Molybdenum is crucially important for almost all organisms ranging from ancient single cell micro-organisms to modern human beings. The reactions catalyzed by molybdenum and tungsten co-factors involve two electron oxidation or reduction usually accompanied by an oxygen atom transfer from water to substrate or vice versa as part of the carbon, nitrogen and sulphur metabolism. This book deals with the advances of molybdenum and tungsten co-factor model chemistry including a brief survey of the earlier stages of even older inorganic dithiolene chemistry.

There has been enormous progress in our understanding of molybdenum and tungsten enzymes and relevant inorganic complexes of molybdenum and tungsten over the past twenty years. This set of three books provides a timely and comprehensive overview of the field and documents the latest research. The first volume focusses on the enzymes themselves, and discusses active sites and substrate channels of relevant proteins. The second volume covers the inorganic complexes that model the structures and reactivity of the active sites of each major group of molybdenum and tungsten enzymes. Special attention is given to synthetic strategies, reaction mechanism and chemical kinetics of these systems. In the final volume, spectroscopic and computational methods that have been applied to both enzymes and model compounds are explored with an emphasis on how these studies have been used to reveal critical components of enzyme mechanisms. Each book begins with an introductory overview that sets the three thematic areas of each book into proper context. Written by leading experts, this set of books will be a valuable reference to workers both inside and outside the field, including graduate students and young investigators interested in developing new research programs in this area.