- Email: [email protected]
Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition by F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo and M. Bochmann, Wiley, Chichester, 1999. xv+1355 pp., ISBN 0-471-19957-5. £58.50
Talanta 51 (2000) 206 www.elsevier.com/locate/talanta
Book review Ad7anced Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition by F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo and M. Bochmann, Wiley, Chichester, 1999. xv+ 1355 pp., ISBN 0-471-19957-5. £58.50 I purchased the first edition (fourth reprinting) of Cotton and Wilkinson when I was a student back in the 1960s and still have it in my bookcase. The fact that this book, in its six editions, has spanned 37 years is an incredible achievement and in itself merits praise indeed for its two main authors. Sadly, Professor Wilkinson is no longer with us but we are assured that he was able to finish drafts of all his chapters for this sixth edition before he unexpectedly passed away. The book is divided into four main parts. In Part 1, Survey of Principles, 44 pages are devoted to generic topics including polyhedra, fluxionality and molecular design. Some of these cross-cutting topics are further developed in later chapters on transition metal chemistry. The bulk of the book (Parts 2 and 3) then covers the periodic table systematically. Part 2, The Chemistry of the Main Group Elements is 579 pages long and Part 3, The Chemistry of the Transition Elements is 532 pages in length. Part four, 128 pages, discusses The Role of Organometallic Chemistry in Catalysis and this is followed by Appendices and an Index. Apart from the increase in authors (each contribute to about one-fourth of the contents) other changes have been made to the book since the
fifth edition. For example, the chapter on boron chemistry has been rewritten by Russell Grimes and some of the broad topical chapters (e.g. Bioinorganic Chemistry and Organometallic Compounds) have been removed and the topics dealt with on an element to element basis. In its arrangement of material the sixth edition is therefore more similar to the third edition than the fourth or fifth editions though it is, as expected, more comprehensive. Recent theoretical advances in the interpretation of structure, bonding and reactivity in inorganic compounds are covered as can be seen by the incorporation of refreshingly up-to-date references, which are given as footnotes to most pages and at the end of each chapter. All molecular diagrams, tables and equations are clearly presented. This book, which is reasonably priced, will no doubt become a recommended text for many university chemistry courses. It is both comprehensive and authoritative and provides a wealth of information in inorganic chemistry for both the student and the professional chemist.
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0039-9140/00/$ - see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 3 9 - 9 1 4 0 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 2 6 9 - 6
P.J. Cox School of Pharmacy, The Robert Gordon Uni6ersity, Schoolhill, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB10 1FR, UK E-mail: [email protected]
Book review Ad7anced Inorganic Chemistry, 6th Edition by F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo and M. Bochmann, Wiley, Chichester, 1999. xv+ 1355 pp., ISBN 0-471-19957-5. £58.50 I purchased the first edition (fourth reprinting) of Cotton and Wilkinson when I was a student back in the 1960s and still have it in my bookcase. The fact that this book, in its six editions, has spanned 37 years is an incredible achievement and in itself merits praise indeed for its two main authors. Sadly, Professor Wilkinson is no longer with us but we are assured that he was able to finish drafts of all his chapters for this sixth edition before he unexpectedly passed away. The book is divided into four main parts. In Part 1, Survey of Principles, 44 pages are devoted to generic topics including polyhedra, fluxionality and molecular design. Some of these cross-cutting topics are further developed in later chapters on transition metal chemistry. The bulk of the book (Parts 2 and 3) then covers the periodic table systematically. Part 2, The Chemistry of the Main Group Elements is 579 pages long and Part 3, The Chemistry of the Transition Elements is 532 pages in length. Part four, 128 pages, discusses The Role of Organometallic Chemistry in Catalysis and this is followed by Appendices and an Index. Apart from the increase in authors (each contribute to about one-fourth of the contents) other changes have been made to the book since the
fifth edition. For example, the chapter on boron chemistry has been rewritten by Russell Grimes and some of the broad topical chapters (e.g. Bioinorganic Chemistry and Organometallic Compounds) have been removed and the topics dealt with on an element to element basis. In its arrangement of material the sixth edition is therefore more similar to the third edition than the fourth or fifth editions though it is, as expected, more comprehensive. Recent theoretical advances in the interpretation of structure, bonding and reactivity in inorganic compounds are covered as can be seen by the incorporation of refreshingly up-to-date references, which are given as footnotes to most pages and at the end of each chapter. All molecular diagrams, tables and equations are clearly presented. This book, which is reasonably priced, will no doubt become a recommended text for many university chemistry courses. It is both comprehensive and authoritative and provides a wealth of information in inorganic chemistry for both the student and the professional chemist.
.
0039-9140/00/$ - see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 3 9 - 9 1 4 0 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 2 6 9 - 6
P.J. Cox School of Pharmacy, The Robert Gordon Uni6ersity, Schoolhill, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB10 1FR, UK E-mail: [email protected]