The primary literature on organometallic chemistry has undergone phenomenal growth. The number of papers published from 1951 to 1976 is about equal to all prior literature. Together with this intense activity there has developed a complexity in the literature. Thus, specialized texts and teaching texts, a review journal, an advanced series, and a research journal have all appeared during this period. The present series also reflects this growth and recognizes that many categories of organometallic compounds now have numerous representatives in the literature. The purpose of Organometallic Reactions and Syntheses is to provide complete chapters on selected categories of organometallic compounds, describing the methods by which they have been synthesized and the reactions they undergo. The emphasis is on the experimental aspects, although struc tures of compounds and mechanisms of reactions are discussed briefly and referenced. Tables of all of the compounds prepared in the category under consideration and detailed directions for specific types make these chapters particularly helpful to the preparative chemist. While the specific directions have not been referenced in the same way. as are those in Organic Syntheses and Inorganic Syntheses, the personal experiences of the authors often lend special merit to the procedures and enable the reader to avoid many of the pitfalls frequently encountered in selecting an experimental procedure from the literature."

Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, in conjunction with Springer-Verlag New York, is pleased to announce a new series: CRYSTALS Growth, Properties, and Applications The series presents critical reviews of recent developments in the field of crystal growth, properties, and applications. A substantial portion of the new series will be devoted to the theory, mechanisms, and techniques of crystal growth. Occasionally, clear, concise, complete, and tested instructions for growing crystals will be published, particularly in the case of methods and procedures that promise to have general applicability. Responding to the ever-increasing need for crystal substances in research and industry, appropriate space will be devoted to methods of crystal characterization and analysis in the broadest sense, even though reproducible results may be expected only when structures, microstructures, and composition are really known. Relations among procedures, properties, and the morphology of crystals will also be treated with reference to specific aspects of their practical application. In this way the series will bridge the gaps between the needs of research and industry, the pos sibilities and limitations of crystal growth, and the properties of crystals. Reports on the broad spectrum of new applications - in electronics, laser tech nology, and nonlinear optics, to name only a few - will be of interest not only to industry and technology, but to wider areas of applied physics as well and to solid state physics in particular. In response to the growing interest in and importance of organic crystals and polymers, they will also be treated."

Even brilliant colors are all bound to scatter, Who in our changing world can stay forever? From Iroha-uta, ancient Buddhistic poem of Japan For many years we have been engaged in the preparation and characterization of new metal complexes and chelates, and especially the interpretation of their electronic spectra in solutions. In the course of these studies, we have encountered a number of strange changes in color which occur upon heating, cooling or compressing the solutions, or changing the nature of the solvent. Similar effects of temperature and pressure on the color were often also observed in the solid state. Records of visual observations, spectral measurements, and their interpretations and analyses accumulated each year, until we found ourselves, quite suddenly, in the middle of a fantastic world of color changes - the world of inorganic thermochromism and related chromo tropic phenomena. This book is a result of the reviews by Sone and Prof. S. Utsuno (Kagaku no Ryoiki, 22, 222 (1968); Bunko Kenkyu, 25,123 (1976)), and a series of papers by Fukuda, Sone et al. published in the 1. Inorg. Nucl. Chern., Bull. Chern. Soc. Japan, and various other journals after 1970.

The continually growing contribution of transition metal chemistry to synthetic organic chemistry is, of course, widely recognized. Equally well known is the difficulty in keeping up-to-date with the multifarious reactions and procedures that seem to be spawned at an ever-increasing rate. These can certainly be summarized on the basis of reviews under the headings of the individual transition metals. More useful to the bench organic chemist, however, would be the opposite type of concordance based on the structural type of the desired synthetic product. This is the approach taken in the present monograph, which presents for each structural entity a conspectus of the transition metal-mediated processes that can be employed in its production. The resulting comparative survey should be a great help in devising the optimum synthetic approach for a particular goal. It is presented from an essentially practical viewpoint, with detailed direc tions interspersed in the Houben-Weyl style. The wide scope of the volume should certainly encourage synthetic organic chemists to utilize fully the range and versatility of these transition metal-mediated processes. This will certainly be a well-thumbed reference book R. A. RAPHAEL Cambridge University v Preface In recent years an enormous amount of work has been done on the catalysis of organic reactions by various transition metal species and on the organic reactivity of organo-transition-metal compounds."

