In this brief, renowned inorganic chemist Jay Labinger tracks the development of his field from a forgotten specialism to the establishment of an independent, intellectually viable discipline. Inorganic chemistry, with a negation in its very name, was long regarded as that which was left behind when organic and physical chemistry emerged as specialist fields in the 19th century. Only by the middle of the 20th century had it begun to gain its current stature of equality to that of the other main branches of chemistry. The author discusses the evidence for this transition, both quantitative and anecdotal and includes consideration of the roles of local and personal factors, with particular focus on Caltech as an illustrative example. This brief is of interest both to historians of science and inorganic chemists who would like to find out how their field began.

In the early 1980s capillary liquid chromatography was being established; it was a period in which only a few research groups published a relatively small number of papers on the subject. In terest has since taken off, and a period of intense development, to which no end is yet in sight, is now upon us. More investiga tors and instrument-making firms are now entering the field. This greater interest has resulted in the rapid appearance of two collec tions [1, 2] and a series of topical reviews [3-6]. However, it could hardly be said that all the problems in this area have been formulated, let alone solved. The preparation of very efficient - open tubular or packed - microbore columns, for example, remains more an art than a science, while the relation ship between radial and longitudinal mass transfer, and the effect of transcolumn velocity profiles on chromatographic efficiency, have been very poorly studied. Indeed, recent publications on these subjects have sometimes, far from clarifying matters, only muddied them further. Many instrument-making firms are trying to unify their equip ment so that it is suitable for microbore, conventional (analytical), and preparative liquid chromatography. This approach has not real ized the full potential of capillary chromatography, and there also remains room for improving the performance of capillary columns.

1. G. Engelhardt, H. Koller, Stuttgart, FRG: 29Si NMR of Inorganic Solids 2. H. Pfeifer, Leizpig, FRG: NMR of Solid Surfaces 3. A. Sebald, Bayreuth, FRG: MAS and CP/MAS NMR of Less Common Spin-1/2 Nuclei 4. C. J{ger, Mainz, FRG: Satellite Transition Spectroscopy of Quadrupolar Nuclei 5. D. Brinkmann, M. Mali, Z}rich, CH: NMR-NQR Studies of High-Temperature Superconductors

1.1 The Role of Silicon as a Semiconductor Silicon is unchallenged as a semiconductor base material in our present electronics indu stry. The reasons why it qualifies so strongly for this particular purpose are manyfold. The attractive combination of physical (electrical) properties of silicon and the unique properties of its native oxide layer have been the original factors for its breathtaking evolution in device technology. The majority of reasons, however, for its present status are correlated with industrial prosessing in terms of charge units ( economy), reliability (reproducibility), and flexibility, but also its availability. The latter point, in particular, plays an important role in the different long-term projects on the terrestrial application of solar cells. Practically inexhaustive resources of silicon dioxide form a sound basis even for the most pretentious programs on future alternatives to relieve the present situation in electrical power generation by photovol taics. Assuming a maximum percentage of 10% to be replaced by the year 2000 would roughly mean a cumulative annual production of 2 million metric tons of crude silicon (based on present solar cell standards) ). To illustrate the orders of magnitude that have to be discussed in pertinent programs: Today, the industrial silicon capacity of non-communistic countries (including ferrosili con and other alloys by their relative Si-content) amounts to some 2 million tons per year."

Although the research actIvItIes of dyestuff chemists worldwide have been influenced to a great extent, in recent years, by the need to respond to a variety of environmental issues associated with the manufacture and application of synthetic dyes and pigments, a significant level of targeted research continues to be devoted to new chemistry aimed at enhancing the technical properties of dyes in commerce. This book is a presentation of various aspects of basic research conducted during the past decade but not reported in the recent review literature. The coverage herein is unique in that it emphasizes systematic approaches commonly utilized in the design and synthesis of dyes and pigments and the required intermediates. While it is well known that certain transition metals are important in the synthesis of technically viable metallized dyes for polyamide and protein fibers, these metals are demonstrated in Chapter 1 also to be effective agents in the regiospecific placement of substituents into azo compounds. The scope and limitations of this chemistry are presented. In other synthetic work, a description of the different processes employed to produce the major families of reactive dyes is presented. In Chapter 4, special attention is given to reactive dyes containing more than one reactive group, and to the more recent developments in the field. The two chapters which follow provide a review of the recent literature pertaining to novel chromophores and dyes for the D2T2 process, respectively.

