Abstract
THE effort directed towards steroid chemistry in all its guises since, and as a consequence of, the introduction of the Rosenheim-King formula in 1932, has led to a rapid multiplication of the steroids, so much so that there are now described in the literature nearly five thousand interrelated derivatives of cyclo-pentenophenanthrene. The main purpose of “The Chemistry of the Sterids” is to present a systematic classification of the more important of these derivatives recorded before January 1, 1937, together with their physical constants and references to the original literature. The classification is extremely successful, for by the introduction of an ingenious system of arrangement based upon the number of ethenoid linkages, hydroxyl, carbonyl and carboxyl groups, the matter has been rendered easily accessible. In presenting this catalogue the author has considerably lightened the task of approach to the steroid literature.
The Chemistry of the Sterids
By Harry Sobotka. Pp. xiii + 634. (London: Baillière, Tindall and Cox, 1938.) 38s.
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SPRING, F. The Chemistry of the Sterids. Nature 142, 1097 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/1421097a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1421097a0