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Book reviews The Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual; Fifth Edition James W. Zubrick John Wiley & Sons 2001 xvii 294 pp. price £24.95 ISBN 0-471-38732-0 For those who have never encountered this enjoyable and extremely useful book the somewhat truncated style of the title should give a strong hint that the author’s style of writing is aimed at the kind of audience who would regard people such as me as stu.y pedants. It is true the writing style might not please certain purists but James Zubrick clearly believes – in my opinion quite correctly – that holding the reader’s attention and getting the message across is the important thing and in this new edition has retained the grammatical style which singles this book out from other experimental texts.Not unreasonably for a .fth edition the author readily admits that little new material has been added but claims that all sections have been thoroughly reviewed with outmoded material having been removed. The section on information retrieval has however been completely rewritten with examples of formats of important reference texts being reproduced. The section on web-based data retrieval rightly makes no attempt to tie down this highly transient and mercurial medium but simply directs the reader to the author’s Web site which he plans to update regularly. Even more courageously he gives his Email address for anyone to contact him with queries or comments. Someone should check his o.ce occasionally lest he be lost under an avalanche of E-mails! There is no mention of database searching however and as one would hope that those such as CAS-Online and Beilstein Cross.re will have more than a .eeting existence perhaps there could have been some mention of these in the text.On the presentational side the diagrams taken from the older editions sit somewhat uneasily alongside their more modern additions making for a slightly dated and hotch-potch feel to the book which was .rst produced in the days when the public was perhaps less demanding of consistency of style. Apart from those relatively trivial carpings all that should be in a laboratory guide is there with no glaring omissions. Starting with a starkly worded safety section writing-up and data retrieval are covered before considering glassware and its handling with both standard scale and microscale equipment being covered.There follows a string of chapters discussing the whole range of techniques such as use of drying agents handling products obtaining melting points recrystallisation extraction distillation and various chromatographic procedures (although not ‘dry .ash’ chromatography) with their microscale counterparts where appropriate. Finally there is coverage of experimental aspects of infra-red and NMR spectroscopy with .nal chapters on the theories of distillation and extraction being included almost as appendices. Those techniques involving heavy use of instrumentation concentrate on sample preparation in the sure knowledge that no worker is going to be let loose on an expensive machine without extensive specialised training – or that anyone bloody-minded enough to do so certainly wouldn’t read this book .rst.The text is geared very strongly to the US sophomore student but with a little lateral thinking the instructions make sound sense whatever the nationality of the reader. If the style is lighthearted and even jokey at times the messages are succinct and DOI 10.1039/b101089l This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001 Supramolecular Chemistry Jonathan W. Steed and Jerry L. Atwood John Wiley & Sons 2000 xxi 745 pp. price £29.95 ISBN 0-471-98791-3 (pbk) price £70.00 ISBN 0-471-98831-6 (hdbk) Supramolecular chemistry is still a young area born (arguably) in the late 1960’s with the work of Pederson and Lehn on crown ethers and cryptands and .rst de.ned (by Lehn) in 1978.Although its boundaries are somewhat uncertain it has established itself as a major and distinct rsearch area and is now beginning to take its place in teaching syllabi. The steady output of research monographs has been supplemented by overviews suitable for postgraduate courses and more recently by books accessible to undergraduates. The .rst such textbook was the brief Oxford Chemistry Primer ‘Supramolecular Chemistry’ by P. D. Beer P. A. Gale and K. D. Smith. Steed and Atwood have now produced a larger work providing more comprehensive coverage but also intended for undergraduate use. In any general discussion of supramolecular chemistry it is always interesting to see how the area is de.ned.In this case the authors begin with Lehn’s original formulation ‘the chemistry of molecular assemblies and of the intermolecular bond’ but point out that this now seems overly restrictive. Many researchers who think of themselves as supramolecular chemists are not directly concerned with non-covalent bonds. Sensibly Steed and Atwood do not pursue the question further accepting that the .eld is still maturing and that a broad but imprecise de.nition is most appropriate at the present time. The introductory chapter continues with a brief history an introduction to concepts such as cavitands vs. clathrates Fischer’s ‘lock and key’ vision of molecular recognition the chelate and macrocyclic e.ects preorganisation thermodynamic and kinetic selectivity the various non-covalent attractions exploited by supramolecular chemists and the strategies underlying supramolecular host design.Chapter 2 is entitled ‘The Supramolecular Chemistry of Life’ and starts with the words ‘Much of the inspiration and J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 2001 565–567 PERKIN 1 sometimes hard-hitting. In the safety section the reader is asked ‘How about a chemical burn to accompany your belly button or an oddly shaped scar on your arm in lieu of a tattoo?’; although the severity evaporates three lines later with the statement ‘Nor are dresses appropriate for lab guys.’ Throughout there is good use of highlighted snappy messages such as ‘Remember .rst the stirring then the vacuum then the heat – or WOOSH! Got it?’ to reinforce important points.A particular feature of the whole book is that we are not only told how to carry out procedures but are given the author’s personal assessment of their e.cacy or otherwise (‘Why I don’t really know how vacuum tight these seals are’ ‘When do air bubbles become sample vapor bubbles? Good question and one that still bothers me most.’ ‘Yep. Sure. I believe I believe. . . .’ In summary this little book is one which newcomers to teaching laboratories will .nd useful as everything they are likely to ever need to know about laboratory technique is dealt with. There you go James Zubrick; a split in.nitive and a preposition at the end of a sentence. I hope you approve! L. Harwood University of Reading UK 565 origins of supramolecular chemistry comes from the chemistry found in living biological systems’.Although the authors are quite right to emphasise this point this must have been a di.cult chapter to write; almost all biological chemistry is ‘supramolecular’ and it is di.cult to know which parts to highlight. Perhaps this is why the authors seem to lose their sense of balance somewhat and reveal an inorganic bias. For the most part the chapter seems to be a summary of bioinorganic chemistry with rather little coverage of other aspects. There then follow chapters on cation-binding hosts binding of anions binding of neutral molecules crystal engineering templates and self-assembly molecular devices biological mimics and ‘liquid interfaces’ (bilayers micelles etc.) liquid crystals and liquid clathrates.Throughout the book is well-written and well-produced and is usefully furnished with references (including special ‘keynote’ articles) and study problems. The illustrations are generally good although it is unfortunate that colour could not be used especially in the plentiful X-ray crystal structures and that nitro groups are drawn with 5-valent nitrogens. The main criticism that will be levelled at this book will I suspect concern the choice of content. Supramolecular chemistry is a broad church inhabited by chemists with very di.erent backgrounds. It would be di.cult to write a perfectly balanced account and even if one succeeded there would be complaints from some quarters.In this case the coverage is fairly even and there are probably no major omissions. However one feels that mainstream ‘organic supramolecular’ chemists may be slightly disappointed with the balance while their solid-state and inorganic colleagues will be happier. In conclusion this book should prove a very useful contribution to the teaching literature of supramolecular chemistry. It should certainly be bought by every library and could well be used as a standard text for courses in this area. Anthony Davis University of Bristol UK Solid-Phase Synthesis and Combinatorial Technologies Pierfausto Seneci Wiley-Interscience New York xii 637 pp. price £70.95 ISBN 0-471-33195-3 Solid-Phase Synthesis and Combinatorial Technologies by Pierfausto Seneci is a substantial book (over 600 pages) that provides a comprehensive coverage of the now very broadranging area of combinatorial science.The main group of readers targeted by the author are chemistry students studying at the advanced undergraduate and postgraduate level and it is suggested that the .rst .ve chapters should provide the basic material for a course on solid-phase synthesis and combinatorial chemistry. The book is also intended for experienced practitioners in the .eld and experienced chemists who have little prior knowledge of the area. For this group of readers more specialised topics are included with extensive relevant literature references. The book contains eleven chapters beginning with three chapters on solid-phase organic synthesis basic principles oligomeric molecules and small organic molecules.The basic principles of solid-phase synthesis are introduced in an informative way and should be very useful to researchers possessing a limited experience of this technique. Fundamental issues such as the choice of support and linker reaction monitoring estimation of yield and purity determination are reviewed. The next two chapters discuss the solid-phase synthesis of oligomeric molecules and small organic molecules respectively. Surprisingly the section on peptide synthesis is rather brief and lacking detail when compared to a more extensive coverage of oligonucleotide and oligosaccharide synthesis on the solid-phase. For the more experienced reader the balance 566 J.Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 2001 565–567 may be appropriate but for a text to accompany a course on solid-phase synthesis it is less satisfactory. The sequence of events through which a solid-phase synthesis may be developed from analogous chemistry in solution is covered in the context of small molecule synthesis with a number of detailed examples. Combinatorial strategies are the subject of the fourth chapter beginning with a glossary of terms used in the book. Throughout I found that the use of some of the terms de.ned in this section did not help the reader or aid clarity not to mention that some were misleading. For example the author de.nes a materials science library as a library made from inorganic compounds.The rest of this chapter provides an overview of topics that are covered in more depth later in the book and a section viewing combinatorial chemistry from an historical perspective. Chapters .ve to eight discuss the design and choice of di.erent library formats including libraries composed of individual compounds and mixtures of compounds. Issues such as the purpose for the library library size mix and split techniques selection of monomers use of computational tools automation tagging puri.cation and characterisation are all covered in detail. Chapter eight deals speci.cally with solution-phase libraries and to a lesser extent the use of soluble supports. The pros and cons of solid-phase and solution-phase strategies are discussed in relation to library design.Useful sections on puri.