This monograph is Volume 77 in the Wiley series on Analytical Chemistry and its Applications, and, together with its companion volume, covers several applications of luminescence spectroscopy. This particular volume focuses on the application of fluorescence, phosphorescence and chemiluminescence spectra to the analysis of organic and inorganic compounds, There is a brief overview of luminescence spectroscopy, followed by applications chapters on pharmaceuticals, organic natural products, inorganic substances and bioinorganic compounds and chapters discussing excited-state optical activity, fluorescence detection in chromatography and luminescence immunoassay. Each chapter is written by authors who are active researchers in the areas discussed and they are generally very readable and comprehensive accounts. Some of the techniques discussed, such as bioinorganic luminescence spectroscopy and excited-state optical activity, are new areas of application for analytical chemists and demonstrate the advances made in molecular luminescence over the past decade. The attractions of luminescence detection are also well illustrated in the chapters on fluorescence detection in chromatography and luminescence immunoassay.
The breadth of material covered in the first volume certainly supports the editor's view that there is something of interest for all analytical chemists. However, the field that this title attempts to cover, even in two volumes, is vast, and the reader with a specific area of personal interest within the field may be disappointed. One hopes that a more detailed discussion of, e.g., instrumentation and experimental procedure, chemiluminescence and bioluminescence processes, micellar enhanced fluorescence and certain industrial applications will be included in the second volume.
Nonetheless, it is a well written book which has been diligently researched and will provide a useful, although expensive, reference (in conjunction with its companion volume) for all analytical chemists working within the area of molecular luminescence spectroscopy.