It is 25 years since the seminal papers describing the relationships between the skeletal geometrics and closed shell electronic requirements of metal clusters were originally published. The electron counting rules which developed from these papers, are now to be found in all undergraduate inorganic textbooks. This volume provides a contemporary account of recent applications of the methodology and the mathematical foundations of the rules. In addition it describes how it is possible to accomondate acception to the rules within a wider framework. The authors are the foremost authorities in the field and give a broad introduction to the area.

General The making and breaking of carbon-metal bonds is fundamental to all the p- cesses of organometallic chemistry and moreover plays a significant role in - mogeneous as well as heterogeneous catalysis. This rather blunt statement - phasises the extent to which a proper understanding of the structure, energetics and reactivity of C-M bonds is at the core of the discipline. In order to accept it, a proper definition of the terms involved is required. Quite simply we define the metal-carbon bond in its broadest sense to embrace carbon linked to transiti- metals, lanthanides and actinides, and main group metals. We do not dist- guish between formally covalent single or multiple bonding on the one hand and q-bonding on the other. In the studies to be described in the following chapters, the emphasis will be on transition metal complexes and insofar as the fun- mentals come under scrutiny, simple metal alkyls or related species (metal al- nyl, alkynyl, aryl, or allyl) will play an emphatic part. The central role of metal alkyls and their congeners and especially the role of their metal carbon linkage in homogeneous catalysis may be appreciated by considering some key reaction steps leading to their formation or breakdown. There follows a few prominent examples of transition metal mediated stoichiometric or catalytic processes: - In homogeneous hydrogenation of double bonds, the stepwise reaction of an q2-coordinated alkene with dihydrogen gives first an alkyl metal hydride, and then the decoordinated alkane by elimination.

Celebrating Volume 100: Thirty years ago Springer-Verlag together with a distinguished Board of Editors started the series "Structure and Bonding." Initially the series was set up to publish reviews from different fields of modern inorganic chemistry, chemical physics and biochemistry, where the general subject of chemical bonding involves a metal and a small number of associated atoms. Three years ago the aims of the series was refined to span the entire periodic table and address structure and bonding issues wherever they may be relevant. Not only the traditional areas of chemical bonding will be dealt with but also nanostructres, molecular electronics, supramolecular structure, surfaces and clusters. With these aims in mind it is noteworthy that Volume 100 effectively reinforces and illustrates these ideals and is titled "Pi-Electron Magnetism" "from Molecules to Magnetic Materials."

All existing introductory reviews of mineralogy are written accord ing to the same algorithm, sometimes called the "Dana System of Mineralogy." Even modern advanced handbooks, which are cer tainly necessary, include basic data on minerals and are essentially descriptive. When basic information on the chemistry, structure, optical and physical properties, distinguished features and para genesis of 200-400 minerals is presented, then there is practically no further space available to include new ideas and concepts based on recent mineral studies. A possible solution to this dilemma would be to present a book beginning where introductory textbooks end for those already famil iar with the elementary concepts. Such a volume would be tailored to specialists in all fields of science and industry, interested in the most recent results in mineralogy. This approach may be called Advanced Mineralogy. Here, an attempt has been made to survey the current possibilities and aims in mineral mater investigations, including the main characteristics of all the methods, the most important problems and topics of mineralogy, and related studies. The individual volumes are composed of short, condensed chap ters. Each chapter presents in a complete, albeit condensed, form specific problems, methods, theories, and directions of investigations, and estimates their importance and strategic position in science and industry."

Rapid advances are taking place in the application of density functional theory (DFT) to describe complex electronic structures, to accurately treat large systems and to predict physical and chemical properties. Both theoretical content and computational methodology are developing at a pace which offers researchers new opportunities in areas such as quantum chemistry, cluster science, and solid state physics. This volume contains ten contributions by leading scientists in the field and provides an authoritative overview of the most important developments. The book focuses on the following themes: determining adequate approximations for the many-body problem of electronic correlations; how to transform these approximations into computational algorithms; applications to discover and predict properties of electronic systems; and developing the theory. For researchers in surface chemistry, catalysis, ceramics and inorganic chemistry.

