BOOK REWEWS 4[}7 INTERPRETED INFRARED SPECTRA. Vol. 2. H.A. Szymanski. Pp. ix d- 304 d- Ill. (1•3). Plenum Publishing, New York. $12.50. Dr. Szymanski continues this long-term course in the education of the tyro organic spectroscopist, who should ultimately be able with confidence to interpret his own ir spectra and make his own identifications. The pattern of volume 1 of the series [reviewed J.l? 434 (1966)] has been maintained: for successively complex functions, characteristic group frequencies are deduced and detailed correlation tables compiled for further prediction. This second volume begins with the remaining hydrocarbon function not treated in volume 1: the alkynes. A full vibrational analysis is presented for eleven specific alkynes (including deuterium replacement) and then there is more general reference to acetylenic hydrogen and the CC triple bond in a large number of ethynyl and propargyl systems. The annotated spectra of 13 alkynes are reproduced. The only error observed (p. 7) is an assignment to aldehydic, rather than acetylenic, CH. That section, however, only accounts for some 8% of the text: the major part is a remarkably full treatment of the aliphatic hydroxyl function: a family which - as the author recognises - seems to have attracted disproportionately less attention from other compilers. In particular little has been published on diol correlation studies. Dr. Szymanski supports his basic vibration analysis with a correlation table of group frequencies which can be used to identify primary, secondary and tertiary aliphatic alcohols, and proceeds to discuss in helpful detail four environmental factors (inductive effect resonance phenomena hydrogen bonding conformation) which influence the group frequencies. There follows the annotated spectra of 247 alcohols, of which 51 are diols and 15 other substances containing more than two hydroxyl functions. In some cases, by virtue of the correlation deduced, Dr. Szymanski is able to extend the diagnosis of the originator of certain spectra to identify the specific isomer examined or detect components of mixed isomers or indicate the presence of congeneric impurities. Another very useful facet of this volume is the provision of a cumulative index, wherein all compounds whose spectra have been interpreted in the two volumes are listed in ascending complexity of molecular (not "empirical" as wrongly cited in the text) formula. In each case the graphic formula is appended, which facilitates scanning the index for explicit structural features. This is similar to the provision made in Formula index to nmr literature data [reviewed J.18 265 (1967)], although in that text the elements C and H are deliberately the last choice in the ascending complexity sequence. Thus we now have two useful volumes comprehensively analysing the ir spectra of hydrocarbons and the aliphatic hydroxyl function one looks forward to seeing a similarly authoritative coverage of the fascinating subject of the variation observed in the ir spectra for different carbonyl environments. G.F. PHILLIPS

498 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS DISCUSSIONS OF THE FARADAY SOCIETY. No. 40 1965: INTERMOLECULAR FORCES. Pp. 291 d- Ill. (1966). Butterworth, London. 80s. The 40th of a series of 'General Discussion' meetings organised by the Faraday Society was held at Bristol University during three days in September 1965 the 276 participants included visitors from 19 other countries. The meeting was built around the manifold studies currently being conducted for the understanding of 'Inter- molecular Forces'. The Society has now published under one cover the Spiers Memorial lecture with which Professor Longuet-Higgins opened the meeting, the 24 contributed papers, the text of the five general discussion sessions, and the synthesis of ideas and prospect in the summary by Professor C. A. Coulson. Broadly speaking the papers fall into four groups. Those dealing with examination of interatomic forces in the gas phase are largely theoretical and require increasingly complex electronic computational assistance a number of papers are concerned particularly with 3- (or even many-) body treatments and these concepts are extended to crystal structure. More complex discussion is needed to cater for the short-range repulsive interactions in the liquid and solid state a few contributors have perhaps sought an interpretation that is too physical for some of their calcula- tions. Useful papers quantify non-polar repulsion in a fluid or at a surface, but much more study is needed on absorption phenomena. The description of non-polar inter- actions in molecular crystals, and other polyatomic systems, are also largely of a repulsive character, depending little upon mutual orientation, but dipole-quadrupole interaction may lead to angular dependence. Of course where a molecule has a perman- ent dipole this may swamp the subtle defects described. Literally the most vital, and requiring the most indulgence in the way of assumptions, are interactions in biological systems. Crude estimations of non-bonding repulsion in peptide helixes lead to predictions of geometrical rigidity for a given amino-acid sequence. Perhaps the most striking feature of these papers is the difference in level of sophistication: some problems appear to require a profound study of forces between (say) gases other (e.g. liquid-solid) interactions are examined from crude approxima- tions and assumptions. The somewhat specialised interaction of the hydrogen-bond in organic systems was deliberately excluded from this General Discussion no doubt a special meeting could be set aside - the Faraday Society last held one on this topic in 1940. This collection of papers is so broad ranging, and in many instances so specialised, that the book is unlikely to commend itself for general reading. Its value lies as a reference source to a broad spectrum of current thinking in the analytical treatment of the nature and magnitude of forces between molecules in many different physical states. This extension of physical chemistry was aptly summarised by Professor Coulson when he defined the discussion as a synthesis of theoretical physics and exDerirnental chemistry. G.F. PHILLIPS