S. S. Baranov, S. V. Khludov, E. V. Shpolsky, Atlas of Transmission Spectra of Transparent Colored Films. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1948, 148 pp., price 10 rubles 40 kopecks.

In terms of its content, the publication under review may be divided into two parts: the first part, consisting of 4 chapters, is devoted to the exposition of a number of questions important in the manufacture of colored films, and the second is the atlas proper of the transmission curves for 131 dyes of domestic manufacture.

In the first chapter of the first part, entitled “Method of Measurement,” the rich experience of spectrophotometric measurements with the aid of barrier-layer photocells is summarized—experience that was achieved in the laboratory of the Institute of Physics of Moscow State University named after V. I. Lenin (headed by Prof. E. V. Shpolsky). It is especially valuable that the content of this chapter is based on a large number of measured curves, reaching 3000, as a result of which it is of interest not only to chemists and technologists who manufacture colored films, but also to a large number of scientific and industrial workers concerned with various spectrophotometric measurements. It should also be noted that the measurements described in this chapter are excellently reproducible.

The second chapter is devoted to the optical and mechanical characteristics of transparent media that are of the greatest practical interest for the manufacture of light filters. These are cellulose acetate, cellophane, and gelatin. As a small shortcoming it should be noted that here some characteristics of these media that are important for practice are not given, namely: heat resistance and refractive indices.

The largest chapter in scope, the third chapter (Eng.-Col. S. V. Khludov and Senior Eng. V. I. Medvedev), contains information necessary for the practical manufacture of colored films. The material of this chapter is divided into four sections:

§ 1. Principles for selecting dyes (direct, acid, basic, vat, and sulfur dyes).

§ 2. Description of methods for dyeing transparent media with dyes of various classes.

§ 3. Testing the lightfastness of certain colorations of transparent media.

§ 4. List of dyes with a brief description of their structure and of the characteristics of their lightfastness.

Structural formulas and characteristics of 91 dyes are given.

The value of this chapter lies in the fact that it is a practically sufficient guide to the manufacture of colored films, accessible not only to a technologist-colorist but to almost any worker in a physics or chemistry laboratory, since the technology for producing this kind of filter does not require particularly complex skills or any complex special equipment.

In the fourth chapter (Senior Eng. V. I. Medvedev) an important question is covered concerning a special class of light filters that absorb the red part of the spectrum and transmit, to a greater or lesser degree, the blue-green part. About 30 dyes are given here that have sufficiently large absorption in the spectral range approximately from 600 to 700 mμ. Unfortunately, the optical properties of dyes absorbing the near infrared part of the spectrum (from 700 mμ) are not analyzed here. Such dyes are of great interest for many optical investigations, such as, for example, the quenching of luminescence by infrared rays, the development of various filters for changing the spectral sensitivities of photocells, etc.

The second section of the Atlas contains spectral-transmission curves for 131 dyes, each of which is given in several (up to four) concentrations, in the spectral range from 440 to 1200 mμ.

This section is of very great interest to workers in many specialties: opticians, lighting engineers, polarimetrists, chemists-colorists, specialists in physiological optics, physical chemists, etc.

In conclusion it should be said that the Atlas, which is the result of the collective work of chemists, technologists, and physicists, cannot but be regarded as a valuable contribution to our scientific and technical literature. The few shortcomings noted above, as well as the comparatively large number of misprints, not all of which, unfortunately, have been corrected, certainly cannot diminish the merits of the Atlas.

S. G. Yurov