Problems of a more technical nature are covered in the sec- tions headed “Annealing” (rather brief, having only 13 pages), “Automotive Applications” (12 pp.), “Bag Molding” (17pp.), “Belting” (12 pp.), “Biaxial Orientation” (34 pp., several illustrations), “Bituminous Materials” (36 pp., 18 tables), “Bleaching” (46 pp., much information concerning appara- tus), “Blowing Agents” (detailed information concerning the applicability of various classes of compound as foaming agents), “Building and Construction Applications” (with several illustrations taken from practice), “Calendering” (19 pp.), and “Casein” (1 3 pp.). Special polymers are dealt with in the contributions headed “Bicycloheptene and -heptadiene Polymers” (the tabular summaries are worthy of praise; the literature is covered up to the end of 1964), “Butadiene Derivatives, Polymeric” (12 pp., 87 references), “Butadiene Poiymers” (76 pp., 262 references), “Butylene Polymers” (40 pp., 79 references), and “N-Carboxyanhydrides”. Strangely, the copolymers are not mentioned at all in the section on butadiene derivatives and onIy very briefly in that on butyfene polymers; the table of r-values of the copolymerization of butadiene could well be more complete. In the articles concerned with individual polymers the reviewer missed lists of trade names and would therefore venture to suggest that the following editions should include tables in which the various polymers are listed alphabetically, both under their commercial designa- tions and their systematic names.

Information about auxiliary agents for polymerization and for the polymerizate is given under the headings “Antiozon- ants” (8 pp.), “Azo Catalysts” (very detailed tables listing characteristic properties of 71 azo compounds), “Antifoam- ing Agents” (8 pp.), and “Brighteners, Optical” (9 pp.). The definitions of terms such as “A-Stage’’ and “B-Stage”, which refer to the production of thermosetting resins, are given in merely 2 and 4 lines, respectively (without examples). The diffusion of gases through polymer films is treated in “Bar- riers, Vapor” (13 pp.). Finally, mention should be made of the chapters entitled “Boron Compounds” (16 pp., many pieces of information about the compounds of boron), “Bagasse” (5 pp.), and “Carbon” (18 pp. devoted to a dis- cussion of the most important types of soot). Apart from the main headings listed above there are of course others; for example, in the present work alone, the contribution “Biocides” is given under a further four head- ings. This kind of subdivision greatly facilitates use of the

0. Fuchs [NB 623a I€] book.

Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology. Plastics, Resins, Rubbers, Fibers. Edited by H. F. Mark, N. G . Gay- lord, and N . M. Bikales. Volume 3: Casting to Cohesive Energy. Interscience Publishers, a division of John Wiley & Sons, New York-London-Sydney 1965. 1st Edit., xiii, 862 pp., numerous illustrations and tables. Single copies 375 s; subscription price 300 s.

More than half of the third volume (28 contributions from 48 authors) of this work is devoted to cellulose and its derivatives. The treatment of cellulose itself covers 97 pages and includes 436 references; the most important physical and chemical properties are well presented in 56 figures and 18 tables. Some overlapping does, however, occur between this article and those entitled “Cellulose, Biosynthesis” (1 3 pages, 43 references), “Cellulose, Graft Copolymers” (44 pages, 81 references, including impressive photomicro- graphs and author’s [Imrnergut] unpublished results), “Cellu- lose Derivatives” (17 pages, in which only the “non-classical” cellulose derivatives such as deoxy-, aminodeoxy-, halogeno- deoxy-cellulose, etc. and oxidized cellulose and derivatives are treated), “Cellulose, Microcrystalline” (7 pages), and “Cellulose, Analytical Methods” (too short with 5 pages). If such repetition had been avoided, much more space could have been devoted to other sections.

Cellulose foil is dealt with in the chapter entitled “Cello- phane” (20 pages, 150 references, production, applications) ; the firm [Krrlle] which owns the trade mark Cellophan, is not mentioned although the names of three American manu- facturers are given. Further subject headings are: “Cellulose Esters, Inorganic” (18 pages on nitrates, half a page on other esters; no table showing the dependence of solubility on the degree of nitration is given). “Cellulose Esters, Organic” subdivided into “Manupacture” (28 pages, 102 references, good tabular summaries), “Plastics” (66 pages, 74 references; although emphasis is placed on technological aspects, pro- perties are summarized in large tables), “Fibers” (56 pages describing production and applications, 58 references; tables extending over many pages give trade names - a feature that is often neglected), and “Miscellaneous Cellulose Esters” (4 pages). “Cellulose Ethers” (91 pages, 181 referen- ces) with the main divisions ethyl, methyl, hydroxyalkyl- methyl, hydroxyethyl, sodium carboxymethyl, cyanomethyl, and carbamoylethyl-cellulose, as well as other cellulose ethers; most of these contributions do not contain a clear representation of the solubility and plasticizing properties that are so important in practice.

Material concerning the manufacture of polymers and poly- merization kinetics is provided in the sections “Cationic Polymerization” (25 pages, 66 references; although the mechanism is treated thoroughly only a selection of catalysts is given), “Catalysis” (short description of methods for the production of macromolecules, 9 pages), “Ceiling Tem- perature” (too short with one page, only four examples, literature not covered beyond 1958), “Chain Reaction Poly- merization” (26 pages, 112 references; in this section and in the one entitled “Catalysis” Ziegler catalysts are treated briefly but a full treatment will not appear until the last volume), “Chain Transfer” (30 pages, 126 references; deter- mination of transfer constants with results, special technical applications), and “Chemically Resistant Polymers” (30 pages, 57 references including many from the years 1963 and 1964, particular attention being given to polymers suitable for use in rocket technology).

Applications of a technical nature are dealt with in the sections entitled Casting” (20 pages, contains superfluous illustrations), “Coating Methods” (69 pages, comprehensive descriptions of methods involved, 89 illustrations), and “Cellular Materials” (51 pages, 152 references, processes, statistical data, properties). The individual types of poly- chloroprenes are described in “2-Chlorobutadiene Poly- mers” (36 pages, 79 references, production, applications, etc.).

Analytical methods are given in the following sections: “Characterization of Polymers” (21 pages, 77 references, some characteristic structural features such as branching, sequence length distribution in block copolymers, problems of determining chemical non-uniformity, head to head struc- tures, foreign groups, and networks are merely touched upon, if mentioned at all), “Chemical Analysis” (34 pages, 197 references, physical methods such as I R and N M R speccometry and differential thermal analysis are given in addition to chemical methods), and “Chromatography” (32 pages, 76 references, methods, examples). “Castor Oil” (6 pages) and “Chitin” (11 pages) are treated as individual compounds. A section headed “Cohesive-Energy Density” (30 pages, 75 references covering the literature up to 1964, tables of solubility parameters for low and high molecular- weight compounds, special cases of compounds containing strongly polar groups) concludes the volume under review.

To summarize it may be said that this volume, like its predecessors, contains a wealth of data from the field of polymer science, which can otherwise be found only by searching the specialized literature. In view of the rapid development of the science and technology of macromole- cular materials the encyclopedia represents a valuable source of information for workers in this field.

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