Modern Synthetic and Application Aspects of Polysilanes: An Underestimated Class of Materials?, by A. Feigl, A. Bockholt, J. Weis, and B. Rieger;
*
Conjugated Organosilicon Materials for Organic Electronics and Photonics, by Sergei A. Ponomarenko and Stephan Kirchmeyer;
*
Polycarbosilanes Based on Silicon-Carbon Cyclic Monomers, by E.Sh. Finkelshtein, N.V. Ushakov, and M.L. Gringolts;
*
New Synthetic Strategies for Structured Silicones Using B(C6F5)3, by Michael A. Brook, John B. Grande, and Francois Ganachaud;
*
Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes with Controlled Structure: Formation and Application in New Si-Based Polymer Systems, by Yusuke Kawakami, Yuriko Kakihana, Akio Miyazato, Seiji Tateyama, and Md. Asadul Hoque;"

This book represents the proceedings of the First International Conference on Frontiers of Polymer Research held in New Delhi, India during January 20-25, 1991. Polymers have usually been perceived as substances to be used in insulations, coatings, fabrics, and structural materials. Defying this classical view, polymers are emerging as a new class of materials with potential applications in many new technologies. They also offer challenging opportunities for fundamental research. Recognizing a tremendous growth in world wide interest in polymer research and technology, a truly global "1st International Conference on Frontiers of Polymer Research" was organized by P. N. Prasad (SUNY at Buffalo), F. E. Karasz (University of Massachusetts) and J. K. Nigam (Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, India). The 225 participants represented 25 countries and a wide variety of academic, industrial and government groups. The conference was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Chandra Shekhar and had a high level media coverage. The focus of the conference was on three frontier areas of polymer research: (i) Polymers for photonics, where nonlinear optical properties of polymers show great promise, (ii) Polymers for electronics, where new conduction mechanisms and photophysics have generated considerable enthusiasm and (iii) High performance polymers as new advanced polymers have exhibited exceptionally high mechanical strength coupled with light weight.

In this book, the problem of electron and hole transport is approached from the point of view that a coherent and consistent physical theory can be constructed for transport phenomena. Along the road readers will visit some exciting citadels in theoretical physics as the authors guide them through the strong and weak aspects of the various theoretical constructions. Our goal is to make clear the mutual coherence and to put each theoretical model in an appropriate perspective. The mere fact that so many partial solutions have been proposed to describe transport, be it in condensed matter, fluids, or gases, illustrates that we are entering a world of physics with a rich variety of phenomena. Theoretical physics always seeks to provide a unifying picture. By presenting this tour of many very inventive attempts to build such a picture, it is hoped that the reader will be inspired and encouraged to help find the unifying principle behind the many faces of transport.

Intensive research on zeolites, during the past thirty years, has resulted in a deep understanding of their chemistry and in a true zeolite science, including synthesis, structure, chemical and physical properties, and catalysis. These studies are the basis for the development and growth of several industrial processes applying zeolites for selective sorption, separation, and catalysis. In 1983, a NATO Advanced Study Institute was organized in Alcabideche (portugal) to establish the State-of-the-Art in Zeolite Science and Technology and to contribute to a better understanding of the structural properties of zeolites, the configurational constraints they may exert, and their effects in adsorption, diffusion, and catalysis. Since then, zeolite science has witnessed an almost exponential growth in published papers and patents, dealing with both fundamentals issues and original applications. The proposal of new procedures for zeolite synthesis, the development of novel and sophisticated physical techniques for zeolite characterization, the discovery of new zeolitic and related microporous materials, progresses in quantum chemistry and molecular modeling of zeolites, and the application of zeolites as catalysts for organic reactions have prompted increasing interest among the scientific community. An important and harmonious interaction between various domains of Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering resulted therefrom.

Despite the significant progress, which has been made in developing of ceramic materials desired for engineering applications, their mass production is still not on expected level. Among the key factors hindering higher exploitation of these materials the problems in processing were identified. The processing comprises powder production, mixing techniques, forming, and sintering. All of them are equally important and all of them can introduce defects into the material. Besides improvement in processing, the properties of ceramic materials can be considerably improved by the creation of composites. Composites formed at micro or macro level are able to form more flaw-tolerant material. Considerable research activities, working on above mentioned phenomena are in progress at industrial laboratories as well as other research centres. This volume presents the contributions to the Advanced Research Workshop "Engineering Ceramics '96" with 65 participants from 21 countries held on 12th - 15th May 1996 at Smolenice Castle, Slovakia, the conference site of Slovak Academy of Sciences. The book covers research activities on engineering ceramic materials and gives an overview with respect to recent developments.

