Over the past several decades, vanadium has increasingly attracted the interest of biologists and chemists. The discovery by Henze in 1911 that certain marine ascidians accumulate the metal in their blood cells in unusually large quantities has done much to stimulate research on the role of vanadium in biology. In the intervening years, a large number of studies have been carried out to investigate the toxicity of vanadium in higher animals and to determine whether it is an essential trace element. That vanadium is a required element for a few selected organisms is now well established. Whether vanadium is essential for humans remains unclear although evidence increasingly suggests that it probably is. The discovery by Cantley in 1977 that vanadate is a potent inhibitor of ATPases lead to numerous studies of the inhibitory and stimulatory effects of vanadium on phosphate metabolizing enzymes. As a consequence vanadates are now routinely used as probes to investigate the mechanisms of such enzymes. Our understanding of vanadium in these systems has been further enhanced by the work of Tracy and Gresser which has shown striking parallels between the chemistry of vanadates and phosphates and their biological compounds. The observation by Shechter and Karlish, and Dubyak and Kleinzeller in 1980 that vanadate is an insulin mimetic agent has opened a new area of research dealing with the hormonal effects of vanadium. The first vanadium containing enzyme, a bromoperoxidase from the marine alga Ascophyllum nodosum, was isolated in 1984 by Viltner.

The past decade has witnessed a burst of activity and interest in the discovery and design of drugs that cleave DNA and RNA with sequence specificity. This interest stems from the potential of this class of compounds to be useful as therapeutics agents, in particular in the field of the treatment of cancer and viral diseases. Further, a side benefit of such studies is the discovery of novel mechanisms and uses of such agents as tools in the study of structure and function of nucleic acids. Up to now, no international meeting has been organized to recognize the immense progress that has been made in this field. The field of DNA and RNA cleavage by natural and chemical drugs now includes researchers working with rather dissimilar agents but with common underlying mechanisms of DNA damage. Until recently, these scientists were working in separate, apparently unrelated areas, such as the enediyne antibiotics and their synthetic analogues, bleomycin-metal complexes, metal-drug complexes, ribozymes and ribozyme mimics, and antisense and antigene oligonucleotides, etc. It is now clear that these research areas have in common strategies and targets. Researchers representing these areas worked together at this workshop where these common interests were discussed and scientific ideas modified and criticized. Such a workshop should lead to new research approaches and collaborative interactions, and is expected to significantly enhance the progress in the field of DNA and RNA cleavage.

One of the characteristics of the development of chemical science in the middle of the present century is the vigorous pro gress of the "third chemistry," which is often named now the chemistry of heteroorganic compounds. Then in the last decade, among specialists in this field there has been a marked increase in interest in heteroatomic organic derivatives of silicon, i. e. , heteroorganic silicon compounds. However, until recently this new class of chemical substances, which is extremely interesting theoretically and practically, has been without a single specialized monograph which systematizes and generalizes all progress in the heteroorganic chemistry of silicon. The first attempt in this direction was our book "Heteroorganic Compounds of Silicon" [42 (F), 17 (S) *], which appeared at the end of 1966 and was published as an English translation in the USA in 1969. However, as follows from its subtitle "Derivatives of Inorganic Elements," this mono graph could not cover the whole broad field of the chemistry of heteroorganic compounds of silicon. The main reason for this was above all the abundance and variety of original investigations of organosilicon derivatives of inorganic elements, which was un expected even to the authors themselves. As a result of this the planned length of the book compelled us to omit the sections on organosilicon compounds of phosphorus and sulfur, which had al ready been prepared for publication.

Adhesives in general and structural adhesives in particular are the subjects of much academic interest as well as commercial importance. Structural bonding, as a method of joining, offers a number of advantages over mechanical fastening. However, in order to achieve satisfactory results, the proper adhesive must be selected and the appropriate bonding procedures followed. The purpose of Structural Adhesives: Chemistry and Technology is to review the major classes of structural adhesives and the principles of adhesion and bonding as these relate to structural joints. Each chapter provides an overview of the topic under discussion with a list of references to the relevant literature. In addition to describing the chemistry involved, other aspects of structural adhesive technology are covered, such as formula tion, testing, and end uses. Some structural adhesives, especially epoxies and phenolics, have a long history of successful use and are now widely employed. Others, such as the structural acrylics and cyanoacrylates, are beginning to gain industrial acceptance. Urethanes and anaerobics have limited but important uses, while high-temperature adhesives are still largely in the research and development stage."