The papers included in this volume were presented at the symposium on "Americium and Curium Chemistry and Technology" at the International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 16-21, 1984. This symposium commemorated forty years of research on americium and curium. Accordingly, the papers included in this volume begin with historical perspectives on the discovery of americium and curium and the early characterization of their chemical properties, and then cover a wide range of subjects, such as thermodynamic properties, electronic structure, nuclear reactions, analytic chemistry, high pressure phase transitions, and technological aspects. Thus, this volume is a review of the chemistry of americium and curium, and provides a perspective on the current research on these elements forty years after their discovery. The editors would like to thank the participants in this symposium for their contributions. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Barbara Moriguchi in handling the administrative aspects of the symposium and of the production of this volume. April 2, 1985 Norman M. Edelstein Materials and Molecular Research Division Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory University of California Berkeley, California 94720, U.S.A. James D. Navratil Rockwell International Rocky Flats Plant P.O. Box 464 Golden, Colorado 80402-0464, U.S.A. Wallace W. Schulz Rockwell Hanford P.O. Box 800 Richland, Washington 99352, U.S.A.

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.

This volume documents the proceedings of the Symposium on Polymers in Information Storage Technology held as a part of the American Chemical Society meeting in Los Angeles, September 25-30, 1988. It should be recorded here that this symposium was cosponsored by the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, and the Division of Polymer Chemistry. Polymers are used for a variety of purposes in both optical and magnetic information storage technologies. For example, polymers find applications as substrate, for storing information directly, as protective coating, as lubricant, and as binder in magnetic media. In the last few years there has been a high tempo of research activity dealing with the many ramifications of polymers in the exciting arena of information storage. Concomitantly, we decided to organize this symposium and I believe this was the premier event on this topic. This symposium was conceived and organized with the following objectives in mind: (1) to bring together those actively involved (polymer chemists, polymer physicists, photochemists, surface and colloid chemists, tribo10gists and so on) in the various facets of this topic; (2) to provide a forum for discussion of latest R&D activity in this technology; (3) to provide an opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas; and (4) to identify and highlight areas, within the broad purview of this topic, which needed intensified or accelerated R&D efforts.

This book presents the lectures and posters of some of the main leaders in the field of th magnesium research and medical applications delivered at the 8 International Symposium on Magnesium, which took place on 5-9 October, 1997 in Heraklion, Crete under the chairmanship of Professor Theophilos Theophanides. The meeting was sponsored by the National Technical University of Athens and Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology. The aim of this meeting was to promote research and applications of magnesium and interface between medical doctors, clinicians and scientists in order to understand the mechanisms responsible for magnesium involvement in the pathogenesis of diseases, its biological significance, metabolism and many other utilizations which are associated with membranes and cells. The success of this interface is due to the contribution of its participants who came from all continents and to their high scientific level. The topics, which were presented, and the questions, which were asked, concerned mechanisms of mode of action of free magnesium cations, Mg2+, hydrated cations, 2 Mg2+. 6 HP, and magnesium linked cations Mg +.LxH 0, where L: ligand and x = 2 1...6 Hp. We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the sponsers and to extend our deep appreciation and thanks to all those who helped and encouraged the scientific and material organization of this meeting. We wish to thank all the members of the scientific committee and the organizing committee.

Exegi monumentum ael'e perennius. The monument I have built will last longer than bronze. Horace My previous book, "Chitin," (1977) was listed by the publisher, as a "key research book," among the most requested books by libraries. It received favorable comments from. each of the journals which reviewed it, Science, 198, 28 Oct. 1977, Physiological Entomology, 2(4), Dec. 1977, The Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology Journal, April 1978, The Quarterly Review of Biology, 53:361, 1978, Oceanographic Abstracts, 15:182, 1979, Annales de Zoologie-Ecologie Animale, 11:127, 1979, and Enzyme & Microbial Technology, 2, 1980. The variety of these journals testifies to the interdisci plinary character of chitin studies. "Chitin" has really been a landmark, to use the definition given by Science, because it stimulated interest in the less known polysaccharides and in modified chitins, besides chitin itself, to the point that three International Conferences on Chitin / Chitosan were convened (Boston, U. S. A. 1977, Sapporo, Japan 1982 and Senigallia, Italy 1985). In convening the 3rd International Conference on Chitin / Chitosan (1-4 April 1985), one of the main objectives was the preparation of the present book. While the proceedings of the previous two Conferences were very valuable, they did not appear in any book catalogs and this severely Ii mi ted their distribution."

