The book represents one of the more comprehensive treatments of liquid-liquid interfacial phenomena. The authors, all of whom are leading scholars in their respective areas of bioelectrochemistry, membrane biophysics, and thermodynamics, have drawn upon their years of experience to write a detailed account of the thermodynamic and kinetic factors that influence chemical reactions at and ion transport across liquid surfaces. The text is organized into five main sections with 11 chapters, a bibliography, an appendix containing units, symbols, and important physical constants, and an index. Chapter headings reflect the different aspects of liquid interfaces in chemistry and biology. They are:

1. Introduction to Classical Thermodynamics. Basic thermodynamic terms are defined and mathematical relationships developed for describing phase equilibria and phase transitions, multicomponent systems (both ideal and nonideal solutions), surfaces, and irreversible processes. Discussion includes the application of thermodynamics to mechanic stretching of bilayer lipid and charged membranes, nucleus formation leading to a new phase, and the breakdown of a bilayer lipid membrane.

2. Measurement of Interfacial Tension. Authors list in tabular form ten experimental methods for measuring the surface tension, along with a 2-6-word statement regarding the method's applicability for pure liquids and solutions. Discussion is limited to the drop weight and Wilhelmy plate methods. Personally, I found the chapter to be noninformative. Very few experimental details and procedures are actually reported. The Wilhelmy plate method is described in just three sentences and one accompanying figure.

3. Adsorption at Liquid Surfaces. Several methods are examined for defining surface excess properties and for describing interface formation and component distribution between two immiscible liquid phases for binary and ternary systems. Planar and curved interfaces are considered. The chapter is extremely mathematical (more than 200 equations listed), as is to be expected in any comprehensive thermodynamic treatment of adsorption at liquid interfaces. While the authors do attempt to provide a physical explanation for a few of the defined parameters, readers who are not experts in surface chemistry will likely wonder if such thermodynamic rigor and complexity is really required. The presentation could be improved if more practical examples were included to illustrate the chapter's important points.

4. Interface Potentials. This chapter begins the section on electrified interfaces. Oxidation-reduction interfacial, ion transfer, Nernst, Volta, adsorption, and Donnan potentials are defined, and several experimental methods are discussed for measuring these potentials.

5. Electrocapillarity. The electrocapillary equation is developed, and specific cases involving incomplete dissociation of salts, surface reactions, and polarizable and reversible interfaces are considered. Electrocapillary curves are shown for several systems containing a water-nitrobenzene interface.

6. Energetics of Extraction. Various methods are discussed for experimental determination and theoretical computation of the standard Gibbs energy of ion transfer between two immiscible liquid phases. Experimental standard Gibbs energies of ion transfer are tabulated for select aqueous-organic solvent combinations. Graphical correlations depict how the observed transfer energies vary with ion size and solvent properties.

7. Interfacial Structures and Electrical Double Layers. This is by far the longest chapter in the book. Two hundred mathematical expressions are developed for describing the thermodynamic, electrochemical, and structural properties of electrical double layers. The Verwey-Niessen and Gouy-Chapman theories are two of the more prominent approaches discussed. Adsorption isotherms of amphiphilic compounds are rationalized in terms of the Frumkin, Freundlich, and Langmuir equations.

8. Interfacial Catalysis. Specific items covered in the chapter's 37 pages of text include how solvent properties affect calculated activation energies and solvent reorganization energies for charge-transfer reactions at oil-water interfaces. Several interesting examples are presented involving chlorophyll as a catalyst for electron transfer reactions in bilayers, for porphyrins as interfacial catalysts, and for enzyme complexes of the mitochondrial respiratory chain.

9. Light Energy Conversion at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces: Artificial Photosynthetic Systems. Discussion focuses on electrochemical mechanisms of photocatalytic systems at oil-water interfaces, with particular emphasis on processes that occur during photosynthesis.

10. Membrane Thermodynamics and Electrostatics. An overview of the structure and properties of biological membranes is followed by discussion of membrane electrostatics and ion transport. Ion and dipole transfer through membranes are explained using both the partition model and transient pore mechanism.

11. Mechanics at Interfaces. Mechanical properties of nonspherical interfaces, select aspects of vesicle formation, membrane rupture and pore formation, and membrane fusion mechanisms are discussed.

The book concludes with a 50-page bibliography of cited references, an appendix of units, symbols, and important physical constants, and an index. The bibliography contains a large number of papers from 1970-1995 published in the chemical and biological literature.

Personally, I found the book to provide a very concise, rigorous thermodynamic treatment of liquid surfaces and interfaces. Curiously, the authors elected not to include the topic of micelles. Micellar systems are often used to mimic membranes, and several of the thermodynamic treatments presented in the book have been used (with slight modification) to model micelle formation and micellar properties. The book will be extremely valuable to professional biologists and chemists performing research in areas related to surface science, where a thorough understanding of both surface and membrane thermodynamics and transport across membranes is required. Graduate students enrolled in courses in surface chemistry, solution thermodynamics, and electrochemistry will find the book a useful reference. I would not recommend this book, however, to the casual reader looking for practical examples of biological and chemical processes occurring at liquid interfaces. The theoretical treatment is much too complicated and involved to be appreciated by readers not already knowledgeable in the area of thermodynamics.