plexes with C, symmetry, offers an interesting detailed in- sight into the development work needed to achieve spectacu- lar successes of this kind.

The last contribution in the book describes the structures of zeolites and ways of modifying them for specific purposes, then indicates how they can be used for organic syntheses; up to now these have been used mainly on an industrial scale for producing basic chemicals.

Altogether the book is a very useful guide to the subject of catalysts in organic synthesis, which has a promising future; in particular it offers beginners a straightforward introduc- tion to this field. All the articles are competently written and thorough, and are therefore likely to be frequently cited. It would be difficult at present to find other reviews presenting the current state of knowledge in such a concentrated form. One can only hope that the price, which has increased further to DM 78.00-too much for a paperback in my view-will not prevent this interesting book from reaching a wide read- ership that will include students.

Hans4 Altenbach [NB 1051 IE] Institut fur Organische Chemie

der Universitat-Gesamthochschule Paderborn (FRG)

Nucleotide Analogues as Antiviral Agents. (ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 401). Edited by J. C. Martin. American Chem- ical Society, Washington, DC (USA) 1989. viii, 190 pp., hard cover, $53.95.--ISBN 0-8412-1659-2

This book is a collection of papers presented at a sympo- sium held on the occasion of the 196th meeting of the Amer- ican Chemical Society in September 1988. As the editor notes in his introduction, efforts to develop antiviral nucleoside and nucleotide analogues as an answer to the AIDS epidemic have been greatly increased in the last few years. The major- ity of the nucleoside analogues used up to now, of which 3‘-azidothymidine and 9-(hydroxyethoxymethy1)guanine (Acyclovir) are the two most important, are effective in the form of 5’-triphosphates. The phosphorylation proceeds via three steps, one of which is often a bottleneck-for example, in the case of azidothymidine this is the phosphorylation of the 5‘-monophosphate to the diphosphate. Thus it already became apparent some time ago that, instead of nucleoside analogues, one might try to introduce nucleotide analogues with potential antiviral activity into the cells. Since one of the obstacles to the uptake of nucleotides is that they can be broken down by enzymes in the plasma membrane, phos- phate analogues that cannot be broken down in this way seem to offer especially good chances for successful uptake. Consequently several chapters of the book are mainly con- cerned with results obtained using the stable phosphonate derivatives. In addition, however, there are separate chap- ters dealing with other derivatives, e.g. with nucleoside-5’- amines and -acetamides (Chapter 7), nucleoside-5’-sulfa- mates (Chapter 9), nucleotide dimers (Chapter 11) and oligonucleotides (Chapter 12).

As the book is a collection of articles by different authors, the quality of the contributions varies. For example, some contain unnecessarily extensive tables (pp. 10, 57,60,61 and 67) which make it difficult for the reader to distinguish essen- tials from non-essentials. Also very often the absence of com- pound names under their structural formulas-where these are given-is confusing, as it makes it difficult to quickly relate them to the text. The book is evidently intended for experts, for whom the meanings of the many abbreviations are obvious, and who will know, for example, that DHPG,

which incidentally does not appear in the index, is identical to Ganciclovir. As is often the case in symposium proceed- ings, every article stands alone and no account is taken of other articles with which there is an overlap of subject matter or an amplification of a topic, as, for example, in contri- butions 4 and 5 which deal with the compounds 9-(2-phos- phony1methoxy)ethyladenine (PMEA) and 9-(2-phospho- ny1methoxy)ethylguanine (PMEG). No doubt in order to produce this symposium volume as cheaply as possible, the text is very closely printed throughout, and this has not ex- actly made the book user-friendly. Also it seems a little strange that in the index entries referring to azidothymidine are found not only under this abbreviated name but also under “3‘-azido-2’,3’-dideoxythymidine”.

In addition to the more general discussions the book con- tains a few items of information which I found especially interesting, not least because they could provide a stimulus for future experiments. For example, it is remarked on pages 80 and 85 that phosphonate derivatives often show higher in vivo than in vitro activity. Unfortunately no further commen- tary on this is given. Another interesting result reported but not explained further is that some phosphonate alkyl esters also show antiviral activity (p. 32).

This book is the first of its kind on antiviral nucleotide analogues. Although none of the compounds discussed here has yet been cleared for clinical use, it becomes evident from reading the book that this is a class of compounds with great potential, and that further systematic research on these is justified. Despite the shortcomings mentioned, the book pro- vides a good basis of material for the specialist.

Fritz Eckstein [NB 1053 IE] Max-Planck-Institut fur Experimentelle Medizin,

Gottingen (FRG)

Nitration. Methods and Mechanisms (Organic Nitro Chemis- try Series). By G. A. Olah, R. Malhotra, and S. C. Narang. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, Weinheim, VCH Publishers, New York 1989. xii, 330 pp., hard cover, DM 145.00.- ISBN 3-527-26698-410439573-144-4

The third volume to appear in the Organic Nitro Chemis- try Series, this book deals exclusively with aspects of nitra- tion in organic chemistry. In keeping with the preceding two volumes (Nitrazoles and Nitrile Oxides, Nitrones and Ni- tronates in Organic Synthesis), it provides a broad survey of the subject, encompassing in four chapters many of the methods and mechanisms for the nitration of aromatic and aliphatic compounds.

After a brief introduction in Chapter 1 (8 pages, 21 litera- ture citations), the authors go on in Chapter 2 (108 pages, 264 literature citations) to describe preparative methods for aromatic nitration. Numerous examples of the great many reagents used for nitrating arenes appear mainly in tabular form, accompanied in the text by the corresponding meth- ods.

The authors have devoted a great deal of space in one section of Chapter 2 to nitration with nitronium ions; unfor- tunately, the examples in this section are not as complete as those from the section on nitration with nitric-sulfuric acid (isomer-distribution data). Although this format does not allow for comparison of aromatic nitration methods by way of example, it gives the reader a good, comprehensive overview. Some neglect is also apparent in the cursory treat- ment of homolytic (i.e., free-radical) and, more importantly, nucleophilic nitration, considering the significance of these

820 0 VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. 0-6940 Weinheim, 1990 0570-083319OjO707-0820 8 03.50+ .2510 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 29 (1990) No. 7