Walter C. J. ROSS Emeritus Professor, University of London To paraphrase a statement made by Howard E. Skipper many years ago, 'We cancer chemotherapists have often exploited and overworked our chemist colleagues and they have been conveniently forgotten at award giving times'. This book is an attempt to rectify this and highlight the contribution of the chemist in modifying the structure of various types of agent to enhance their effectiveness as inhibitors of the growth of neoplastic tissues. Cancer chemotherapy is a relatively new discipline, coming later than the introduction of sulphonamides and antibiotics. Modern anti-cancer therapy started with the report of the use of a war gas methyl-di-(2-chloroethyl)amine (HN2) in 1946 for the treatment of Hodgkin's disease. The recognition that this compound acted as a bifunctional alkylating agent under physiological conditions led to the synthesis of a wide range of drugs with similar properties. Amongst these were chlorambucil, melphalan, busulphan, and cyclophos phamide which still find use today. Somewhat later, a range of antibiotics was found to be effective, for example aminopterin (1948) and 6-mercaptopurine (1958) to treat acute leukaemias and 5-fluorouracil and 6-azauracil (1957-8) which were used against a variety of cancers. Since these early days the net has been cast ever wider and, as well as ingenious modifications of the compounds mentioned above, anticancer drugs now include growing classes of compounds ranging from purely synthetic agents to natural products. Many of these are discussed in the present book."

Surface organometallic chemistry is a new field bringing together researchers from organometallic, inorganic, and surface chemistry and catalysis. Topics ranging from reaction mechanisms to catalyst preparation are considered from a molecular basis, according to which the "active site" on a catalyst surface has a supra-molecular character. This. the first book on the subject, is the outcome of a NATO Workshop held in Le Rouret. France, in May. 1986. It is our hope that the following chapters and the concluding summary of recommendations for research may help to provide a definition of surface organometallic chemistry. Besides catalysis. the central theme of the Workshop, four main topics are considered: 1) Reactions of organometallics with surfaces of metal oxides, metals. and zeolites; 2) Molecular models of surfaces, metal oxides, and metals; 3) Molecular approaches to the mechanisms of surface reactions; 4) Synthesis and modification of zeolites and related microporous solids. Most surface organometallic chemistry has been carried out on amorphous high-surf ace-area metal oxides such as silica. alumina. magnesia, and titania. The first chapter. contributed by KNOZINGER. gives a short summary of the structure and reactivity of metal oxide surfaces. Most of our understanding of these surfaces is based on acid base and redox chemistry; this chemistry has developed from X-ray and spectroscopic data, and much has been inferred from the structures and reactivities of adsorbed organic probe molecules. There are major opportunities for extending this understanding by use of well-defined (single crystal) oxide surfaces and organometallic probe molecules."

The aim of this book is, as its title suggests, to help sOilleone with little or no knowledge of what thermal analysis can do, to find out briefly what the subject is all about, to decide whether it will be of use to him or her, and to help in getting started on the more common techniques. Some of the less-common techniques are mentioned, but more specialized texts should be consulted before venturing into these areas. This book arose out of a set of notes prepared for courses on thermal analysis given at instrument workshops organized by'the S.A. Chemical Institute. It has also been useful for similar short courses given at various universities and technikons. I have made extensive use ofthe manufacturers' literature, and I am grateful to them for this information. A wide variety of applications has been drawn from the literature to use as examples and these are acknowledged in the text. A fuller list of the books, reviews and other literature ofthermal analysis is given towards the back of this book. The ICTA booklet 'For Better Thermal Analysis' is also a valuable source of information. I am particularly grateful to my wife, Cindy, for typing the manuscript, to Mrs Heather Wilson for the line drawings, and to Professor David Dollimore of the University of Toledo, Ohio, for many helpful suggestions.

