This Week’s Citation CIassic~______Albert A & Serjeant E P. Ionization constants of acids and bases: a laboratory manual. London: Methuen, 1962. 180 p.

- [Australian National University. Canberra, and Univeraity of , , Australial The book is a practical manual intended (or those dition, we incorporated methods for determin- who, without previous experience, wish to determine ing the stability constants of the complexes ionization constants (PKa values). More advanced that metal cations form by chelation with instruction is also provided for those who wish to organic ligands. The second and third editions extend theirrange of techniques. flhe SCl~indicates of the book were retitled The Determination that this book has been cited in over 3,130 1 2 publications.) of Ionization Constants. . We took pains to writeour book in simple language so that any chemist or biochemist Adrien Albert who needed a hitherto unrecorded ionization Department of Chemistry constant could quickly and easily learn how Australian National University to determine it. Because no previous experi- Canberra, ACT 2601 ence is necessary in determining ionization constants, researchers have often used the book for this purpose. It has also served well February 9, 1987 forthe in-service training of those technicians In the first half of the 1940s mass production and technical officers who are required to of glass-electrode potentiometer assemblies provide an institute with an ionization (also known as “ion activity meters” or “pH constant service. The book offers help in kits”), followed by production of the selecting apparatus, setting out the experimen- ultraviolet spectrometer, made it easier to tal results, making the calculations from these determine ionization constants accurately and results, and finally, checking them for quickly. Soon, textbooks of physical chemistry consistency and reliability. A much-appreci- and monographs on electrochemistry began ated feature is our incorporation of a course todescribe these methods. Unfortunately, the for beginners, so that they can gain experience with inexpensive materials before tackling pre- examples that they provided were too few to 3 illustrate the full scope of the methods, and cious unknowns. they lamentably failed to record the many The book also provides guidance on the in- precautions and checks that must be observed terpretation of ionization constants. We show to obtain acceptable results. how they relate to solubility, how the degree After 20 years of experience with these of ionization at any pH value canbe calculated methods, during which we came face to face (a feature that biologists like), and how ion- with many snags that were eventually over- ization constants can help decipher unknown come, mycolleague EP. Serjeant and I were chemical structures. We note, after examin- prevailed upon to publish a practical manual ing papers that cite our book, that many that would describe and evaluate all known authors are seeking to improve the properties methods. Our first edition (1962)—the Clas- of a known drug or trying to discover a new sic—was entitled Ionization Constants ofAcids one. These are activities in which knowledge and Sases and was published by Methuen in of ionization constants is accorded much im- London and then by Wiley in New York. portance. Because our book is a practicalman- As time went by, we took the opportunity ual, best kept on the laboratory bench, we dis- to improve the book by including computer cuss the theory of ionization only briefly, but programs to replace the more difficult calcu- we refer4 readers to the5 excellent monographs lations. We also described newer methods, by King and Bates. such as Raman and nuclear magnetic reso- Both authors of this Classic book are now nance spectrometry, and thermometric titra- offically retired, but we feel lucky that we can tions, which offer help in difficult cases. In ad- continue our work.

I. Albert A & Serjeant E P. The detenninarion of ionization constants: a laboraror.’ manual. London: Chapman and Hall. 197t. 115 p. (Cited 675 times.) - 2. . The determination of ionization constants: a laboraro,y manual. London: Chapman and Halt. 1984. 2t8 p. (Cited 35 times.) 3. McDaniel I) H. Review of’ The determination of ionization constants—a laboratory manual by A. Albert & E.P. Serjeant. I. Amer. Chem. Soc. t07:4604. 1985. 4. Kmg C J. Acid-base equilibria. Oxford: Pergamon. t965. 341 p. (Cited 450 times.) 5. Bales R C. Determination of pH: theory and practice. New York: Wiley. 1973. 479 p. (Cited 1,605 times.) ©1987 by ISI® CURRENT CONTENTS® 8CC/~T~~ .:~