A. I. M. Keulemans (1908-1977) and S. Dal Nogare (1922-1968). The volume is illustrated throughout, for the most part with pictures of early pieces of equip- ment (often gas chromatographs) constructed by or for the author concerned, chromatograms and other documented results, together with photographs of the individuals as delegates to various conferences. Naturally, as would be expected in such an international array, the literary style varies, the countries represented being USA (25), UK ( l o ) , GFR (6), USSR (4), The Netherlands (3), Austria (Z), Italy (2), Sweden (a), Switzerland (2), Czechoslovakia ( l ) , France ( 1 ) and the Republic of South Africa (1).For this reason it would be unfair to single out one contributor for special mention. I t was, however, interesting to see a picture of the title page of the first world patent on a gas chromatograph, and a photograph of M. S. Tswett together with a map showing the location of towns important in his life, but 33 photographs of authors and their colleagues a t conferences, etc., seem too many (particularly if they contribute appreciably to the cost of the book). Gas chromatography is given the lion’s share of attention but gel, affinity, thin-layer, high-per- formance, column and ion-exchange chromatography are not forgotten.There is no index b u t presumably the book is not intended to be a work of practical reference: one would expect it to be purchased mainly by libraries. The reviewer found this book most interesting and entertaining. Suffice to say that most of the names of the authors are very well known in their field. D. SIMPSON896 BOOK REVIEWS Analyst, Vol. 104 ION-SELECTIVE ELECTRODES IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. Edited by HENRY FREISER. Volume 1. Pp. xiv + 439. New York and London: Plenum Press. 1978. Price A26.77. Until this volume appeared, the most important works on ion-selective electrodes could be divided into single-authored monographs (e.g., Koryta, Lakshminarayanaiah and Bailey) and conference proceedings (e.g., Durst, Pungor and Moody).Now we have the first multi-authored, edited volume consisting of six chapters. Buck, in the longest chapter on “Theory and Principles of Membrane Electrodes,” gives a thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion. €’ungor and T6th, who started it all off back in 1966-67, survey “Precipitate-based Ion-selective Electrocles,” and Morf and Simon, equally pioneers, survey “ Ion-selective Electrodes Based on Neutral Carriers.” The incorporation of liquid ion exchangers in poly(viny1 chloride), initiated by Moody and Thomas, is reviewed by them in Chapter 4 and the same authors contribute a comprehensive survey of “Applications” in Chapter 6. Sandwiched between is a short chapter by Durst on “Sources of Error in Ion-selective Electrode E’otentiometry.” The contributors are hence all experts in the field and a second volume is promised, which no doubt will repair the omission of the Editor’s own speciality, “Coated-wire Electrodes.” Inevitably with edited volumes, delays seem to have occurred and the chapters vary in the coverage of the literature of the past 2 years except for the authors’ own work.After the first 10 years, the field of rapid expansion of primary papers has stabilised so this criticism is not a serious one, Some of the material presented is available in similar form elsewhere, but some is new, and it is useful to have it all collected altogether. Standards of production are, as expected, high, but the price is not, in comparison with some camera-ready copy productions of similar length that sell for L S O .This book is therefore strongly recommended, particularly to researchers. A. K. COVINGTON APPLICATIONS OF INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMAS TO EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY. Edited by Philadelphia: The R. M. BARNES 1977 Eastern Analytical Symfioszum. Franklin Institute Press. 1978. Price $18.95. Pp. viii + 188. This book contains the eight invited papers on inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission spectroscopy presented a t the 17th Eastern Analytical Symposium in New York in 1977. The papers are a “Review of Applications,” by Barnes; “Sampling Approaches,” by Browner; “Pre- cision and Accuracy,” by Watters and Norris; “Analysis of Foods,” by J . W. Jones and Boyer; “Geochemical Applications,” by Golightly ; “Particulates in Air,” by Abercrombie, Silvester, Murray and Barringer; “Soil and Plant Tissue Analysis,” by J . B. Jones; and “Trace Metals in Silicon and Aluminium,” by Zamechek, Lewandowski, Parkhurst and Ellgren. The book gives the impression that the papers were intended to educate potential users in what they might expect to achieve by using inductively coupled plasma sources for spectrochemical analysis. A few statements are made that seem to me to be untrue; for example, optimisation should include plasma gas flow as well as carrier gas flow (p. 13) and the Meinhard nebuliser used by us does not block unless solutions with more than 25% solid content are aspirated, provided a high enough gas flow is used (p. 57). Severtheless, there is much reliable information in this book and it should prove useful to the rapidly growing band of those who do not wish to be left behind in the use of these (literally) highly exciting sources. H. McD. MCGEACHIN
ISSN:0003-2654
DOI:10.1039/AN9790400892
出版商:RSC
年代:1979
数据来源: RSC
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