Research on metal-containing polymers began in the early 1960's when several workers found that vinyl ferrocene and other vinylic transition metal TI -complexes would undergo polymerization under the same conditions as conventional organic monomers to form high polymers which incorporated a potentially reactive metal as an integral part of the polymer structures. Some of these materials could act as semi conductors and possessed one or two dimensional conductivity. Thus applications in electronics could be visualized immediately. Other workers found that reactions used to make simple metal chelates could be used to prepare polymers if the ligands were designed properly. As interest in homogeneous catalysts developed in the late 60's and early 70's, several investigators began binding homogeneous catalysts onto polymers, where the advantage of homogeneous catalysis - known reaction mechanisms and the advantage of heterogeneous catalysis - simplicity and ease of recovery of catalysts could both be obtained. Indeed the polymer matrix itself often enhanced the selectivity of the catalyst. The first symposium on Organometallic Polymers, held at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in September 1977, attracted a large number of scientists interested in this field, both established investigators and newcomers. Subsequent symposia in 1977, 1979, 1983, and 1987 have seen the field mature. Hundreds of papers and patents have been published."

This book is aimed at graduate students and research workers in aU branches of ohemistry, who wish to gain insight into what continues'to be one of the fastest growing areas of the subject. Aonding to a metal center may stabilize a ligand towards some reagents, activate it towards others, or modify its chemical behavior in more subtle ways. AU these effects have their uses, and aU invite understanding in terms of mechanism. Thus mechanistic insight is linked to control of reaction pathways. The detailed working out of this relationship provides the central theme of the book. The effect of the metal may be electronic or steric, and may involve the energy or the entropy of activation. It may depend on changes induced in the initial state of the ligand, or on those that only arise further along the reaction pathway. It may involve one coordination site or several, and the effects may be more, or less, specific to the metal involved and more, or less, amenable to control through the other Jigands. These remarks apply equaUy strongly to the carbon-bound ligands which occupy the major part of this work, and to those attached by other atoms. Thus the reactions discussed here are relevant in such diverse areas as bulk homogeneous catalysis, stereoselective stoichiometric synthesis, and bioinorganic chemistry.

Chemical Synthesis: Gnosis to Prognosis (XTUllKtl ~uv8eoTr ana TT) rVWOT) OTT) npaYVWOT)) " . . . . other things being equal, that field has the most merit which contributes most heavily to, and illuminates most brightly, its neighbouring scientific disciplines[l] One hundred scientists, a blend of students, industrialists, and academics from twenty countries gathered to circumscribe, understand, and elaborate this topic in the magical setting of Ravello, Italy. The mandate of this workshop? To survey existing knowledge, assess current work, and discuss the future directions of chemical synthesis as it impinges on three exciting interdisciplinary themes of science in the 1990's: bioactive molecules, man-made chemical materials, and molecular recognition. This tempting but inexact menu summoned diverse students and scientists who wished to seriously reflect upon, dissect, and eject ideas and own experiences into open debate on this topic, which is at a crossroad in internal evolution and impact on the life and material sciences. The group arrived from many directions and in various forms of transportation, matters soon forgotten, when it found itself in the village which nurtured Wagner's inspiration and set to work immediately to ponder the question which has received extensive thought, prediction, and caveat from illustrious chemists over a period of time [2], two of which, to the delight of all, in presence among the Lectures.

The literature contains tens of thousands of publications and patents devoted to the synthesis, characterization and processing of polymers. Despite the fact that there are more than one hundred elements, the majority of these publications and patents concern polymers with carbon backbones. Furthermore, the limited (by comparison) number of publications on polymers that contain elements other than carbon in their backbones are typically devoted to polymers based on silicon, especially those with Si-O bonds. This disparity is partially a consequence of the dearth of low cost organometallic feedstock chemicals potentially useful for polymer synthesis. It also derives from the lack of general synthetic techniques for the preparation of organometallic polymers. That is, by comparison with the numerous synthetic strategies available for the preparation of organic polymers, there are few such strategies available for synthesizing tractable, organometallic polymers. In recent years, commerical and military performance requirements have begun to challenge the performance limits of organic polymers. As such, researchers have turned to organometallic polymers as a possible means of exceeding these limits for a wide range of applications that include: (1) microelectronics processing (e.g. photoresists) [1]; (2) light weight batteries (conductors and semi-conductors) [2]; (3) non-linear optical devices [3] and, (4) high temperature structural materials (e.g. ceramic fiber processing) [4,5].

