Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Edition) [Hardcover]

Ignacio Tinoco (Author), Kenneth Sauer (Author), James C. Wang (Author), Joseph D. Puglisi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 013095943X | ISBN-13: 978-0130959430 | Publication Date: August 16, 2001 | Edition: 4

This best-selling volume presents the principles and applications of physical chemistry as they are used to solve problems in biology and medicine. The First Law; the Second Law; free energy and chemical equilibria; free energy and physical Equilibria; molecular motion and transport properties; kinetics: rates of chemical reactions; enzyme kinetics; the theory and spectroscopy of molecular structures and interactions: molecular distributions and statistical thermodynamics; and macromolecular structure and X-ray diffraction. For anyone interested in physical chemistry as it relates to problems in biology and medicine.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This best-selling volume presents the principles and applications of physical chemistry as they are used to solve problems in biology and medicine. The First Law; the Second Law; free energy and chemical equilibria; free energy and physical Equilibria; molecular motion and transport properties; kinetics: rates of chemical reactions; enzyme kinetics; the theory and spectroscopy of molecular structures and interactions: molecular distributions and statistical thermodynamics; and macromolecular structure and X-ray diffraction. For anyone interested in physical chemistry as it relates to problems in biology and medicine.

About the Author

Ignacio Tinoco was an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, and a postdoctoral fellow at Yale. He then went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he has remained. His research interest has been on the structures of nucleic acids, particularly RNA. He was chairman of the Department of Energy committee that recommended in 1987 a major initiative to sequence the human genome. His present research is on unfolding single RNA molecules by force.

Kenneth Sauer grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and received his A.B. in chemistry from Oberlin College. Following his Ph.D. studies in gas-phase physical chemistry at Harvard, he spent three years teaching at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. A postdoctoral opportunity to learn from Melvin Calvin about photosynthesis in plants led him to the University of California, Berkeley, where he has been since 1960. Teaching general chemistry and biophysical chemistry in the Chemistry Department has complemented research in the Physical Biosciences Division of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab involving spectroscopic studies of photosynthetic light reactions and their role in water oxidation. His other activities include reading, renaissance and baroque choral music, canoeing, and exploring the Sierra Nevada with his family and friends.

James C. Wang was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1966 to 1977. He then joined the faculty of Harvard University, where he is presently Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His research focuses on DNA and enzymes that act on DNA, especially a class of enzymes known as DNA topoisomerases. He has taught courses in biophysical chemistry and molecular biology and has published over 200 research articles. He is a member of Academia Sinica, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Joseph Puglisi was born and raised in New Jersey. He received his B.A. in chemistry from The Johns Hopkins University in 1984 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989. He has studied and taught in Strasbourg, Boston, and Santa Cruz, and is currently professor of structural biology at Stanford University. His research interests are in the structure and mechanism of the ribosome and the use of NMR spectroscopy to study RNA structure. He has been a Dreyfus Scholar, Sloan Scholar, and Packard Fellow.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 740 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (August 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013095943X
• ISBN-13: 978-0130959430
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Chemistry > Physical & Theoretical > Physical Chemistry

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not so bad, August 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

Tinoco, Sauer, Wang, and now Puglisi, have written a fine text on both the foundations of thermodyanmics and physical chemistry, and the applications of these fields to biological phenomena (both natural and experimental.)

The 3rd edition of the book, in this reviewer's memory, was remarkable only in its staggering lack of focus and explanatory power. This 4th edition vastly improves on that effort.

It has to be said that thermodynamics without statistical mechanics is probably always going to be obscured by the fog of axioms, unless the reader exhibits some remarkable intuitiveness about entropy and partial derivatives. The first few chapters of the book focus on thermodynamics from this axiomatic approach, and may be the reason why so many undergraduate students find the whole thing so distasteful. But it has to be said that the authors spared some effort in trying to ameliorate the abstractness of thermo, by interjecting molecular interpretations of thermo phenomena every now and then.

Once the reader has sped past the thermodynamics, and free energy equilibria chapters, he can be expected to come upon a series of well-written chapters on kinetics. The chapters are generously illustrated with informative diagrams, and most modern and relevant topics are discussed, such as transition state theories, enzyme kinetics, allostery (although the section on allostery was slightly underwhelming. I recommend that the authors develop this section more carefully by considering the various regimes of allostery.)

A valiant attempt is made for discussing quantum mechanics and applications to physical chemistry problems. However, it would seem that quantum mechanics just can't be taught in one chapter, although it's essential in proper understanding of spectroscopy, which forms the basis for the subsequent 'applications' chapter.

The book ends with a discussion of statistical thermodynamics. If the reader begins here and reads it carefully, it is likely that he can surmount the comprehension problems in the initial thermodynamics chapters. This is only the opinion of this reviewer though.

In summary, this is a good book with a comprehensive collection of topics relevant to the modern biology researcher (be you biochemist, biophysicist, chemical biologist, or plain vanilla biologist). The undergraduate student may be bewildered by the variety of topics presented in such a succint manner. The book has easy to read type, sometimes crammed with too much text. There is an absolutely excellent selection of problems, with an accompanying solutions manual that bears only a few errors. Let it be said that there are many many worse physical chemistry books out there, and giving this book anything less than 3 stars would corrupt the usefulness of the ... ratings system.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reference, August 18, 2003

By 

Michael White (Saint Louis, MO, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

As a graduate student in biochemistry who has never taken a physical chemistry class, but who has a good background in physics and calculus, I really like this book as a reference. Standard physical chemistry textbooks I looked at, such as Atkins, did not cover the biologically relevant topics I was interetsed in.

This book contains just the right depth for a reference in biophysical chemistry. The concepts are always presented with biological applications in mind. The topics coveredare exactly what I was looking for, including thermodynamics, kinetcs, quantum chemistry and the theory behind the main biophysical techniques,

I was originally intending to buy the 3 volume Cantor and Schimmel series, but I have found that this book gives me everything I need for a much lower price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, April 1, 2008

By 

A. Nguyen - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Physical Chemistry: Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences (4th Edition) (Hardcover)

The text is poorly written and hard to understand. The solution manual is even worse!! The authors do not explain which equations they're using or where the numbers are coming from.