Vibrational Spectroscopy, 1 (1990) 101-108 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam

BOOKREVIEWS

101

Robert White, Chromatography/Fourier Trans- form Infrared and its Applications (Practical Spec- troscopy Series, Vol. lo), Marcel Dekker, New York, 1990 (ISBN 0-8247-8191-O). 321 pp. Price US $ 99.75 (U.S.A. and Canada), US $ 119.50 (all other countries).

The stated objective of this book is to serve as an up-to-date reference source for all aspects of the integration of all chromatographic methods with FT-IR. It is also intended as an introduction to the practical theory, techniques, and applica- tions of chromatography and FT-IR. This latest volume in the very useful Practical Spectroscopy series succeeds on both counts and should be valuable to all practitioners of chromatography- FT-IR.

The book contains six chapters. Material of importance to all chromatography-FT-IR meth- ods is covered first to establish a common per- spective. An introduction to chromatography is followed by an introduction to FT-IR principles and instrumentation. Throughout the text, the author provides appropriate depth for a book of this type, while referring the reader to more authoritative sources for technical details. Three parameters are introduced in the opening chapter that are used throughout the book to evaluate each chromatography-FT-IR interface. These parameters are chromatographic resolution de- gradation, enrichment factor (the degree by which the interface concentrates the analyte), and yield (the percentage of separated analyte that is actu- ally detected). While I found these parameters useful and seemingly accurate, it is not always clear whether the quantities used in their calcula- tion were explicitly derived or estimated.

The gas chromatography (GC)-FT-IR, liquid chromatography (LC)-FT-IR and thin-layer chro- matography (TLC)-FT-IR techniques are each devoted one chapter. Aspects of GC-FR-IR are covered very nicely. The light pipe, matrix isola- tion, and subambient trapping (with microscope

analysis) interfaces are thoroughly discussed. Im- portant considerations for the design of each in- terface are addressed. The author also discusses integrated GC-FT-IR-MS, with a good illustra- tion of the increase in ones ability to elucidate precise structures through the joint use of these complementary techniques.

For both LC-FT-IR and supercritical-fluid chromatography (SFC)-FT-IR (which are grouped in the same chapter), various types of flow cell interfaces are extensively discussed. For mobile phase elimination LC-FT-IR interfaces, the author discusses the diffuse reflectance (DR) in- terface that employs a series of KBr-filled cups, the buffer-memory-type transmission and reflec- tion interfaces, and the interface in which water is removed via chemical reaction, employing DR analysis. For SFC-FT-IR, the mobile phase elimination interfaces discussed are the buffer- memory type and the deposition type, designed by Griffiths and co-workers, that employs infrared microscope analysis of eluents deposited by re- strictor on a moving substrate. Unfortunately, one of the most promising mobile phase elimination interfaces reported for LC-FT-IR -de Haseth and co-worker’s monodisperse aerosol generator interface for combining LC with FT-IR {MAGIC- LC-FT-IR [Appl. Spectrosc., 42 (1988) 13651) - is not mentioned. Furthermore, it is not pointed out that the microscope-based interface by Grif- fiths and co-workers, analogous to the ones that are discussed for SFC-FT-IR and GC-FT-IR, is also applicable to LC-FT-IR [Mikrochim. Acta (Wien), 3 (1987) 471.

TLC-FT-IR is covered thoroughly. Photo- acoustic and DR analyses of eluents directly from standard TLC stationary phases (which are highly IR-absorbing, and often severely distort eluent spectra) are covered in detail. The interface that transfers eluents, in an automated fashion, from standard stationary phases to an IR-transparent substrate for subsequent DR analysis is also de- scribed.

102 VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY

A chapter entitled Structure Elucidation Meth- ods covers library searching, pattern recognition

and expert systems. In this area the author pro- vides comparatively exhaustive detail on some topics, while topics of equal importance and con- ceptual difficulty are only slightly covered. For example, six pages are devoted to a spectral com- pression technique that involves the determination (and subsequent digital storage) of peak parame- ters derived from curve fitting. The fact that spec- tra can be regenerated from these concise parame- ters is emphasized. On the other hand, the use of interferograms is given rather brief coverage, and only as a format for searching. No mention is made of the ability to compress data or regenerate spectra, using this technique.

The book concludes with a chapter devoted to applications of chromatography-FT-IR. The author does an excellent job of presenting repre- sentative work in ‘many important fields, including environmental, pharmaceutical and industrial.

Overall, the book is well written and contains a great deal of useful information, with only a few errors and omissions. I recommend the book for both current and future users of chromatography- FT-IR.

T.W. Collette

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Athens, GA, U.S.A.

L. Colombo, Z. Meic and K. Furic (Eds.), State of the Art in Vibrational Spectroscopy, Croatian Chemical Society, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, 1988. 761

PP.

This book presents a compendium of 33 contri- butions on the general subject of vibrational spec- troscopy. These contributions were first published as a special issue of Croatica Chemica Acta [CCACAA, 61 (1988)], and are preceded in the book by a brief and illustrative historical introduc- tion to infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy from 1800 onwards by J.R. Durig. Most of the authors are well known specialists in this field, working for universities, public research institu- tions or industry, and their papers cover a wide span of applications of vibrational spectroscopy, ranging from a very theoretical discussion on sym-

metry properties of pentagonal point groups (Brandmtiller and Claus), to an exciting experi- mental in situ obtention of resonance Raman

spectra of special polymer coated gold electrodes (Virdee and Hester).

There are so many outstanding contributions to this volume that it would be impossible to refer to all of them here; we shall content ourselves with mentioning a few examples, chosen by personal taste, without implying any demerit on the rest. Huong, Grenier and Bezdicka present a clear ex- planation of discrepancies found in the Raman

spectra taken by different authors on a highly interesting type of sample: YBaCuO supercon- ducting materials. There are two consecutive in- structive papers from the University of Aberdeen: in the first one, McKean relates physical proper- ties of the CH bond (bond length, bond angle, dissociation energy and “local mode” frequency) to the observed position of the vCH stretch fundamentals in the IR spectra; in the second, Duncan reveals the strong influence of weights of centrifugal distortion data upon refined off-diago- nal force constants. Kiefer presents a very elegant review of Raman spectroscopy of particles in the Mie-size range, including examples of spectra of particles of up to ca. 27 pm diameter, which are held levitating by means of a laser light trap. S&rotter, Berger, Boquillon, Lavorel and Millot review non-linear Raman techniques and their ap- plicability to high-resolution spectroscopy of gases.

Spectroscopy of biological molecules has also its place in this book, in a general review by Bertoluzza, Fagnano, Fini and Morelli, and an interesting contribution by Schneider, Baumann, Khiter and Gege on resonance-enhanced CARS spectra of biliproteins. Righini, Angeloni, Castel- lucci, Foggi, Califano and Dows study decay times of internal vibrations of molecular-ionic crystals of time-resolved picosecond CARS spectroscopy. Mink and Keresztury discuss the application of FT infrared emission spectroscopy to support materials for metal catalysts. The book ends with an illustrative review by J.G. Grasselli on the wide possibilities of application of Fourier transform infrared, Raman and combined techniques in the industry field, which are both already used and envisaged for the oncoming future.