Book Reviews McCuTCHEON'S DETERGENTS AND EMULSIFIERS, 1973 ANNUAL, NORTH AMERICAN EDITION. McCutcheon's Division, Allured Publishing Corp., New Jersey, 1973. 224 pages, in- dexed. Price $10.00. Also, 1973 AN- NUAL, INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 80 pages, indexed. Price $6.00. This year brings a two-volume publication which, as in the previous editions, very thoroughly lists the detergents and emulsifiers available. As in previous editions, classification is by trade name, manufacturer, class and formula, forms available, and recommended use applications. The North American Edition is classified into five sections. A new section includes "experimental sur- factant materials" but unfortunate- ly consists of only two pages with a minimum of informati.on for those products listed. Perhaps this new section will be expanded in future editions with the inclusion of results from irritation and toxicity tests per- formed on these experimental sur- factants. The HLB Index has been expanded t•o include approximately 1150 compounds which range from a low value of 0.5 to a high value o{ 80.0. The product listing section in- cludes such terms as "toxicologically suitable for cosmetic use" (page 51), "non-irritating foam booster" (page 109), "n o n- t o xi c characteristic" (page 129) which are vague and in- complete. A separate heading should be provided for irritancy and toxicity information for those manufacturers who deem it essen- tial in the product description. The International Edition is a mini-version of its older brother and contains two sections, namely (1) Product Listing and (2) Company Index by Country. Hopefully this edition will be expanded in the next edition. For the chemist or formulator who needs a handy reference for de- tergent and emulsifier materials, this book will serve as a ready reference. -A. IANNACONE--New York, N.Y. ALLYL COMPOUNDS AND THEIR POLY- MERS (INCLUDING POLYOLEFINS) by C. E. Schildknecht, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1973. IX + 736 Pages, indexed. Price $29.95. This book by Dr. Schildknecht, consultant and professor at Gettys- burg College, Pa., surveys for the first time the preparation and the properties of allyl compounds and their polymers together with their applications in plastics, fibers, syn- thetic rubber, and adhesives. As is well known, numerous monomeric allyl and related compounds are 517

518 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS found to be useful in flavors, per- fumes, pharmaceuticals, and anti- microbials. Some of the allyl flavor compounds are those of onions and mustard. The author points out that al]yl compounds exhibit an amazing range of pungent odors, flavors, tox- icity, and biological activity. In the 31 chapters of this book, the author covers basically all the major allyl derivative classifications, such as allyl alcohols, esters, ketones, aryl ethers, phenols, amines, phthalates, etc. The book contains little theory and only the most significant refer- ences. The introductory chapters define the allyl compounds and dis- cuss their reactivity in comparison to typical vinyl compounds such as sty- rene, acrylic monomers, vinyl hal- ides, and vinyl esters. It is a book that is recommended for reading by anyone in the cosmet- ic and pharmaceutical industries who deals with flavors and perfumes. Recently, some patents have been issued on the use of some of the allyl polymers in cosmetics. The book is written in a language which is simple to read and comprehend, and will ot•er no problem to either a beginner or expert in the field.- H. Y. SAAD--Avon Products, Inc. CORRECTION The correct title of the book re- viewed on page 109 of the February 1974 issue of this Journal should be Kosmetikum Feinseife, Abriss seiner Technologie, by Dieter Osteroth in Abhandlungen aus den Interessen- gebieten der Kosmetik, edited by Hans Freytag. Dr. Alfred Huthig Verlag GmbH, Heidelberg, 1972. x + 152 pages, illustrated and in- dexed.