Imidazole and Benzimidazole Synthesis, by M. Ross Grimmett, is published by Academic Press as part of their Best Synthetic Methods series and subseries that deals with key systems and functional groups. There can be no doubt that imidazoles and benzimidazoles are important systems. They are found in nature in the amino acid histidine and are present as structural fragments of many other naturally occurring units. In addition there are imidazoles and bezimidazoles that are components of important structures used in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dyestuffs, and high-temperature polymer products. While the academic readers of this Journal might have less occasion to look up these synthetic reactions than research workers in the above-mentioned fields, nevertheless this compendium can serve as a useful reference for possible student experiments, starting materials for projects, and general information about heterocyclic ring construction. Indeed, the organization of the book makes the latter utility explicit, since the chapters are labeled by the bond being formed or the method by which the ring is constructed. In addition, the index lists the compounds that are discussed, so many likely compounds can be located easily.

The content of the individual chapters is typically a brief discussion of the methodology, followed by a series of examples and a number of recipes for the synthesis of exemplary compounds. Every chapter is well referenced, usually with citations numbering into the hundreds. Although the lawyers for Academic Press put a bold face warning on the frontispiece that "This book is not a procedural manual", it contains many useful preps. What it does not contain is very much mechanistic information. The author generally does not elaborate mechanistic detail nor does he offer much speculation about novel reactions. This is unfortunate, since he is an experienced and authoritative investigator.

In short, this is a very nice compendium for those interested in its subject. It is not a textbook, but it contains good advice about synthetic strategy and many useful preparative details. It seems probable that most of the example recipes are taken from English language sources rather than from the German or Japanese. Such translations would be difficult to provide but would be an outstanding service for this kind of book to offer.