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Books

blies in the form of entire instru­ ments, and cover spectrometric, electrometric, and chromatographic tech­ niques in detail. This book has several strong points. Throughout, the theoretical basis of each technique is presented with a depth and clarity missing in most texts on instrumental methods. Also, the chapters on electronics and optics are well-written and unusually com­ prehensive. They are directed toward the practical user of these tools but are sufficiently rigorous to satisfy the better student. Wherever possible, the author has combined the discus­ sions of several methods to emphasize their similarities. For example, the absorption of electromagnetic radia­ tion by molecules is first discussed in a general way, with later emphasis on experimental differences to be found in each spectral region (ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and microwave). Ex­ cellent references are given at the end of each chapter and in an appendix, and frequent examples are provided within each chapter to illustrate and clarify important points. In general, the questions and problems are thought provoking and challenging, and when answers are supplied, they appear to be correct. The primary shortcoming of the book is its attempted breadth. Even in the area of spectrochemical analy­ sis (clearly the strongest), several topics have been omitted to maintain a manageable length. Thus, X-ray spectrometry and electron spectrome­ try (ESCA, etc.) are not even men­ tioned. More importantly, only a sin­ gle chapter has been devoted to sepa­ rations methods, which form such an important part of modern instrumen­ tal analysis. High-speed liquid chro­ matography, for example, is allotted little more than one paragraph. Other criticisms, less important than the above, could be directed at the occa­ sional inconsistent or improper use of terms (e.g., intensity, fluorometry) and the infrequent but confusing usage of a single symbol for several different quantities. Because of its excellent treatment of optics and the theoretical founda­ tion of spectrometric methods, this text can be strongly recommended for use in graduate and advanced under­ graduate courses in spectrochemical analysis and instrumentation. How­ ever, the book is less suitable for two other curricular applications suggest­ ed by the author. The brief coverage

of chromatography would seriously weaken any undergraduate course in instrumental analysis, unless that material had been covered in an ear­ lier class or could be provided in lec­ ture by the instructor. Also, the exis­ tence of more detailed texts on elec­ tronics and instrumentation and the absence of accompanying laboratory experiments would preclude the adoption of this book for this latter kind of course.

Another Textbook Analytical Chemistry. J. G. Dick, viii + 696 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020. 1973. $13.95

Reviewed by Robert L. Pecsok, De­ partment of Chemistry, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this one is an exception. The cover design—a pair of crossed retorts on a black field—sets the tone for the next 500 pages. In the introductory chapter, the author re­ minds us that the techniques of qual­ itative analysis, such as in hydrogen sulfide separations, provide excellent opportunity to learn much concerning chemical reactions, and he regrets that these procedures are rarely taught or used. After the usual overview of "funda­ mental" concepts in quantitative analysis (solution concentration units, chemical equations, and stoichiometry), we are treated to 50 pages on the treatment of analytical data—an overdose at this point, to say the least. Next come 124 pages on chemical equilibria including rig­ orous derivations and detailed exam­ ples of all types of ionic equilibria. Unfortunately, it is not clear to the reader why it is important for him to struggle through cubic equations in solving for the pH of HA or NaA so­ lutions; or why he should be subject­ ed to a quartic equation to get (H + ) = ν KiC for a solution of H2A. Four pages are used to derive the equation for a simple buffer system. Such love of detail may please the purist, but think of the poor student who thought he was going to learn some­ thing about analysis! The next 220 pages present detailed discussions of titration curves, in­ cluding about six pages on the oxida­ tion of organic compounds and a short chapter on nonaqueous solvents (without mentioning the "leveling" effect). An adequate chapter on gravimetric analysis includes a brief mention of the use of a thermoba­ lance to obtain pyrolysis curves. The chapter on electrochemistry does contain five pages on ion-selec­

442 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 46, NO. 4, APRIL 1974

tive electrodes and discussions of coulometric titrations and polarography which resemble the material in J. J. Lingane, "Electroanalytical Chemis­ try," and L. Meites, "Polarographic Techniques." A fairly standard treat­ ment of visible light absorptiometry is given. The author's devotion to equilibrium calculations is obvious in his rigorous handling of the Craig separation followed almost immedi­ ately by all of three pages on gas-liq­ uid chromatography. The final chap­ ter gives rather brief, cookbook style procedures for a variety of both stan­ dard and few more modern student experiments. A few surprises are to be found. On page 15, the oxidation state of Ο in N a H S 0 4 is given as - 2 , but its oxi­ dation number is said to be —8. On page 86 a Greek a is used to repre­ sent both the proportionality sign and as a symbol for activity, all in the same line without definitions. HC1, HNO3, and HCIO4 are listed as "or­ ganic acids" on page 92, and Na 2 A is called a "dibasic acid salt." The word "desiccator" is misspelled throughout the text. The author's style is scholarly but pedantic. The instructor will find it difficult to teach from, and the stu­ dent will find it dull. It is doubtful that many students will be turned on by the frequent pleas, "It is suggested that an appropriate student project would be the development of such exact and approximate equations." Extensive problem sets are given in each chapter, but many of these in­ volve too much repetitive busy work. To summarize, there is little in this text that could not be found in the texts of 30 years ago. The author has overemphasized the rigorous handling of equilibria without giving a compa­ rable or even an adequate description of careful laboratory manipulative techniques. There is hardly an insight as to how real analyses are performed in a modern laboratory.

