The Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual: A Student's Guide to Techniques

Jams W. Zubrick, John Wiley & Sons. Inc.. Somerset, NJ, 1984. ui + 244 pp. Figs. 16 X 23.5 cm. $11.95 PB.

This book is designed for the one-year, suphomore-level organic laboratory course in schools that me their own experiments. Like the lab manuals of Fessenden' and Marmor,' i t concentrates on the techniques of organic chemistry without emphasizing specific ex- oeriments. The coveraee of the "Survival Manual" is slightly less than that of Fessen. den, and much less than the exhaustive cov- erage of Marmor.

In contrast to the dry, authoritative prose of most laboratory manuals, Juhn Zubrick's style is deliahtfullv irreverent. He has antic. in&d t b e c o m m h misadventures in the &eanie laboratorv and has exolsined how to ~"~ ~ ~

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avoid them. &her than simply giving de- rcriptions of techniques, he explains wh) eacb sequence of operations is necessary. His viewpoint is like that of a senior fraternity brother giving advice to the sophomores. Some instructors may feel that the friendly tone is excessive, but I found the style to be both eniovableand interesthe. Of the current crop o~laboratory manuals,"rhis one is the most entertaining and the easiest to read. Every laboratory instructor should read this book for ideas to use in his own lab lec- tures.

The organization of topics is standah, beginning with safety, notebook, and glass- ware, and proceeding through recrystalliza- tion, extraction, and distillation to the more advanced topics. I t also covers some of the often-neglected topics such as sublimation, dry mlumn chromatography, HPLC, and the proper use of jointware, clamps, and drying agents. The illustrations and diagrams are of excellent aualitv throuehout. An index ao- pears a t the bafk of th i book, allowing fbr convenient retrieval of information.

As with most technique manuals, the stu- dents must read a large portion of the book in the first weeks of the course. To do a reuys- tallization and a melting point requires

reading the fust 60pages. Extraction requires M) more and distiition an additional 40. The large initial reading requirement is justiiied, however, by the amount of background in- formation provided and the additional com- oetence it eives the students. . ~~~ ~~

Altbougk I found the "Survival Manual" delightful to read, I have a major philosoph- ical reservation about its approach. The book is written as if working in the organic labo- ratory is like walking across a river an the backs of crocodiles. As the title suggests, or- ganic lab is something to besuruiued, hoped with one's eves. skin. and GPA intact. The porsihility that'the s;udent might onjoy the work and choose chemistry asa career is nor considered. One gets the impression that the author's interesting style and humor serve to spice up an otherwise dull and uninteresting subject.

The "Survival Manual" would he an ex- cellent supplement to a procedures manual or a set of experiments generated by the in- structor. In addition, the book would be valuable in a come taught by many different graduate students of varying abilities. It would amplify the graduate instructors* lab lectures and ensure that every student bas access to the needed information. The book's tone and anoroach are suited to a service . . course for premedical students, and the cov- erage is appropriate fur this group. For a class of chemistry majors and chemical engineers, however, I prefer a book with more coverage of the principles and a more enthusiastic at- titude toward laboratory organic chemistry as an interesting discipline. Fessenden gives a more oositive outlook in a book of sliehtlv greateriength and depth, while ~armc;; h i wrirlen for the chemistry majom and his book can serve as a reference throughout the stu- dent's undergraduate and graduate study. ' Fessenden, R. J., and Fessenden. J. S., "Organic Laboratory Techniques," Willard Grant. Boston. 1984.

hiarmor. s., "Laboratory Methods in Or- ganic Chemistry," Burgess. Minneapolis, 1981.

Leorv G. Wade. Jr.

Chemistry of the Elements

N. N. Oeenwwd and A. Eamshaw, Pergamon Ress, New York, NY, 1984 xxi + 1542 pp. Flg. and tables. 17 X 25 cm. $34.95 PB.

In perhapa the most significant one-volume inorganic chemistry work since Cotton and Wilkinson's "Advanced Inorganic Chemis- try" which f m t appeared in 1962, Greenwood and Farnshawhave produced a landmark contribution with their "Chemistry of the Elements." Even in the Enzliuh tradition of thoroughness in coverage of descriptive in- organic chemistry, one would have to go back to Partington's teats to find material which is included in this book.

I t is hoped that we are in the beginning of a new wave in descriptive inorganic chemis- try. The authors have organized their mate- rial following the families and the periodic table. Nearly 213 of the 1542 pages are de- voted to the chemistry of the representative elements. There is agood blend of descriptive and structural chemistry. The major reac- tions and major compounds are frequently summarized in product d i r a m a , using ar- rows radiatinr! out from the center of the

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l i i . Much i%omtion on industrial pro- cesses and commercial uses of chemicals is included. The authors obtained much of this information directly from major chemical manufacturers throughout the world.

The first member (and occasionally the second member) of each family is generally treated in a separate chapter. Each chapter is organized around the occurrence of the el- ements, production, atomic and physical properties, chemical properties of the ele- ments, followed by the chemistry of the major classes of compounds. Frequent insertsgiving a chronology of the landmark developments and interesting presentations of industrial processes add to the completeness of cover- age. The many excellent fxures showing structures of key compounds reflect the structural background of the authors.

(Continued on page ~ 1 3 4 )

A e v i e w e d in This issue Reviewer

James W. Zubrick, The Organic Chem Lab Survival Manual: A Student's Guide to Leory G. Wade, Jr. A133 Techniques

N. N. Greenwoodand A. Earnshaw, Chemistry and the Elements Wayne C. Wolsey A133 P. A. H. Wyatt, A Thermodynamic Bypass GOT0 Log K S. 0. Colgate A134 R. Daudel, G. Leroy, D. Peeters, and M. Sana, Quantum Chemistry William C. Herndon A134 J. W. Akin, NMR and Chemistry: An Introduction to the Fourier Transform- Juana V. Acrivos A134

Multinuclear Era F. W. J. McCosh, Boussingault, Chemists and Chemistry George 0. Kauffman A134 William L. Jolly, Modern inorganic Chemistry E. J. Billo A137 C. J. Adkins, Equilibrium Thermodynamics, Third Edition Robert G. Kwser A137 Irwin Talesnick, Idea Bank Collation: A Handbwk for Science Teachers Frank Mikan A140 David A. Pipitone, Safe Storage of Laboratory Chemicals Malcolm M. Renfrew A140 X F. Careke, Making Science Laboratory Equipment Dennis Sievers A140

Volume 62 Number 4 April 1985 A133