Essential themes in the biochemical cycling of mercury are the relative importance of anthropogenic versus natural sources, transformation and migration processes at the local, regional and global scale, global emission inventories of different mercury sources (both point and diffuse) of both natural and anthropogenic origin. In this regard, Siberia, with its vast territory and variety of natural zones, is of special interest in the global mercury cycle and in terms of the influence of geographical zones on source and sink terms in regional budgets. Siberia contains large areas of mercuriferous belts; natural deposits that emit mercury into the atmosphere and water. Siberian gold has been mined with the use of mercury since the early 1800s. But there, too, huge forest zones and vast areas of tundra and wetland (bogs) can act as efficient sinks for atmospheric mercury. Audience: Environmental scientists, legislators, politicians and the interested citizen wishing to gain a clear picture of the biogeochemical cycling of mercury.

Biological inorganic chemistry is a field of research at the interface of inorganic and biological chemistry. The rapidly developing insights into the role of metals in biological systems has far-reaching implications not only for biological science but also for related disciplines, ranging from molecular medicine to the environment. In each volume the reader, whether engaged in chemistry, biochemistry, biology or molecular medicine, receives a comprehensive summary and critical overview of a topic of hight current interest written by leading international experts.

The design, -synthesis, and selective pyrolytic conversion of organo metallic precursdrs to materials of high purity or specific morphology (for electronic or optical applications), high strength and/or high-temperature stability (for structural or refractory applications) represents a poten tial area of extreme growth at the overlap of chemistry and materials science (materials chemistry). Research in this area is likely to have considerable impact at both the academic and societal levels because it will require development of scientific expertise in areas currently not well understood. Examples include: (1) The thermodynamics of molecular rearrangements in organometallic molecules at temperatures above 200 DegreesC; (2) The electronic properties of amorphous ceramic materials; (3) The phys icochemical properties of ceramic molecular composites; and (4) The optical properties of multicomponent glasses made by sol-gel processing. The opportunity to establish the scientific principles needed to pursue useful research goals in "materials chemistry" requires communica tion between chemists, ceramists, metallurgists, and physicists. To date, there have been few opportunities to create an environment where such communication might occur. The objective of this NATO Advanced Research Workshop was to promote discussions between experts in the varibus disci plines aligned with "materials chemistry. " These discussions were intended to identify the scope and potential rewards of research efforts in the development of: Custom-designed precursors to common and exotic materials, methods of selectively transforming these precursors in high yield to the desired material, and methods of characterizing the final products.

This volume contains the papers and reports presented at the First International Conference on Dye-Protein Interaction, held 24-28 July 1988 at the University of Compiegne, France. This was the first international meeting dealing entirely with dye-protein interaction. The major focus of the conference was on the better understanding of the mechanism of interaction of proteins with different triazine dyes and the synthesis of novel structural dyes having good biomimetic activities. The potentials and limits of their use in biotechnology, mainly for purification, were stressed. Current contributions in developing dye-based affinity methods were highlighted in such areas as affinity partition, affinity precipitation and new support matrices for efficient affinity chromatography, etc. The interrelation between metal chelates and dyes in terms of their interactions with proteins was underlined. It is our belief that this proceedings volume will be a stimulus for broad and creative applications of dye affinity concepts in many fields of biomedical research and biotechnology. for understanding the In addition, a discussion session emphasised the necessity toxicological aspects of these dyes, their fragments and their metabolites. This helped to trigger plans for future work, and this topic will be one of the priorities in a future meeting on dye-protein interactions. C. R. The help of the International Scientific Committee, which included Drs Lowe (UK), G. KopperschHiger (GDR) , E. Stellwagen (USA), D. Thomas (France), G. Birkenmeier (GDR), S. Rajgopal-Narayan (USA), J. P. Dandeu (France), D. Muller (France) and E. Dellacherie (France), in organising this meeting is gratefully acknowledged.