- cation and the use of supported reagents and scavengers are worthy of note but could perhaps have been expanded further. The .nal three chapters cover applications of synthetic libraries biosynthetic libraries and materials and plymeric combinatorial libraries. Applications of synthetic combinatorial libraries in pharmaceutical and agrochemical research reaction optimisation catalysis and molecular recognition are reviewed in chapter nine. The latter two sub-topics are revisited in the .nal chapter as heterogeneous inorganic catalysts and molecular sensor technology under the materials science banner and this chapter will certainly be of interest to a wider audience of readers illustrating the growing signi.cance of combinatorial technology.In summary the book largely succeeds in its objective to provide the basic material for an advanced course on combinatorial chemistry with plenty of worked examples and an extensive bibliography (over 1700 references). In addition topics of interest to readers more experienced in combinatorial chemistry are covered and the book represents an excellent reference source. However I was disappointed by the general quality of presentation of .gures and schemes the ambiguity of certain diagrams and the numerous errors throughout the book. The organisation of the book could have been improved with better subdivision of topics and organisation within chapters. Bearing these points in mind and the price of £60 I would not recommend the book as a course text for students although it will provide a useful addition to institutional libraries and personal libraries of those active in the area.Richard C. D. Brown University of Southampton UK Specialist Periodical Report Carbohydrate Chemistry Monosaccharides Disaccharides and Speci.c Oligosaccharides Volume 31 Senior Reporter R. J. Ferrier RSC Cambridge UK 2000 xx 418 pp. price £169.50 ISBN 0-85404-223-7 In recent years there has been accelerating recognition of the scienti.c value of research in carbohydrate chemistry; in the area of oligosaccharides the number notably of synthetic papers has doubled in the seven years to 1997. In overview the imperatives of glycobiology drive the research activity in all aspects of carbohydrate chemistry.Good then to have a dedicated group of reviewers in these Specialist Periodical Reports (SPR) who document year by year what is topical and important in carbohydrates. This volume documents the 31st such endeavour and it encompasses the year 1997. Thirty-one volumes in a series are no mean achievement. It is remarkable to re.ect on the number of senior reporters and contributors who have had to meet publication deadlines and meet them together. This latest volume will have been no exception. The senior reporter is the distinguished R. J. Ferrier who with an able team of six has produced a bumper book of reports on recent papers in carbohydrate chemistry. Four of the contributors (R. Blattner K.Clinch R. H. Furneaux and P. C. Tyler) share the same address with the senior reporter (Industrial Research Ltd Lower Hutt New Zealand) (which must help in meeting deadlines). The two remaining contributors are J. M. Gardner (UMIST) and R. H. Whiteman (Heriot Watt). There are 24 chapters in this SPR (including ‘Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure Non-carbohydrates’). Around 2000 references are listed for a text of 384 pages. Another bald statistic is that the book costs £169.50; this represents good scienti.c value for money. A wealth of diverse and valuable carbohydrate chemistry appears within the covers of this book. The material is necessarily densely packed and in such an annual review there is little room for the long view about particular synthetic methods.We consider that this is a book for specialists and not noviciates in sugar chemistry. General reviews for the period that is covered are generously listed. They serve for both types of enquirer. It is the leads and general ideas that are to be found in this SPR that matter. For speci.c synthesis one would use Chemical Abstracts or Beilstein. The synthesis of carbohydrates dominates the SPR. There is though reference to appropriate biological properties and naturally occurring sugars appear as a result of deliberate and acceptable cherry picking. We would have welcomed the speci.c coverage of applications of physical methods and the appropriate detailing of mechanisms from time to time. This SPR is supported by an author index but (quite understandably) there is no subject or compound index.The extensive contents listing serves to guide the reader to the appropriate section of interest and this guidance is e.ective. Sixteen years ago four sibling SPR’s were amalgamated to form Natural Product Reports (NPR) as an RSC review journal. NPR has developed into the coverage of all aspects of current advances in bioorganic chemistry whilst maintaining its core commitment derived from the original SPR titles to cover serially advances in e.g. alkaloids and biosynthesis. The carbohydrate SPR has however maintained its independence and viability carving out a .nancially secure niche in the scienti.c book market. This is an SPR that is an ongoing success. An inherent and signi.cant problem with books as against journals is the period of gestation. This carbohydrate SPR covers 1997 and it has been published three years later. However long may this valuable SPR title continue to ful.l the timely needs of all of us interested in that burgeoning topic called carbohydrates. Anton Rajakarier and Richard Herbert University of Leeds UK 567 J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 2001 565–567

ISSN:1472-7781    

DOI:10.1039/b101089l

出版商:RSC    

年代:2001

数据来源: RSC