New Books Undergraduate Instrumental Analy­ sis. Second edition. James W. Robin­ son, xvii + 379 pages. Marcel Dekker, Inc., 95 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1973. $12.75

The object of this book, written with the nonchemistry major in mind, is to present a survey of recent innovations in analytical chemistry. For example, in the fields of spectros­ copy, an attempt has been made to provide a simple approach to each development. It is not expected that

Books

the student will become an expert after reading this book, but he should become aware of the principle fea­ tures of the methods such as the in­ formation they provide, the difficul­ ties involved in obtaining this infor­ mation, and what information cannot be obtained from these different methods. No discussion of volumetric and gravimetric analysis is presented since the author feels that these subjects are more than adequately treated elsewhere. Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry. J. C. Bailar, Jr., et al., Eds. 6000 pages. Pergamon Press, Inc., Fairview Park, Elmsford, N.Y. 10523. 1973. $386 (five-volume set)

This reference set is designed to "fill the gap between the typical one or two volume inorganic textbooks and the existing multi -volume series which have reviewed the Periodic Table intermittently with upwards of ten volumes, often scattered over as many years." The Analysis of Slags and Related Oxide-Type Materials—Audio Sym­ posium. Special Technical Publica­ tion 542. Publication Code No. 04542000-39. Two cassettes and book­ let. American Society for Testing and Materials, 1916 Race St., Philadel­ phia, Pa. 19103. 1973. $12.75 (For countries other than U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico, add 5% shipping charg­ es)

This 3-hr audio symposium con­ tains discussions on the application of multichannel spectrometers to ele­ mental analysis, current status of X-ray emission analysis, atomic ab­ sorption spectrophotometry, and opti­ cal emission spectrometers as used in the analysis of slags and related ma­ terials. Guide to Modern Methods of Instru­ mental Analysis. T. H. Gouw, Ed. xii + 495 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1972. $19.95

This "Guide" uses theoretical ma­ terial as well as specific methods to describe the most widely used proce­ dures for instrumental analysis. Its aim is to provide the reader with the information necessary "to understand the role of each technique in the solu­ tion of a particular problem, to easily

compare the different techniques, and to integrate two or more techniques for wider applications." The subjects covered are gas, high-resolution liq­ uid, thin-layer, paper, and gel perme­ ation chromatography; visible, ultra­ violet, infrared, Raman, nuclear mag­ netic resonance, and electron spin resonance spectroscopy; mass spec­ trometry; GC/MS; electroanalytical methods; and differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis. The book is intended as an advanced guide, and although not an exhaus­ tive survey, it is comprehensive enough to give the reader the most important information. Analytical Methods Developed for Application to Lunar Sample Analy­ ses. Special Technical Publication 539. Publication Code No. 04539000-38. 156 pages. American So­ ciety for Testing and Materials, 1916 Race St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103. 1973. $1 5 (For countries other than U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico, add 5% shipping charges)

This publication describes the present status of advanced testing methods used in lunar sample analy­ sis. Particular emphasis is placed on the description and evaluation of the various experimental techniques as opposed to lunar science conferences which have emphasized interpreta­ tion of the results.

Continuing Series Annual Reports on Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy: Vol 2. D. P. Hubbard, Ed. χ + 216 pages. Society for Ana­ lytical Chemistry, 9 / 1 0 Savile Row, London, W1X 1AF, England. 1973. $13

References in the text are given to over 1100 papers which appeared in the literature or were presented at conferences, symposia, and meetings in 1972. The references are numbered in approximately chronological order. An attempt was made by the editor to be comprehensive, critical, and constructive. The contents are divid­ ed into two parts: fundamentals and instrumentation (light sources, exci­ tation sources and atomizing systems, optics, detector systems, data pro­ cessing, complete instruments, and ancillary equipment); and methodol­ ogy (general techniques and applica­ tions). Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction: Vol 5. Jacob A. Marinsky and Yizhak Marcus, Eds. xii + 278 pages. Mar­ cel Dekker, Inc., 95 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1973. $19.75

Contained in this volume are dis­ cussions of new inorganic ion ex­ changers, application of ion exchange to element separation and analysis, and pellicular ion-exchange resins in chromatography. Organic Electronic Spectral Data: Vol 9. John P. Phillips, Henry Feuer, and B. S. Thyagarajan, Eds. xiii + 960 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1973.$40

This series is an effort to abstract and publish in formula order all the ultraviolet-visible spectra of organic compounds presented in the journal literature. The total collection, throughout the volumes so far pub­ lished, amounts to nearly 200,000 spectra. The data in this volume were abstracted from 109 journals and gen­ erally had to satisfy the following re­ quirements: the compound had to be pure enough for satisfactory elemen­ tal analysis and for a definite empiri­ cal formula; solvent and phase had to be given (some spectra are men­ tioned, even if the solvent were not given since the solvent was most like­ ly ethanol); and sufficient data to calculate molar absorptivities had to be available. Wavelength values for all maxima, shoulders, and inflec­ tions and the logarithms of the corre­ sponding molar absorptivities are given. Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemical Analysis: Vol 18. Foster Dee Snell and Leslie D. Ettre, Eds. xiv + 545 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1973. $40 ($35 by subscription)

This latest volume proceeds from Si, through Si organic compounds, Ag, soaps, Na, steel, Sr, styrene and its polymers, sugar, S, Ta, tea, and Tl, to thiophene. Methods of Biochemical Analysis: Vol 2 1 . David Glick, Ed. viii + 572 pages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 605 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016. 1973. $22.50

Subjects covered in this volume in­ clude techniques for the characteriza­ tion of tightly bound microsomal en­ zymes, determination of selenium in biological materials, analysis of nu­ cleic acid constituents at the subnanomole level by high-performance ion-exchange chromatography with narrow-bore columns, enzymic deter­ mination of D-glucose and its anomers, radiometric methods of enzyme assay, polarography and voltammetry of nucleosides and nucleotides and their parent bases, and chemical and biological applications of integrated ion-current quantitative mass spectrometric analysis.

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 46, NO. 4 , APRIL 1974 · 445 A