The series of Conferences on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules aims to stimulate research and development in this area of Science. The relationship between the structure and the biological activity of such materials as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids is fundamental. The 5th European Conference on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules (ECSBM) is held at the Hotel Poseidon Club, Loutraki, Greece, on 5-10 September 1993. The scientific contents are remained the same as in the past conferences. Emphasis is given to vibrational spectroscopy, mainly infrared and Raman applied to the study of structure and dynamics of proteins, nucleic acids, porphyrins, carbohydrates, membranes, etc. Most of the contributions describe molecular dynamics and excitation processes, in particular the electronic-vibrational excitations, which are studied by Fr-Raman, Fourier Transform Infrared (Fr-IR) coupled often with microscopy and chromatography. Contributions also include Fr-Raman and FT-IR instrumentation and new developments in this area, and applications in Biology and Medicine. Furthermore, there is a plenary lecture in Mass Spectrometry and its applications in biomedical analysis, and a session devoted to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and its application in the study of biological molecules. Several contributions are devoted to other methods, such as CD, optical absorption, fluorescence and molecular graphics simulations. This volume of ECSBM contains shon articles by the invited and contributed lectures as well as from the Poster presentations from many European and non-European countries.

In the field of plant analysis there is a confusing variety of methods and procedures, both for digestions and determinations. In many cases the digestion and the subsequent determination are interrelated. For example, a separate digestion is needed for trace elements in order to obtain determinable concentrations. The authors have chosen a design in which the digestion/extraction procedure is described in one chapter together with all determination procedures that may be carried out on that particular digest/extract. All the necessary information (such as standardizations) appears in appendices. As a consequence, several determination procedures are described two or three times, however, each based on a particular digestion or extraction method. Two types of determination procedure are described: manual and automated. Manual procedures are mainly used in research laboratories, whereas automated procedures are more frequently applied in routine laboratories. Both types of determinations can be used freely, provided that appropriate equipment is available. The determination procedures are only for inorganic components, usually elements. Besides, most procedures are designed to give a total content value of the element under consideration, regardless of the chemical structure in which it occurs in the plant. The Plant Analysis Manual is intended for the practicing (agricultural) chemist.

In the last five years, the study of metal hydrides has ex panded enormously due to the potential technological importance of this class of materials in hydrogen based energy conversion schemes. The scope of this activity has been worldwide among the industrially advanced nations. There has been a consensus among researchers in both fundamental and applied areas that a more basic understanding of the properties of metal/hydrogen syster;, s is required in order to provide a rational basis for the selection of materials for specific applications. The current worldwide need for and interest in research in metal hydrides indicated the timeliness of an Advanced Study Insti tute to provide an in-depth view of the field for those active in its various aspects. The inclusion of speakers from non-NATO coun tries provided the opportunity for cross-fertilization of ideas for future research. While the emphasis of the Institute was on basic properties, there was a conscious effort to stimulate interest in the application of metal hydrides to solar/hydrogen energy conver sion schemes in land areas where solar energy has promise as a primary energy source. In addition to the lectures, several seminars were given which treated topics of special interest in greater detail."

"A Structural and Vibrational Study of the Chromyl Chlorosulfate, Fluorosulfate and Nitrate Compounds" presents important studies related to the structural and vibrational properties on the chromyl compounds based on Ab-initio calculations. The synthesis and the study of such properties are of chemical importance because the stereo-chemistries and reactivities of these compounds are strongly dependent on the coordination modes that adopt the different ligands linked to the chromyl group.
In this book, the geometries of all stable structures in gas phase for chromyl chlorosulfate, fluorosulfate, and nitrate are optimized by using Density functional Theory (DFT). Then, the complete assignments of all observed bands in the infrared and Raman spectra are performed combining DFT calculations with Pulays Scaled Quantum Mechanics Force Field (SQMFF) methodology and taking into account the type of coordination adopted by the chlorosulfate, fluorosulfate and nitrate ligands as monodentate and bidentate. Moreover, the force constants for each compound at the same levels of theory are calculated. As a result, the bond orders calculated and the topological properties of electronic charge density reveal the characteristics and nature of the different bonds in each structure."