John Berry: Metal-Metal Bonds in Chains of Three or More Metal Atoms: From Homometallic to Heterometallic Chains.- Malcolm Chisholm: Electronically Coupled MM Quadruple Bonded Complexes of Molybdenum and Tungsten.- Philip Power: Transition Metal Complexes Stabilized by Bulky Terphenyl Ligands: Applications to Metal-Metal Bonded Compounds.- Gerard Parkin: Metal-Metal Bonding in Bridging Hydride and Alkyl Compounds.- Roland Fischer and Gernot Frenking: Structure and Bonding of Metal Rich Coordination Compounds Containing Low Valent Ga(I) and Zn(I) Ligands.- Mike Hill: Homocatenation of Metal and Metalloid Main Group Elements.- Constandinos A. Tsipis: Aromaticity/Antiaromaticity in "Bare" and ''Ligand-Stabilized'' Rings of Metal Atoms.- Alexander Boldyrev: All-Transition Metal Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity.

The state-of-the-art in contemporary theoretical chemistry is presented in this 4-volume set with numerous contributions from the most highly regarded experts in their field. It provides a concise introduction and critical evaluation of theoretical approaches in relation to experimental evidence.

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.

In the ten years since the scientific rationale for the design, synthesis and application of inorganic and organometallic polymers (IOPs) was first conceptualised, we have witnessed the first tentative exploration of IOPs as precursors to new materials, with efforts focusing on the design and synthesis of novel ceramic precursors. Developing expertise led to precursor studies combined with the characterisation of the transformation processes that occur when IOPs are converted to ceramic materials. Now at maturity, the science presented in this volume reveals the polymer precursor approach to materials synthesis together with examples of processing ceramic shapes for a range of mechanical properties, the development of sophisticated, noninvasive analytical techniques, and IOP design rationales relying on well-defined processing-property relationships. The production of multifunctional IOPs is described, providing ion conductivity, gas sensing, bioactivity, magnetic properties, etc., combined with processability. The existence of well-defined IOPs and the exquisite control that can be exerted on sol-gel systems now provide access to such a variety of mixed organic-organometallic and/or inorganic hybrid systems that their exploitation is likely to develop into an entirely new field of materials chemistry. Future exciting avenues of research are also being opened up with the advent of buckyballs, Met-Cars, dopable preceramics, rigid-rod organometallics, and molecular tinkertoys.

Selective Oxidation by Heterogeneous Catalysis covers one of the major areas of industrial petrochemical production, outlining open questions and new opportunities. It gives keys for the interpretation and analysis of data and design of new catalysts and reactions, and provides guidelines for future research. A distinctive feature of this book is the use of concept by example. Rather than reporting an overview of the literature results, the authors have selected some representative examples, the in-depth analysis of which makes it possible to clarify the fundamental, but new concepts necessary for a better understanding of the new opportunities in this field and the design of new catalysts or catalytic reactions. Attention is given not only to the catalyst itself, but also to the use of the catalyst inside the process, thus evidencing the relationship between catalyst design and engineering aspects of the process. This book provides suggestions for new innovative directions of research and indications on how to reconsider the field of selective oxidation from different perspectives, outlining that is not a mature field of research, but that new important breakthroughs can be derived from fundamental and applied research. Suggestions are offered on how to use less conventional approaches in terms of both catalyst design and analysis of the data.

This volume entitled Advanced Science and Technology of Sintering, contains the edited Proceedings of the Ninth World Round Table Conference on Sintering (IX WRTCS), held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, September 1-4 1998. The gathering was one in a series of World Round Table Conferences on Sintering organised every four years by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) and the International Institute for the Science of Sintering (IISS). The World Round Table Conferences on Sintering have been traditionally held in Yugoslavia. The first meeting was organised in Herceg Novi in 1969 and since then they have regularly gathered the scientific elite in the science of sintering. It is not by chance that, at these conferences, G. C. Kuczynski, G. V. Samsonov, R. Coble, Ya. E. Geguzin and other great names in this branch of science presented their latest results making great qualitative leaps in the its development. Belgrade hosted this conference for the first time. It was chosen as a reminder that 30 years ago it was the place where the International Team for Sintering was formed, further growing into the International Institute for the Science of Sintering. The IX WRTCS lasted four days. It included 156 participants from 17 countries who presented the results of their theoretical and experimental research in 130 papers in the form of plenary lectures, oral presentations and poster sections.

