almost as an afterthought. Literature references are included at the ends of many of the chapters, and further readings for each chapter are listed in an appendix. Most of these references are sec- ondary sources, such as "Organic Reactions." Although this use of secondary, rather than primary, sources is less likely to develop the students' ability to use the chemical litera- ture. N gives them s more complete perspw tire of nnv topic the) !,light nerd I . , look up. The muir ;rveredrj\rback to u w x this hot k as a text is its inadequate problem sets. There are only about a dozen problems in the book, with complete solutions for about nine. Any ~nstructor who uses this as a textbook should be prepared to add many additional proh- . ~ lems. In summary, this "Guidebook to Organic Svnthesis" is a concise textbook for a first course in the strate:\. nnd reacrknr iiurganw y n t h e ~ i ~ . I t merit* serwur cun.~rleratwn 1)). any in.,truvu,r tea, hiug an advnncrd undtr- graduate or beginning graduate course in organic synthesis. L. G. Wade, Jr. Cobrado State University Fort Collins, C0 80523 Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Third Edition Douglas Applequisi. Charles Depuy, and Kenneth L. Rinehart. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Somerset, NJ, 1982. vi + 384 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 24 cm. $21.95. This is theThird Edition of a text intend- ed as a short introduction to organic chem- istry, with ahout 25-3096 of the discussion on Biochemistry. The previous edition was re- viewed in this Journal (A45,1977) and much of what was said about the second edition applies to the third. The number ofchapten has remained constant, hut the text has ex- panded by 61 pages. The expansion includes an enhanced discussion of atomic structure, integration of IR, NMR, UV-Vis spectro- scopic~ into various chapters on functional group chemistry, and the inclusion of a re- action index. As in the earlier eaition, the streneth of the book derives from the inte- erati& of nroblems found in industrv. med- ,. ~ ~ . - . iclne, and the envmnmmt intu ihr cherniml aiscuswn,. P r e w m t ~ < n uf n . I C I I ~ me. h- anisms are limited. The book should serve those who want an overview of organic chemistry, especially students interested in its biological applica- tions. W. Brinon University of Texas--Dallas Richardson, TX 75080 Organic Chemistry: A Background for t h e Life Sc iences Gardner W. Stacy, KendallIHunt Publlsh- ing Company, Dubuque, IA, 1982. xv + 412 pp. Figs. and tables. 18.5 X 23 cm. The stated purpose of this tent is to pro- vide students of the life sciences andavariety of related fields, such as forestry, medikal technology, pharmacy and range manage- ment with ". . . a firm foundation in organic chemistry. . . ." The author acknowledges ta~led explanations and repetition of previ- that the text contains more material than is I o& introduced concepts. In place of repe- usually covered in a one-quarter or one- semester course and suggests that instructors can select only those topics which best fit their students'needs. Toassist in this selec- tion a rather exhaustive (15 pp.) index is provided. This text uses a more or less conventional functional group approach; however, chapters dealing with the chemistry of carbohydrates and nucleic acids are inserted between the chapter on carbonyl compoundsand that on carboxylic acids. Structures, many quite complex, of molecules which the author considers relevant are found throughout the text. Unfortunately, a few inaccuracies and omissions are made in the commentaries which accompany these examples. For in- stance, in contrast to the author's assertion that ethyl ether is frequently used as an an- esthetic, this is no longer the case, and al- though two pages are devoted to the poly- merization of vinyl chloride, no mention is made of its carcinogenicity. There are a reasonable number of prob- lems, both in the body of the text and a t the end of the chapters; however, based on this reviewer's experience in teaching a one- semester organic course to classes composed primarily of science education and agricul- ture students, many of these problems appear to be too difficult for the average student. Although this text is well written and a p ~ pears to be quite free of typographical errors, the author's writing style is rather terse and can best he described as standard textbook. Although this might be suitable in a book designed for an upper level course, it does not seem appropriate for the audience for which this text is intended. The graphics are not particularly attractive, and although the type is the same size as that used in similar texts, it appears smaller due to the typeface used. Theprincipalprohlem with this text isone that is common to many hooks designed for short courses in organic chemistry. Namely, the author has attempted to include virtually all of the reactions and topics covered in a full year course, plus agreat deal of biochemical material. The result is a condensed text which is very short