XII trends in analytical chemistw vol. 13, no. 1, 1994

an ideal companion for those who al- ready have CE experience, and wish to progress beyond a superficial under- standing towards a rational approach to the subject. After a chapter on de- tection methods by Olefirowicz and Ewing, a useful chapter on quantita- tive aspects ends the first third of the volume.

The second section has chapters on free solution CE, capillary gel electro- phoresis, micellar electrokinetic capil- lary chromatography, isoelectric fo- cusing, and CE in entangled polymer solutions. The treatments of FSCE and entangled polymers are notable for the quality of their presentation of theory, and those on gels (by Dubrow) and IEF (by Hjerten) contain much by way of useful practical information and protocols. My main concern with this section was the absence of a chap-

ter on capillary isotachophoresis, which would probably have been of more general interest than the account of entangled polymers.

The final third of the book has three chapters on applications. Colbum and Wiktorowicz give beautiful accounts of peptides and proteins, illustrated by well-chosen examples. Figure leg- ends contain sufficient practical detail to enable users to repeat experiments without needing to refer to the source

publicaitons. The final chapter, on small molecule separations, is written by Demarest, Monnot-Chase, Jiu and Weinberger. It contains useful mate- rial on method development and vali- dation, but does not reach the same high standard as the previous chapters in this section.

Being a multi-author volume, the book contains some inconsistencies between chapters that should have

been ironed out with firm editing. For example, certain quantities are given different symbols in different chap- ters; the term HPCE is used in the last chapter whereas everywhere else authors have used the normal abbre- viation CE; one diagram for the Gross- man correlation between peptide mo- bility, charge and size is reproduced in three separate chapters.

However, these are minor criti- cisms, and I would strongly recom-

mend this book for purchase by all

graduate students and researchers in the field.

D.M. GOODALL

Dr. D.M. Goodall is at the Depart- ment of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YOl 5DD, UK.

UV-VIS atlas

UV-V/S Atlas of Organic Com- pounds, 2nd Edition, by H.-H. Perkampus, VCH, Weinheim, 1992, DM 750.00 (Part 1: ii + 336; Patt2: ii + 1189 pages), ISBN: l-56081 - 268-O

Since the appearance of the first edi- tion in 5 loose leaf volumes in 1966, this work has become the point of reference for many UV spectro- scopists. Regrettably the loose leaf format on transparent sheets allowing easy intercomparisons has not been retained in this compact edition on

cost grounds. However, the publica- tion of this new edition produced by photoreduction is most welcome as the original has been out of print for many years.

Unlike most spectral compilations, the data are not presented as absor- bance versus wavelength plots. In- stead the log of the molar absorptivity log (E) is plotted against frequency although the wavelength is shown separately. This format is most suit- able for spectroscopic comparisons being linear in energy and allowing a consistency ofy-axis scaling. Another

difference is that frequently the spec- tra are products of several concentra- tions and/or pathlengths in order to accurately quantify log E. Accurate values at observed maxima are shown on each plot for Vmax (cm-‘), E and Amax (mp). As the production process was photographic, it was not possible to remove some of the idiosyncrasies such as the elongated benzene ring format and the use of mp instead of nm. Additionally, this process has caused scaling differences which means that the original scaling is no longer exact.

Each spectrum is headed with the experimental details such as instru- ment used, purity of the sample, spec- tral resolution etc. as well as the struc- tural formula. This pedigree allows traceability back to the original meas- urement.

The data are supported by compre- hensive formula and alphabetical indi- ces together with correlation tables (R index) based on unsaturation. Volume one contains an historical introduction and an excellent resume of the spec- tral-structure relationships in the ul- traviolet. Some 19 commonly used solvent spectra are included and inor- ganic chemistry is not entirely ne- glected with some commonly met compound’s spectra reported together with a few buffer solutions.

The work is beautifully produced on excellent paper within a slipcase. Naturally the price reflects this quality

and lasting value of its contents as a reference source. One small point which underlines the care in produc- tion is that each volume opens very flat without undue strain on the binding. One might hope that the publishers would consider publishing the original spectraon CD ROM, thereby allowing the overlay of spectra without the ex- pense of transparent sheets.

This book is a must for any organi- sation seriously involved in UV work.

CHRIS BURGESS

Dr. C. Burgess is at the Product Evaluation Centre, S/ax0 Manufac- turing Services, Barnard Castle, Co Durham, DL12 807; UK.