This volume had its birth from a symposium organized by the Macromolecular Secretariat of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta, GA, 1991. Since Macromolecular SeCretariat has five participating divisions-Polymer Chemistry; Polymer Materials: Science and Engineering Division; Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division; Cellulose, Paper and Textile Division; and Rubber Division-the speakers were invited from these disciplinaries and they are truly interdisciplinary in multidisciplinary areas. A number of papers are from the presentations at this symposium. However, some papers were subsequently invited to be sent in. Therefore, many papers have cited references with dates as late as this current year. This book emphasizes applications, and some of the papers were finished in 1993. Therefore, it is timely for scientists and engineers interested in this area of progress. For scientists and engineers who are not familiar with this field, since the development is still youthful, this volume will cover some new frontiers, such as electronics, medical devices, fossil fuels, asphaltics, geochemistry, and environmental engineering. With that in mind, this book can be very useful as a reference. We do include a number of review papers . in this volume. In summary, this book contains sixteen chapters with twenty-eight authors from various organizations and specialties."

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.

This book presents the proceedings of the Second International Conference on Frontiers of Polymers and Advanced Materials held in Jakarta, Indonesia during January 10-15, 1993. This conference was organized and sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), and the Indonesian Polymer Association. The 244 participants represented a total of 24 countries and a wide variety of academic, industrial and government groups. The inauguration was held in the Royal Palace and was performed by President Soeharto of Indonesia. High level media coverage ensured worldwide recognition. The need for such a conference was emphasized by the fact that polymers have emerged as an important class of materials offering challenging opportunities for both fundamental research and new technological applications. There has been a tremendous growth of interest in the field of polymers, both in academia and in industry, and polymer science offers tremendous opportunities for both fundamental and applied work. This globally represented Second International Conference on Frontiers of Polymers and Advanced Materials was timely, especially given the current heightened enthusiasm for polymers and emerging novel applications.

The study of crystal structures has had an ever increasing impact on many fields of science such as physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, medicine, pharmacy, metallurgy, mineralogy and geology. Particularly, with the advent of direct methods of structure determination, the data on crystal structures are accumulating at an unbelievable pace and it becomes more and more difficult to oversee this wealth of data. A crude rationalization of the structures of organic compounds and the atom coordinations can be made with the well-known Kekule model, however, no such generally applicable model exists for the structures of inorganiC and particularly intermetallic compounds. There is a need to rationalize the inorganic crystal structures, to find better ways of describing them, of denoting the geometrical relationships between them, of elucidating the electronic factors and of explaining the bonding between the atoms with the aim of not only having a better understanding of the known structures, but also of predicting structural features of new compounds.

NMR is better suited than any other experimental technique for the characterization of supramolecular systems in solution. The presentations included here can be broadly divided into three classes. The first class illustrates the state of the art in the design of supramolecular systems and includes examples of different classes of supramolecular complexes: catenanes, rotaxanes, hydrogen-bonded rosettes, tubes, capsules, dendrimers, and metal-containing hosts. The second class comprises contributions to NMR methods that can be applied to address the main structural problems that arise in supramolecular chemistry. The third class includes biological supramolecular systems studied by state-of-the-art NMR techniques.

This volume contains the proceedings of the third Euroconference on Atomic Phys ics at Accelerators (APAC 2001), with the title Stored Particles and Fundamental Physics. It was held in Aarhus, Denmark, from September 8 to 13 at the Marselis Hotel located near the beach and the Marselis Woods outside Aarhus, but some of the activities took place at the Department of Physics, University of Aarhus. The conference was sponsored by the Commission of the European Union (Contract No. ERBFMMACT980469) and also by the Danish Research Foundation through ACAP (Aarhus Center for Atomic Physics). The meeting was focused on the application of storage rings for atomic physics, and there are two fairly small rings in Aarhus, ASTRID (Aarhus STorage Ring for Ions,Denmark) and ELISA (ELectrostatic Ion Storage ring, Aarhus). The research at these rings has contributed to the strong position of European Science in this field. Both rings are designed according to unique concepts. ASTRID is a dual purpose ring, which half the time stores electrons for the generation of low-energy synchrotron radiation. The storage of negative particles has also been a unique feature for the application of ASTRID as an ion storage ring.

