book reviews tion to chemistry." The book fulfills its purpose admirably.

S. L. BURSON University of 1Vorlh Carolina

at Charlotle

The Chemistry of the OH Group

Leallyn B. Clapp, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Prentice- Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jer- sey, 1967. vi + 108 pp. Figs. and, tables. 15 X 23 cm. Clothbound, $5.95; paperbound, $2.95.

This book, which is a part of "The Foundations of Modern Chemistry" Se- ries, is planned as a supplementary volume to freshman introductory courses and sophomore coumes in organic chemist,ry. I t is an outgrowth of the observation of the author that organic chemistry is com- monly given a perfunctory and limited treatment in general chemistry and high school textbooks. To the author, who with his pioneering curriculum studies has made a tremendous and important impact on the proper presentation of organic chemistry in the freshman year, this limited presentation is unfair, and even dangerous. He, therefore, feels that in- stead of a limited spread, "the time spent

in this way might better be used to learn the chemistry of one functional group." He proposes t,he OH group with it,s central role in the chemist.ry of most elements, including carbon, other non-metals, and metals.

The book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the hydroxyl group, with particular emphasis on the a,lcleohols. The properties and reactions of water and alcohols are discussed and compared in Chapter 2. I n Chapter 3, there is pre- sented the inflnence of the neighborhood on the properties of the OH group, fol- lowed by a consideration of condensations between molecules containing OH groups in Chapter 4. The author then moves to a discussion and comparison of the nitro- gen system of compounds in Chapter .5, and he closes the book with a third-dimen- sional view of the OH group.

The author uses the chemistry of the OH group to illustrate many broad and im- portant theoretical concepts, including electronegativity, orhital structure, and reaction mechanisms.

The book is well-written and free from errors. I t includes good cross-references, both in footnotes, and a t t,he end of t,he chapters.

While there is not agreement wit,h t,he author's viewpoint that t,his material should replace s n overall presentation of organic chemistry in freshman studies, the completeness of the book and its lucid presentation makes i t a pot,entially valo- able supplement to freshman and sopho-

more colrrses and in the libraries of high srhnol chemistry teachers.

SAMUEL P. MASSTE TJniled Slales Araual Aeadem~, Annapolis, Maryland $1406

Elements of Organic Chemistry

John H. Richards, California. Institute of Technology; Donald J. Cram, Uni- versity of California a t Los Angeles; and George 8. Hammond, California. Institute of Technology. McGraw- Hill Book Co., New York, 1967. xiv + 444 pp. Figs. and tahles. 16.5 X 24 em. 87.95.

I n 1959, wit,h the appearance of Cram and Ilammond's "Organic Chemistry'' ( J . Chem. Edw. 37, 325 (1960)) a bold and sharp departnre from the t,axonomic ap- proach to textbook present,ation of ele- ment,ary organic chemistry to science m e jom took place. Now, nine years later, most texts exploit to some degree Cram and Hammond's organization built around classes of react,ions rather than classes of compounds. Their original work nnder- went a revision in 1964 which, illthough broadening t,he approach to the subject, considerably, st,ill left i t s. most imagina- tive challenge to t,he committed science major.

With the new text Cram and Hammond are joined by John A. Richards in the

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book reviews preparation of a somewhat modified and considerably attenuated version of their "reaction-class" approach to elementary organic chemist,ry.

The particular group of students to whieh this hook is directed is not identified by the authors. They do, however, set, the goal of the text as answering qnes- tions about organic compounds and or- ganic chemists in a way that suggests bhat it was designed wit,h a course for now specialists in mind. The prerequisite of a sound first year chemistry course is made clear in the preface and by the saphistica- tion of the text.

Inasmuch as the text preserves much of the organizational structure of the earlier volumes referred to, i t is not surprising t,o find considerable material extracted from ?he senior author's previous works. Shor- tening of the book is achieved by a thorough weeding of phrases, paragraphs, topics, and chapters from equivalent sec- tions of the earlier books, not by signifi- c m t re-wiling of the residual material. For example, the subject of nueleophilic substitution a t saturated carbon is re- duced from two chapters covering 47 pages to a single chapter covering 1.5 pages. Thst t,he text, still reads well testifies to the innately good writing and educator's sensit,ivitv of the authors. A notable

The quite nice two-color reaction

schemes and drawing8 developed in the longer book are again used and are usually modified to fit the reduced text. I n Figure 7.10, however, the bond angles are wrong and in Figure 7.11 the change in sign of p and r orbitals is left unexplained.

The last third of the book takes on a distinct bioorganie flavor. I t does not particularly build on the rettction classes develo~ed in the earlier sections. I t is

special/st. All chapters m e followed by problems

which are, relative to the unabridged volume, different, simpler, and less nu- merous.

Two other aspects of the format are worthy of note in this review. Each chapter is preceded by s plate and a. short essay on some specialised instrumental technique of organic chemistry; from X- ray crystallography to electrophoresis. They are very well done. Also, there ia in the last third of the book an excellent distribution of photographs and brief biographies of the individudls (many of them living) whose work is discussed.

The disturbing custom of leaving the first page of chapters unnumbered is com- pounded in this volume by leaving plates and plate text unnumbered so that one can go, for example, from page 271 to page 276 without pagenation.

This is s. sound text; one which will present a. serious and modern challenge to the non-major without involving him in unnecessarily extensive mechanistic study. At the same time, i t is a text which just

might serve some majors if i t were coupled with a teacher who preferred to build on a. modern outline while providing his awn supplementary material.

A single typographical error on p. 124 was observed.

QUENTIN R. PETERSEN Simmmzs College

Boston. Mass.

Elements of Diatomic Molecular Spectra

H . Brian Dunford, University of Al- berta. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Mass., 1968. vii + 160 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23 em. 83.95. Paperbound.

By his own statement the author has designed this text for use in the introdnc- tory physical chemistry course. The aim is to enable students to understand and use the stsndsrd reference in this field, Heraberg's "Spectra of Diatomio Molecules." I n this aim the author succeeds admirably. There is ~urprisingly little duplication of material contained in a previously published work of this level, Barrow's "Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy!'

An introductory chapter covers many basic principles and types of apparatus used in spectroscopy. The standard ter- minology employed in connection with spectroscopic instruments and experi- ments is explained, but the term absor-

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