This book is written for scientists who require information on organobismuth chemistry, either by specific topic or by compound. "Organobismuth Chemistry" covers, through early 1999, stoichiometric compounds that contain the Bi-C bond; not included, with the exception of a few examples, are inorganic compounds, minerals, metal alloys, and non-stoichiometric materials.

Organobismuth chemistry is covered in a comprehensive, self-contained manner. The book focuses on the academic aspects of the field; therefore, references to patents are made only when pertinent. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to bismuth as the element. In chapters 2 to 4, organobismuth compounds are classified according to the types of compounds and dealt in detail. Chapter 5 is devoted to the use of bismuth and derivatives in organic transformations. In the first four chapters, brief to moderate descriptions for selected experimental procedures are included; they are intended to inform the readers of relevant protocols and should serve in preparative studies which are based on analogies. In the final chapter the X-ray data of fundamental and/or structurally interesting organobismuth (III) and (V) compounds are collected. At the beginning of each chapter, the text is preceded by detailed table of contents of the subject dealt in it. By inspection of the table, it should be possible to locate quickly information on a specific organobismuth compound.

Definite efforts have been made to include all factual data pertinent to an understanding of each class of organobismuth compounds. The main attention is paid to the methods of synthesis, molecular structure, and chemical behaviours of organobismuth compounds, although some knowledge of spectroscopy and other physical properties are also included. The format for presenting information has both descriptive information and numerical data. Numerical data are mostly presented in tabular form. Tables of known compounds in each chapter are organized so as to enable the readers to make easy access to the most relevant data source of a compound. The nomenclature does not follow strictly the recommendations of IUPAC, but usage is mostly consistent with common practice in the current literature. In order to help the readers to save time in looking for appropriate spectral data, an effort has also been made to provide the IR, MS, NMR and UV spectral data sources in tabular form. All references for chapters are collected together in a list at the end of the book. In the list, references are given chronologically both in code and in full form, with authors names.

This book will appeal to academic and industrial researchers alike, and will be particularly useful to chemists engaged in bench work. In addition it is hoped that this book will provide a stimulus as the basis for further development of organobismuth chemistry.