S. D. LYUBARSKY. Heterogeneous Catalysis (Introduction to Theory and Practice). Moscow–Leningrad, Goskhimtekhizdat, ONTI, 1933, 124 pp., 13 figs., price 1 rub. 75 kopecks.

The present book is an introduction to the theory and practice of heterogeneous catalysis and is an undoubtedly useful work, one that in part effectively fills a gap in the popular literature on catalysis.

The clarity of exposition, the compact and logical arrangement of the material—especially in the principal parts, I and II—make it accessible to a fairly broad circle of readers; the selection of catalytic reactions itself is also successful, with emphasis on their technological significance.

Introducing the reader to the application of catalysis in technology, the book not only popularizes but also promotes the catalytic methods of modern chemistry.

At the same time, however, it is not free of a number of rough spots and shortcomings, due chiefly to the usual collision between the popular nature of the text and its scientific completeness.

In terms of its content, it is intended for readers with a chemical education not lower than that of a technical school. Meanwhile, the first pages of the “Introduction,” where it is explained what nature consists of and what a chemical reaction is, by their scholarly “naivety” belong in the most elementary chemistry course.

These pages in the book are superfluous, and this becomes quite evident already on pp. 6–7, where the author straightforwardly, “along a sheer wall,” drags the reader through the fundamentals of chemical kinetics and statics straight to the theory of activation.

Here an already knowledgeable stratum of readers will undoubtedly encounter a number of difficulties, especially unexpected after the first, “naive” pages.

The following paragraphs, 3, 4, 5, and 6, dealing with active molecules, the surface of solids, etc., despite the clarity of exposition, are unlikely to satisfy the reader (they will still not “lead” poorly prepared readers anywhere, while for sufficiently prepared readers they are superfluous).

Therefore the theoretical introduction must be recognized as the weakest part of the book.

At the same time, the theoretical introduction to books of the kind discussed here is of exceptionally great importance, since it gives the reader the logical thread of the entire work.

This is especially true of books on catalysis, since this field, unfortunately, has so far lacked any broad and generally accepted theoretical conception that the reader could carry away from a general chemistry course.

In any case, to the author’s credit it must be said that he did not repeat certain manuals on catalysis and did not introduce into the theoretical part a conspicuous imprint of many points of view, limiting himself to the exposition of a certain “average” view of heterogeneous catalysis reflected in the contemporary literature.

However, because of the shortcomings indicated, the theoretical introduction is unlikely to fulfill its purpose—to give the reader the basic information on theory needed for more confident orientation in the labyrinth of experience.

In addition, one should point out certain inaccuracies in the text, which

cannot in any way be dictated by considerations of popularity. For example, the assertion that “with small exclusion all (?) reactions are to a greater (?) or lesser (?) degree reversible” (p. 8), without proper explanation and limitation, cannot be considered correct; the dependence of the equilibrium constant on temperature and heat effect is given in such a form (p. 11) that it requires a number of qualifications and, without them, is incorrect; Table 2 (p. 26) cannot be regarded as illustrating the heterogeneity of the surface of solid bodies, since it contains materials relating to such cases of adsorption ($N_2$ and $NH_3$ on coal) that are not typical of ordinary specific catalysis.

On p. 35, in discussing the mechanism of the promoting action, in particular of $Al_2O_3 H_2O$ with respect to iron, an not entirely correct reference is made to the fact that the promoted iron catalyst is “more active and more stable than a catalyst of pure iron.” In reality, as follows, for example, from the recent work of Mittasch and Keinek, it is possible to obtain a purely iron catalyst of the same activity as the promoted one, which should rather substantially change the meaning of the paragraph on p. 34.

However, setting aside these comparatively minor errors, it should be stated that the book as a whole stands at the proper scientific level and represents a substantial contribution to the popular-scientific literature on catalysis.

N. Kobozev