In the last 15 years aqueous organometallic chemistry and catalysis has emerged from being a laboratory curiosity to become an established field of research. Topics reviewed here include mechanistic studies on the effect of water on catalyzed reactions, the preparation of water soluble phosphines as ligands for catalysis, metal catalyzed organic reactions in water (hydrogenation, hydroformylation, carbonylation, olefin metathesis, hydrophosphination, etc.), chiral ligands and enantioselective catalysis, organometallic radical photochemistry in aqueous solutions, bioorganometallic chemistry, organometallic reactions of biopolymers, and catalytic modification of biomembranes. The summary of recent results is supplemented by an assessment of probable future research trends. Audience: Researchers in both academia and industry, as well as graduate students of homogeneous catalysis.

Early in this century, the newly discovered x-ray diffraction by crystals made a complete change in crystallography and in the whole science of the atomic structure of matter, thus giving a new impetus to the development of solid-state physics. Crystallographic methods, pri marily x-ray diffraction analysis, penetrated into materials sciences, mol ecular physics, and chemistry, and also into many other branches of science. Later, electron and neutron diffraction structure analyses be came important since they not only complement x-ray data, but also supply new information on the atomic and the real structure of crystals. Electron microscopy and other modern methods of investigating mat ter-optical, electronic paramagnetic, nuclear magnetic, and other res onance techniques-yield a large amount of information on the atomic, electronic, and real crystal structures. Crystal physics has also undergone vigorous development. Many re markable phenomena have been discovered in crystals and then found various practical applications. Other important factors promoting the development of crystallog raphy were the elaboration of the theory of crystal growth (which brought crystallography closer to thermodynamics and physical chem istry) and the development of the various methods of growing synthetic crystals dictated by practical needs. Man-made crystals became increas ingly important for physical investigations, and they rapidly invaded technology. The production of synthetic crystals made a tremendous impact on the traditional branches: the mechanical treatment of mate rials, precision instrument making, and the jewelry industry.

Homogeneous catalysis plays an important role both in the laboratory and in the industry. Successful applications in industry involve new polymerisation processes with complexes of zirconium and related metals, new carbonylation processes employing palladium and rhodium, ring opening polymerisations, and new enantioselective isomerisation catalysts as in the preparation of menthol. Also in the synthesis of organic compounds in the laboratory highly selective homogeneous catalysts represent an irreplaceable part of the toolbox of the synthetic chemist. Examples of such reactions are cross-coupling (Ni, Pd), nucleophilic substitution of allylpalladium complexes, Heck reactions (Pd), asymmetric epoxidation, Wacker type reactions (Pd), asymmetric hydrogenations (Rh, Ru), reactions of chromium complexes, enantioselective reactions with Lewis acids, reactions with the McMurry reagent, etc. There is hardly any multistep organic synthesis that does not involve one of these metal catalysed reactions. Most of these catalysts have been developed by empiricism. The metal catalysed processes consist of a series of elementary steps which often have been studied in isolation in organometallic chemistry. The knowl- edge of such elementary steps - effect ofligands, anions, coordination number, valence states - has greatly contributed to the development of improved cata- lysts for the reactions mentioned above. In addition to the empirical approach theoretical methods have given support and guidance to the development of improved processes. Often the key steps of a cycle escape from a direct ob- servation and then theoretical contributions are even more wanted.

The book presents the method of thermodynamic Green Functions applied to the problems of electrochemistry. The basic theorems and their derivations are found at the didactic level which requires, however, a knowledge of the principles of quantum mechanics and statistical physics. The book is mainly based on the results of papers published during the last fifteen years by its authors and their coworkers from the Department of Theoretical Chemistry and the Department of Solid State Physics of the University ofL6di (poland) within the context of the results reported in literature. Although the Green Functions Method has become very popular in solid state physics, there are almost no applications of this technique to electrochemistry. The only papers where the Green Functions Method is applied to the molten salts and liquid mercury theory are the precursory works published by Professor S. G. Davison and his coworkers from the Waterloo University (Canada) in the early eighties. We hope that the present book can fill this gap in the electrochemical literature.

