Chemistry of Precious Metals - Tapa blanda

Some 20 years ago, I was privileged to share in writing a book on the descriptive chemistry of the 4d, 5d, 4f and 5f metals that included these eight elements within its compass (S.A. Cotton and F.A. Hart, The Heavy Transition Elements, Macmillan, 1975). This volume shares the same aim of covering the descriptive chemistry of silver, gold and the six platinum metals in some detail at a level suitable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate study. It does not attempt to be a comprehensive treatise on the chemistry of these metals. It attempts to fill a slot between the general text and the in-depth review or monograph. The organometallic chemistry is confined to a-bonded com­ pounds in normal oxidation states; compounds with IT-bonding ligands are generally excluded. Their inclusion would have increased the length of the book considerably and, moreover, their recent chemistry has been extensively and expertly reviewed in the new Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry, II, eds G. Wilkinson, F.G.A. Stone and E.W. Abel, Pergamon, Oxford, 1995.

This book is a single volume treatment of the descriptive inorganic and coordination chemistry of silver, gold and the six platinum metals - together with the organometallic chemistry of sigma-bonded compounds in normal oxidation states. It provides information on `essential' binary compounds and complexes of these elements, such as oxides, halides, aqua complexes, amines and tertiary phosphine complexes, highlighting key areas of study. The reference list, containing over 1600 entries, is intended to give key references (particularly to structures), both to the recent literature and to relevant older work. Literature coverage extends to Spring 1996. A concentrated source of information for chemists at graduate and research level, this volume is also suitable as a teaching resource for advanced undergraduates.