Introduction to Metal π-Complex Chemistry

The Plenum Press series, Monographs in Inorganic Chemistry, is intended to fill an obvious need for high-level surveys of recent research in that area, particularly in matters which go beyond the traditional or classical bound­ aries of the subject. The study of n-bonding of hydrocarbon groups (and their derivatives) to metals is exactly that kind of subject, for it provides a new way of understanding the behavior of metals (which constitute four-fifths of all the chemical elements). In addition, n-bonding has expanded the intriguing area of organometallic chemistry threefold, bringing in all the transition metals, the lanthanides, and the actinides. So much has been discovered and developed in the area of n-bonded "complexes" of the metals that important new industrial processes based on such substances have been developed. A truly comprehensive review of all n-bonded compounds of the metals would now result in an impossibly large and expensive volume, and would require monthly revision. Instead, the present authors have wisely decided to write a survey which outlines the general aspects of preparation, properties, structure, reactions, and uses of such compounds-a survey which can serve as a textbook, but which can also lead the more experienced practitioner to the most advanced literature on the subject. They have clarified and condensed the subject by means of good organization and a liberal use of diagrams-features which will please the general reader.