Although, carbon is only one of one hundred plus elements, the polymer science lit erature consists primarily of studies on carbon based polymers. In part, this reflects the varied feedstock sources and in part, the type of bonds and bond forming reactions avail able to form organic polymers that are not available to the inorganic and organometallic chemist. However, recent intense interest in polymers with novel optical, electronic or magnetic properties or polymers that can serve as precursors to ceramic, semiconductor, metallic or superconductor materials has served as a driver for the development of novel synthetic routes and characterization techniques that have launched many new inorganic and organometallic oligomers and polymer systems. The following chapters represent an effort to provide an overview of several new and continuing areas of development in inorganic and organometallic polymer science. This book represents the second in a series of books we have edited on inorganic and organometallic polymer chemistry (1. Transformation of Organo-metallics into Common and Exotic Materials, NATO ASI Series Vol 141. 3. Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers with Special Properties, NATO ASI Series in press). In this series, we attempt to develop, for the reader, an understanding of the breadth, depth and potential of inorganic and organometallic polymer science."

Why to apply solid-state NMR? - By now, we should have learned that NMR is mainly used for the study of molecules in solution, while x-ray diffraction is the method of choice for solids. Based on this fact, the two recent 'NMR-Nobelprizes' went indeed into the liquid phase: my own one eleven years ago, and particularly the most recent one to Kurt Wuthrich. His prize is beyond any doubts very well justified. His contribution towards the study of biomolecules in solution, in their native (or almost native) environment is truly monumental. We all will profit from it indirectly when one of our future diseases will be cured with better drugs, based on the insightful knowledge gained through liquid-state NMR. Two fields of NMR are still left out of the Nobel Prize game: magnetic reso nance imaging (MRI) and solid-state NMR. The disrespect for MRI in Stockholm is particularly difficult to understand; but this is not a subject to be discussed at the present place. Solid-state NMR is the third of the three great fields of NMR, powerful already today and very promising for the near future."

The history of the rare earths has entered its third century; trans uranium elements are now a half century old. Both the lanthanide and actinide ele- ments, 30 elements altogether, are f elements, meaninj that their metallic 2 1 1 electronic configurations are typically 6s 5d 4f" and 7s 6d 5f" respectively. To an elementary approximation as summarized in the 'average inorganic chemistry textbook, these configurations cause their chemistry to be described by the trivalent state accompanied by less interesting effects such as the lanthanide contraction. However, the discovery of divalent and tetravalent lanthanides and di- to seven-valent actinides hinted at the existence of more interesting although still classic solid-state and coor- dination chemistry. Metallic halides and chalcogenides and electron-poor cluster compounds have been the outgrowth of many synthetic efforts during the past 25 years or so. These days, one can say that the lan- thanides and actinides are not at all boring; the fascination arises from every element being an individual, having its own chemistry.

This book documents the proceedings of the symposium "Fundamentals and Applications of Anion Separations" held during American Chemical Society National Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, August 25-30, 200I. Nearly 40 papers devoted to discussions on anion separation related to fundamental research and applications were presented. The symposium, sponsored by Osram Sylvania, BetzDearbom, and the Separation Science & Technology Subdivision of the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society was organized by Bruce A. Moyer, Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Building. 4500S, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6119, and Raj P. Singh, Chemicals and Powders R&D, Osram Sylvania, Chemical and Metallurgical Products Division, Towanda, PA 18848. It drew presenters from Australia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Separations constitute an integral part of chemical industry. Chemical products typically originate in resources that must be concentrated and purified, chemically transformed, and subjected to fmal purification. Effluent streams from the processes must be treated to recycle reusable components and to remove environmentally harmful species. Some industrial processes are devoted to environmental cleanup after pollution has occurred. In addition, many analytical methods require a separation for preconcentration, or a separation may be an inherent part of the analysis itself. Micro separations occurring at membranes or interfaces are also related phenomena employed for ion sensing. Many species targeted for separation are naturally anionic. Although the standard separations techniques ofextraction, ion exchange, adsorption, precipitation, etc.

The present book covers different aspects of proton conduction: the first part describes chemical and physical parameters necessary for fast proton conduction and proposes a classification of different kinds of proton conductors. Comparison is made with other hydrogen containing materials (metals, graphites). The importance of partial water pressure, the role of defects and surface phenomena are discussed. The second part treats the chemistry, structures and electrical properties of typical materials from hydrogen bronzes to polymers via ice, hydroxides, acid sulphates, layer hydrates, clays, gels and porous or fractal media. The third part discusses the methods concerning the proton dynamics from local to macroscopic scale. The fourth part deals with conductivity mechanisms and the last one presents typical applications: electrochemical systems for production or energy storage and microionic devices.