on detailed explanations. For instance, the concepts of chirality and enan- tiomerism are covered in just over three pages, including historical background, Fischer projections, and properties of enan- tiomers. These topics are not only exceed- ingly important in basic organic chemistry, but also are conceptually difficult for the average student. This brief discussion does not provide an adequate explanation of these concepts in simple terms which the average student can readily comprehend. In this discussion of stereochemistry the outmoded terms optical isomerism and asymmetric carbon are used in preference to approaching this topic in terms of chirality and chiral centers. There are many, many other topics in this text which are not explained in sufficient depth for the student to grasp them, and many which could well have been deleted. There would seem to be little reason to in- clude discussions of chiral allenes, cubanes, lyclooetatetraene, and energy changes in the 'ree radical halogenation of alkanes in a text jf this type. In order to include all the special topics and ,iologically oriented examples, the author has ipparently chosen to sacrifice patient, de- tition, the student is constantly referred to other sections of the hook. Although this approach appears reasonable on the surface, in this reviewer's experience i t is not a sound approach for the average student enrolled in a short course in organic chemistry. A considerable number of adequate to ex- cellent short organic texts are on the market a t this time most ofwhich are approximately the same length as this one and which are designed specifically for the usual one- quarter or one-semester course. These other texts do a uniformly better job of clearly ex- plaining concepts and reactions than does Stacy's. This book simply tries to do too much in too little space. John W. Huffman Clemson University Clemson. SC 29631 Physical Blochemistry, Applications to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Second Edition DavidFreifelder, W. H. Freeman and Com- pany. San Francisco. CA. 1982, xii + 761 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 23.5 cm. $24.95 This is an updated and expanded version of the hook reviewed in this Journal a few years ago by Ivan Kaiser. The second edition is equally deserving of that very favorable review. The organization of the first hook has been maintained down to the titles of the first ~ ~ ~ sevwtren chapters. Howr\er, a chapter on lig;ancl hmdiny has heen added, togiw a u,LII (,I I ? ,.hapters: whde the pl.warv has hren dropped, a loss that can be largely made up through use of the book's thorough index. The second edition of Freifelder's hook retains a major weakness of the first edition: the lack of theoretical and mathematical rigor. But the author has expanded on the book's strengths as a practical guide and in- terpreter for the practicing chemist or the student. With "Physical Biochemistry" in hand, one can find nearly every physical technique mentioned in the biochemical lit- erature and make sense of the reported data! Theauthor has provided the reader with ex- ceptionally clear and concise descriptions of the various techniques, and he provides a wealth of examples paraphrased from the literature and his own laboratory. And in the second edition the number of examples has been increased, as has the number of home- work oroblems. In all. the book has been ex- panded from 533 pages of text and problems to 722 pages. Of course one cannot hope to cover all of biophysxal chemistry in a volume of this size, nor can a single author be expected to have expertise and currency in all the techniques discussed. Still Freifelder is to be strongly commended for the quality of his attempt. The book is divided into six parts: "Direct Observation" (microscopy); "General Labo- ratory Methods" (pH, radioisotope tech- liques, filtration and dialysis); "Separation md Identification of Materials" (Chroma- ;ography electrophoresis and immunological nethods); "Hydrodynamic Methods" ken- xifugation, viscosity and related techniques); (Continued on page A322) Volume GO Number 11 November 1983 A321 "Spectroscopic Methods" (UV-Vis-IR, Raman, Fluorescence, ORDICD, NMR and ESR); and "Miscellaneous Methods" (Ligand binding, light scattering, shearing, H-ex- change, hybridization of nucleic acids, con- centration methods, etc.). For the most part I have found the coverage to be good to ex- cellent. I was disappointed in his coverage of HPLC: it is both inadequate considering the importance of this technique to biochemists and verv dated. However. this seems to be an - excention in this eenerallv fine book. .....=. ~ . - ~ ~~~ ~~~~~ "~ I have heen using ''phy&al Biochemistry" as a supplementary text in my advanced level biochemistry course far the past five years. I t has received un~fwtn praisc frcm my ~ t w dents. They haw fwnd the parts ion Hydnn- d w a m ~ r 3lethods.,nd Spectroa.
Comments
Report "Physical biochemistry, applications to biochemistry and molecular biology, second edition (Freifelder, David)"