GoldÐProgress in Chemistry, Biochemistry andTechnologyH. Schmidbaur (ed.)JohnWiley & Sons,Chichester,1999908pages.£250ISBN 0-471-97369-6

This book is a collection of 21 specialist chaptersdescribing recent progressin gold technology (ninechapters),biochemistry(one) and chemistry (11). Forvariousreasons,metallurgicalaspects,theoreticalchem-istry, and physics and solid-state chemistry wereexcluded.It is a pity that a chapteron the influenceofrelativistic effectson gold chemistrywasnot available.

Becauseof my own interests,I turnedto Chapter10first, ‘The biochemistryof gold’ by Shaw.This providesan excellentoverviewof recentadvances,including therole of gold–protein complexes, generation of[Au(CN)2]

ÿ (a potentially active metabolite of goldantiarthritic drugs)and gold(III) (perhapsthe causeoftoxic side reactions)in vivo. Shaw points to possiblefuture developmentsconcerning gold anticancerandanti-HIV agents.Clearly there is still much importantmechanisticgold biochemistryto bedone.

In Chapter11, Strahle reviewsgold(I) and gold(III)compoundswith bondsto nitrogen.This is an informa-tive andreadablechapter.Themysteriesof thechemistryof thehighly explosiveyellow solid formedby additionof ammonia to HAuCl4 or gold(III) oxide (so-called‘fulminating gold’) still remain. The structuresandproperties of N-centred gold clusters such as[(Ph3PAu)5N]2� (stabilizedby aurophilicAu–Au bond-ing, andelegantlystudiedby theeditorof this book)arediscussed.

One of the editor’s two chaptersis on organogoldchemistry(Chapter18).This is anexcellentcomprehen-sivesurveyof nearly100pageswith 489references,andcoversgold(I) complexes[RAuL], thosewith two Au–Cbonds,gold(I), gold(II) and gold(III) complexeswithylide ligands,gold(III) complexeswith 1–4Au–Cbonds,homo-andhetero-metallicAu clusters,andthesynthesisandpropertiesof alkyne–goldcomplexes.This areahasdevelopedrapidly in recentyearsand the presenceofshort Au–Au contacts in organogold(I) complexesiscommon. Oxidative addition to dinuclear bis(ylide)complexes gives rise to unusual bicyclic gold(II)compoundscontaining a discretetransannularAu–Aubond. Auration of aromatic rings to give monoarylgold(III) speciescan be readily achieved.As notedbyPuddephattin Chapter9 (‘Gold metalandgold alloys inelectronics and thin film technology’), organogoldcomplexesareattractiveprecursorsfor chemicalvapourdeposition (CVD) of gold, often alkyl–, vinyl– oralkynyl–gold(I) complexes[R–Au–L], but alsoorgano-gold(III) such as [Me3Au(PMe3)]. He also describesbriefly the important area of self-assembled,orientedmonolayersof alkylthiolsoncleanmetallicgoldsurfaces

with potential applications in microfabrication andmicroelectronics.

A fascinatingpropertyof manycompoundswith Au–Au interactionsof lessthan3.6A is their luminescence.In Chapter 21 (spectroscopicmethods), Bowmakerdiscusseswhether the likely absorption transition isligand-to-metal charge transfer or a metal-centred5d→6p transition.The phenomenonof ‘solvolumines-cence’ is fascinating:colourlesscrystalsof the cyclictrigold complex [Au3(CH3OC=NCH3)3], previouslyirradiatedwith ultraviolet light, emit bright flashesofyellow light on contactwith chloroformor acetone(thework of Balch and co-workers).Bowmakerpoints outthattheonly 197Au NMR signalsobservedto dateareforthe metal and its alloys, although the solid-state31PNMR spectrumof chelatedtetrahedralgold(I) bispho-sphinecomplexescan exhibit four-line patternsdue to1J(Au–P)spin–spincoupling.

In Chapter15 Dyson and Mingos take us from thestable dimeric unit Au2 (dissociation energy 228kJmolÿ1 in the gasphase)throughsmall clusterssuchas[Au7(PPh3)7]

� to the giant [Au39(PPh3)14Cl6]2�, and to

colloidalgolditself. If youareinterestedin metallicgold,then there are chapters on alloys for dental andelectromechanicaluse,ceramicdecoration[which usesgold(I) thiolatessimilar to antiarthritic drugs], refiningand recycling, jewellery (for which hardening byalloying is essential),coinageandmining.

As theeditor saysin his openingsentence,‘Gold is alovely subjectfor everyone’,butwill everyonebeabletoafford to read about it? Unfortunately, at this price,access to the book will be highly restricted. Fewindividualswill beableto buy it andprobablynot manylibrarieseither.Let ushopethat thepublisherscanthinkof a way of makingsuchexcellentmaterialmorewidelyavailable.

PETERJ. SADLER

Universityof Edinburgh,UK

Pharmaceutical Excipients Drugs and thePharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 94D. E. Bugay and W. P. FindlayMarcel Dekker,New York, 1999xii � 669pages.$250ISBN 0-8247-9373-0

For those involved in pharmaceuticalanalysis andformulation,theDrugsandthePharmaceuticalSciencesseriesfrom MarcelDekkerhasprovidedsuperbreferencematerialsinceits launchover20 yearsago.Pharmaceu-tical Excipients, the94thtitle in theseries,continuesthisline of highly specializedreferenceworks andprovidesin one easy-to-usevolume, valuable spectroscopicinformation on 300 excipientsmost commonlyusedindrugformulationandproduction.Thereis noshortageof

Copyright# 2000JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. Appl. Organometal.Chem.14, 170–176(2000)

BOOK REVIEWS 171

spectroscopicdatafrom chemicalandanalyticalcompa-niessuchasthosefrom Nicolet, Aldrich andSigma,butthis is thefirst singlereferencework devotedentirely topharmaceuticalexcipients.

