Pharmaceuticals

The physicochemical basis of pharmaceuticals

Humphrey Moynihan and Abina Crean 

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2009 | 320 pp | ?28.99 (SB)

ISBN 9780199232840

Reviewed by Jonathan Hadgraft

The word simplistic is often misused, however in the case of this publication I feel that it is warranted. I compared the content with a book that I used when I took my A-levels some 40 years ago; the concepts described in my A-level text were far more advanced.

Many of the basic concepts used in pharmaceutical chemistry are not properly defined and very often incorrectly applied within the text - for example pH, chemical potential, partition, diffusion and permeability coefficient.

The section on kinetics is very brief and does not even include any cursory discussion of pharmacokinetics.

All in all there is too much reliance on the use of other textbooks as references to the various chapters.

There are more comprehensive basic texts for pharmacy and pharmaceutical science students on the bookshelves than this one, which is misleading, erroneous and simply not worth the money.

Further Reading

Other related books

A T Florence, Physicochemical principles of pharmacy  (4th edition 2005, Pharmaceutical Press)  (ISBN 9780853696087) 
A T Florence, FASTtrack: physical pharmacy  (2007, Pharmaceutical Press) (ISBN 9780853697251) 
D Cairns, Essentials of pharmaceutical chemistry  (3rd edition 2008, Pharmaceutical Press) (ISBN 9780853697459)