"A Structural and Vibrational Investigation into Chromyl Azide, Acetate, Perchlorate and Thiocyanate Compounds" reviews the structural and vibrational properties of chromyl azide, acetate, perchlorate, and thiocyanate from a theoretical point of view by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. These compounds are extensively used in organic syntheses and the study of their structure and spectroscopy has become fundamental.
This book evaluates the best theoretical level and basis set to reproduce the experimental data existing for those compounds. To this end, the optimized geometries and wavenumbers for the normal modes of vibration are calculated and the obtained results are compared and analyzed. Also, the nature of the different types of bonds and their corresponding topological properties of electronic charge density are systematically and quantitatively investigated by using the NBO analysis and the atoms in molecules theory (AIM).

Modern approaches to the theoretical computation and experimental determination of NMR shielding tensors are described in twenty-nine papers based on lectures presented at the NATO ARW. All of the most popular computational methods are reviewed and recent progress is described in their application to chemical, biochemical, geochemical and materials science problems. Experimental studies on NMR shieldings in gases, liquids and solids are also included, with special emphasis placed upon the relationship between NMR shielding and geometric structure and upon tests of the accuracy of the various computational methods. Qualitative MO schemes and semiempirical approaches are also considered in light of the computational results. This is a valuable book for anyone interested in how the NMR shielding tensor can be used to determine the geometric and electronic structures of molecules and solids. (abstract) Modern methods for computing and measuring nuclear magnetic resonance shielding tensors are described in papers by a great number of leaders in the field. The most popular methods for quantum mechanically calculating NMR shielding tensors are reviewed and many applications of these methods are described to problems in chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry and materials science. The focus of the papers is on the relationship of the NMR shielding tensor to the geometric and electronic structure of molecules or solids.

The scope of this paper is to recall fundamental notions of the molecular spectroscopy and dynamics, necessary for discussion of photophysical and photochemical processes in condensed phases. We will thus treat in a more detailed way the specific features which are important for molecular systems strongly interacting with their environment. Other aspects such as the time evolution of isolated molecules, single-level excitation and state-to-state chemistry, important for the gas-phase photophysics are omitted. We start (Sec.2) with a brief description of radiative processes (light absorption and emission) in molecules. In the quantum-mechanical treatment of this problem, the appropriate basis is that of so-called zero-order states, corresponding to the traditional scheme of electronic states (singlets, doublets, triplets etc.) and vibrational levels belonging to each state. The important point will be deduction of selection rules for most radiative transitions. At this stage all molecular states are considered as stationary states. In order to treat the breakdown of simple selection rules and non-radiative transitions between individual molecular states, it is necessary to take into account the mechanisms coupling the zero-order states (Sec.3). We will first focus on intramolecular coupling effects and then discuss the solvent effects on intramolecular relaxation processes. The problem of the non-radiative transfer of the electronic energy between different molecules - closely related to that of the energy dissipation within a single molecule will be treated in Sec.4.

Silicon and silicon compounds have contributed decisively to the technical progress. Technical applications range from mass commodities to highly sophisticated special materials, from ceramics to polymers, from medicine to microelectronics. To keep pace with scientific and technical developments Germany and Austria have established national priority programs, strongly linked to each other as well as to some Swiss groups. At mid-term of the German program and the end of the first funding period of the Austrian program the results are summarized in this special edition of the journal Monatshefte fur Chemie/Chemical Monthly, giving an excellent overview of the current chemical (and partly physical) acitivites in the joint Austrian/German/Swiss program. The contributions cover topical and interdisciplinary developments in the following areas: * new phenomena in compounds with Si-Si bonds: transitions between molecular compounds and solids, cyclosilanes, polysilanes, silicides, amorphous hydrogenated silicon, * novel silicon-oxygen systems: functionalized sol-gel compounds, spherosiloxanes, siloxene, * compounds with low- and high-coordinated silicon, * new spectroscopic and analytical techniques for the characterization of molecular and polymeric silicon compounds.

A summary of all the most important aspects of supramolecular science, from molecular recognition in chemical and biological systems to supramolecular devices, materials and catalysis. The 17 chapters cover calixarenes, catenanes, cavitands, cholophanes, dendrimers, membranes and self-assembly systems, molecular modelling, molecular level devices, organic materials, peptides and protein surfaces, recognition of carbohydrates, rotaxanes, supramolecular catalysis. A forward-looking chapter written by J.-M. Lehn indicated the future prospects for the entire field. Audience: Ph.D. students and young researchers in chemistry, physics and biology.