Solid-State NMR is a branch of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance which is presently experiencing a phase of strongly increasing popularity. The most striking evidence is the large number of contributions from Solid-State Resonance atNMR meetings, approaching that ofliquid state resonance. Important progress can be observed in three areas: Methodological developments, applications to inorganic matter, and applications to organic matter. These developments are intented to be captured in three volumes in this series, each of them being devoted to more or less one of these areas. The present volume on Solid-State NMR III is devoted mainly to organic matter. The recent developments of deuteron NMR and their applications are reviewed in the first chapter. Crosspolarization, MAS, and dynamic angle spinning are being explored for enhancement of information and sensitivity. In addition to the analysis of classical relaxation times and modern 2D spectra, detailed dynamic information becomes accessible from investigations of the relaxation time anisotropies. The second chapter examines cross-polarization in static and rotating solids under conditions of spin diffusion and thermal motion. The underlying dipole-dipole interaction is further exploited by the techniques described in the third chapter for studies of polymer-polymer miscibility. Short range techniques are discriminated from long-range techniques based on spin diffusion. The use ofthese techniques is illustrated by a case study ofPMMAJPVF blends. The last chapter addresses novel z methods and applications of two-dimensional exchange NMR for investigations of relative molecular orientations, polymer morphology, molecular dynamics, and macroscopic molecular order."

The term biomimetic is comparatively new on the chemical scene, but the concept has been utilized by chemists for many years. Furthermore, the basic idea of making a synthetic material that can imitate the func tions of natural materials probably could be traced back into antiquity. From the dawn of creation, people have probably attempted to duplicate or modify the activities of the natural world. (One can even find allusions to these attempts in the Bible; e. g., Genesis 30. ) The term "mimetic" means to imitate or mimic. The word "mimic" means to copy closely, or to imitate accurately. Biomimetic, which has not yet entered most dictionaries, means to imitate or mimic some specific bio logical function. Usually, the objective of biomimetics is to form some useful material without the need of utilizing living systems. In a simi lar manner, the term biomimetic polymers means creating synthetic poly mers which imitate the activity of natural bioactive polymers. This is a major advance in polymer chemistry because the natural bioactive polymers are the basis of life itself. Thus, biomimetic polymers imitate the life process in many ways. This present volume delineates some of the recent progress being made in this vast field of biomimetic polymers. Chemists have been making biomimetic polymers for more than fifty years, although this term wasn't used in the early investigations."

The 6th course of the futernational School of Solid State Physics was held in Erice, Sicily, at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture, 19-29 June, 1995. The course was organized as a NATO Advanced Study Institute and received generous support from NATO's Nanoscale Science Program. This volume is based on the lectures presented during the course. fudispensable for the planning of the summer school was the support of the Director of the Ettore Majorana Centre, Professor A. Zichichi. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the center staff, Dr. Maria Zaini, Dr. Alberto Gabriele, Dr. Pinola Savalli and Dr. Jerry Pilarski for their expert assistance in all organizational matters. A special word of thanks must go to the director of the International School of Solid State Physics, Professor Giorgio Benedek, not only for his valuable advice in the planning stage, but also for his active participation in the program itself. I would like to thank my coworkers, Stefan Frank, Nikola Malinowski, Renee Stotz, Frank Tast and Kristin Wirth for their valuable assistance in preparing these proceedings of the meeting. The success of a school is, in the last analysis, determined by the inter- est and commitment of the lecturers and participants. I am very grateful to the lecturers for their carefully prepared formal presentations, to the par- ticipants for their contributions to the spontaneous evening "workshops", and to all for their inexhaustible enthusiasm.

The field of low-dimensional conductors has been very active for more than twenty years. It has grown continuously and both the inorganic and organic materials have remark able properties, such as charge and spin density waves and superconductivity. The discovery of superconductivity at high temperature in copper-based quasi two-dimensional conducting oxides nearly ten years ago has further enlarged the field and stimulated new research on inorganic conductors. It was obviously impossible to cover such a broad field in a ten day Institute and it seemed pertinent to concentrate on inorganic conductors, excluding the high Tc superconducting oxides. In this context, it was highly desirable to include both physics and chemistry in the same Institute in order to tighten or in some cases to establish links between physicists and chemists. This Advanced Study Institute is the continuation of a series of similar ones which have taken place every few years since 1974. 73 participants coming from 13 countries have taken part in this School at the beautiful site of the Centre de Physique des Houches in the Mont-Blanc mountain range. The scientific programme included more than forty lectures and seminars, two poster sessions and ten short talks. Several discussion sessions were organized for the evenings, one on New Materials, one on New Topics and one on the special problem of the Fermi and Luttinger liquids. The scientific activity was kept high from the beginning to the end of the Institute."