The purposeof this volume is to provide IR, Ramanand NMR (mainly 13C) spectroscopicdataon pharma-ceuticalexcipients(manyof which arealsousedasfoodadditives)suchaslubricants,plasticizersanddispersants.Previousexcipientanalyseshavefocusedmoregenerallyon their bulk and particulate properties and haveprovidedfew, if any, moleculardata.One of the mostwell-known textbooks in this field, the HandbookofPharmaceuticalExcipients, presentsno molecularspec-troscopyinformationat all.

The threeintroductorychaptersdeal with the theorybehindvibrationalspectroscopyandNMR spectroscopyand then discuss the practical application of thesemethods,especiallysolid-stateNMR, to pharmaceuticalanalyses,describinghow thesespectraareobtained.Theauthors,both practisingpharmaceuticalanalysts,haveset out the rest of this textbook of spectral data, inalphabeticalorderof thegenericnameof eachexcipient.Data for each excipient are presentedas a two-pagesectionwhich clearly presentsthechemicalnameof theexcipient, its CAS registry number, its other namesincluding tradeand proprietarynames,excipientclass,molecular weight and structure(where applicable)aswell as NMR, IR and Ramanspectra,providing peaklistings where appropriate.Two appendicesprovide asummaryof characteristicRamanandIR frequenciesinadditionto chemicalshift valuesfor NMR spectroscopy.

Very few organometallic compoundsare used aspharmaceuticalexcipients. Some notable examples,however,include the organosiliconpolymers,dimethi-cone,usedasan antifoamingagentandwaterrepellent,and simethicone,usedas an antibloatingagent.Never-theless,this book will be of value to anyone in thepharmaceuticalindustry involved in formulating orga-nometallic compounds.It will also be of interest topharmaceuticalanalystsandforensicscientistsinvolvedin drug analyses.This volume is certainly a worthyaddition to the superbDrugs and the PharmaceuticalSciencesseries.

TREVORWRIGHT

CurrentDrugsLtd, London,UK

Advanced Inorganic ChemistryF. Albert Cotton, Geoffrey Wilkinson, Carlos A.Murillo and Manfred Bochmann6th edn.JohnWiley & Sons,Chichester,1999xv� 1353pages.£58.50ISBN 0-471-19957-5

The new edition of this well-known textbook breaksfreshgroundon severalcounts.The numberof authors

hasbeenexpandedandanexpert,RussellN. Grimes,hasbeendraftedin to write thechapteron boronchemistry.Thesedevelopmentsbring a certainvigour to the text,togetherwith somethingof achangein emphasis.This isparticularlyapparentin the treatmentof organometallicchemistry, aspectsof which now feature much moreprominently. In addition there has been considerablereorganizationof the material,with manyof the topicswhich werediscussedin the ‘Surveyof SelectedAreas’section of the 5th edition now appearingunder thechemistryof theappropriateelementsin thenewedition.

As with earliereditions,thebookopenswith asectionon ‘general principles’. Someof the topics dealt withhere have naturally been carried over from previouseditions,andareunsurprisingandpredictable:structuresof coordinationand clustercompounds,and classifica-tion of ligands. Others are a welcome addition andrecognitionthat inorganicchemistryhasmovedon sincepublicationof the 5th edition in 1988:fluxionality, andisoelectronicand isolobal principles.At the sametimeothersare ratheresoteric:bondstretchisomerism,zintlcompounds,andchemicalvapourdeposition.Notablebyits omissionfrom theintroductorymaterialin thiseditionis a discussionof thestructuresof ionic solids.

The majority of the book is organizedas in previouseditions,with the descriptivechemistryof the elementsdealtwith in two parts:main-groupelementsin ca 580pages,and transition elementsin ca 530 pages.Thecoverageof these is as comprehensiveas in earliereditions and for many elementsincludes substantialupdatingof thecontent.Forexample,in thediscussionofthechemistryof hydrogentherearenewsectionson �2-dihydrogencomplexesand agosticinteractions,and ofcoursefor carbonthere is discussionof the fullerenes.Thenewchapteron boronprovidesa usefuloverviewofthechemistryof boranes,carboranesandmetalloboranesandhasbenefitedgreatlyby beingwritten by an authorwho is a specialistin thearea.

Theintroductionto thesectionof thebookwhichdealswith thetransition-metalelementsis very different fromthat foundin earliereditions.Previouslythis hadlargelyfocusedonspectroscopicandmagneticproperties;in thenew edition the focus is on the bonding of ligands totransition metals. While much of the content of thefollowing chaptersis not new, there is considerablereorganizationof material.For example,the biochem-istry of iron nowappearsin theappropriatechapterratherthan being dealt with in isolation as a ‘selectedtopic’.While much of the material in the chapterson thelanthanidesandactinidesis similar to thatin thepreviousedition, this doesnot hold true for the organometallicchemistryof theactinides,wherea considerableamountof new,well-referenced,materialis described.

The real innovationin this edition is the inclusionofPart 4, ‘The role of organometallic chemistry incatalysis’,(ca 130 pages),by ManfredBochmann.Thesectioncomprisestwo chapters:‘Fundamentalreactionsteps of transition metal catalyzed reactions’ and‘Homogeneouscatalysisby transitionmetalcomplexes’.

Copyright# 2000JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. Appl. Organometal.Chem.14, 170–176(2000)

172 BOOK REVIEWS