Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has become one of the most versatile means for analyzing biomolecules, polymers, and inorganic and organometallic complexes. The ESI-MS process results in little fragmentation of thermally labile or large biomolecules, for ease of structural studies. This edited volume is a timely and authoritative work that should be in the hands of every practitioner and the libraries for those interested in the technique. The "topics in chemical instrumentation" pages of this Journal themselves have recently highlighted this important technique in a three-part series (J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, A82-A88, A118-A123, A162-A169).

John Fenn, one of the originators of ESI-MS, provides a delightful foreword to the volume. He offers the historical background and an insightful story that led to electrospray development. The text itself is divided into four parts constituting 15 chapters. The chapter contributors are leading users of ESI-MS. As in any multi-authored work, there is some overlap of materials, but it is not redundant. The text is uniform in typeset. Each chapter has its own references and these are by newness of the technique up to date, with several 1996 and a few 1997 entries. Each chapter has a table of contents and begins with an abstract. A subject index is provided.

Part I addresses fundamental aspects of ESI in four chapters on mechanism (P. Kebarle and Y. Ho), electrochemical phenomena (G. J. Van Berkel), source design and dynamic range (A. P. Bruins), and instrumental parameter influences on charge-state distributions (G. Wang and R. B. Cole). Part II covers ESI coupling to each of the common mass analyzers. Quadrupole and magnetic sectors (C. N. McEwen and B. S. Larsen) are discussed first. Time-of-flight (I. V. Chernushevich, W. Ens, and K. G. Standing), quadrupole ion-trap (M. E. Bier and J. C. Schwartz), and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance (D. A. Laude, E. Stevenson, and J. M. Robinson) constitute the next three chapters. Parts III and IV get to the important interfacing of solution techniques and applications. Liquid chromatography (R. D. Voyksner) and capillary electrophoresis (J. C. Severs and R. D. Smith) are covered. The "explosion of applications of the ESI technique" is divided into peptides and proteins (J. A. Loo and R. R. O. Loo), nucleic acids (P. F. Crain), carbohydrates and lipids (Y. Ohashi), drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (G. K. Poon), and inorganic and organometallic complexes (C. L. Gatlin and F. Turecek). The mathematical basis is provided in the fundamental chapters. Each chapter is illustrated with ample figures. Photos and schematic representations of ESI are provided. The book abounds with structures and their corresponding mass spectra. While not strictly a how-to-do book, one can glean experimental details from many of the pages.