reviews
lnorganic Chemistry: Principles of Structure and
Reactivity, 4th ed.
James E. Huheey, Ellen A. Keiter, and Richard 1. Keiter. Harper
Collins: New York, 1993. Figs. and tables. xvii + 1052 pp.
20.0 cm. x 25.3 cm $72.00.
The first edition of this papular text appeared in 1972 and was
followed hy second (1978) and third editions (1983). In this accu-
rate, rewritten, and up-to-date (references as late as 1992) edition
Jim Huheey, who admits that "It is becoming increasingly im-
possible for one person to monitor all areas of inorganic chemis-
try," is joined by a husband-wife team of a later generation, who
%ring to the baok their interests in coordination chemistry, or-
gano&tallics, and physical methods, a s well as fresh viewpoints
on a number of other topics." The result is a n eminently teachable
-
text. interestine to student and instmetor alike. that admirablv
rueeeeds m b n n ~ p n g-to the readrr the rssentials of ~norgan~c
chemistry in a n easily rradnblr format wlth emphasis on the tact
that inorganic rhrmmtry is an exulting field of rescarch rather
than a closed body of knowledge."
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-.
In contrast to more traditional.,"encvclaoedic"texts such as Cot-
ton and Wilkinson's Advanced Inoreanic dhemistrv or Greenwood
and Karnshnw'r Chonz,slry of /he Elrm,nls, which present the dr-
renptiva rhemi9try uf the elrments according to periodic table
groups, the book under review is a balanced blend of fact and thr-
my,organized on a topical basis. However, considerable descrip-
tive chemistry is integrated into the chapters, many of which are
essentially independent and may he included or omitted, depend-
ing an the instructor's desires or the time available. Such chapters
consider atomic structure, symmetry and group theory (expanded
coverage, including spectroscopy and crystallography); ionic and
covalent bonds (reorganized chapters); structure and reactivity;
solid state (in-deoth
. .coveraee):
.. chemical forces: acid-hase ehemis-
3 . ~7~~~~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~.
trv: aaueaus and nonaauwus solvents: coordination chemistrv
rthrrr scpnratr chapters on bondmg, spectra, and magnetism,
s t r u c t u r e ; and reactions, kinetics, and mechanisms,; or-
ganumetallica and caralys~srthoroughly reworked discu*km$t;
chains, rings, cages, and clusters; and the inorganic chemistry of
biological systems. ' h o "descriptive" chapters discuss selected
chemistry of the metals (nontransition, transition, lanthanide,
actinide, and transactinides) in various oxidation states (eluci-
dated by Latimer diagrams of redox potentials) and the halogens
and noble eases. As in orevious editions, the detailed treatment of
periodicitfis postponed until the penul&mate chapter (18) in the
..
belief that this tooie is best aooreciated onlv &r the student has
acquired "sufficient perspective to appreciate the 'fme structure' of
the periodic table."
Although the field of inorganic chemistry has expanded tremen-
dously in the 2 1 years since the f r s t edition, only a n additional
315 pages (1052 versus 737 pp.) have been required to aceomm*
date newer developments because of a careful selection of topics
and judicious rewriting and condensation. New topics include
huckminsterfullerenes (buckyballs) and their metal derivatives;
high temperature superconductors; the "ozone hole"; planar, mac-
rocyclic ligands such as crown ethers and ayptates; the "hedge-
hog" dication, I I ( C ~ H , ) ~ P A ~ I ~
excited
C I ~ + ;state outer sphere
electron transfer reactions of [ R ~ ( b i ~ y )and ~ l ~similar
+ cations;
Reviewed in This Issue
James E. Huheey, Ellen A. Keiter, and Richard L. Keiter, Inorganic Chemistry
Principles of Structure and Reactivity, 4th ed.
and a photodehydrogenation catalyst ("platinum pop"). Further-
more, the hook is replete with more than 500 illustrations, dia-
grams, stereoviews, and tables (Escher woodcuts are included in
the chapter on symmetry), many of them new and from the origi-
nal literature, as well as hundreds of equations, reaction schemes,
and references (many to this Journal 1. Unusual and useful tables
such as those comparing different physical techniques for struc-
tural studies (pp 238-239) and pyometallurgy and hydrometal-
lurgy (p 384) abound.
The b w k encompasses history and general culture, makes fre-
quent use of quotations and poetry, and is a goldmine of fascinat-
ine.
-. sometimes amusing. facts not available elsewhere such as
0.
~ ~
pnmuncistmn vagarrrs ip 475 and the hond migration knnun as
"The Blwmin~mnShuflle" \p 8 1 3 . S m e appendws ( 7 7 pp pre-
sent valuahle data such as unita and conversion factors, bond L.n-
ergies a n d band lengths, s t a n d a r d reduction potentials,
Tanabe-Sugano diagrams, directions for preparing paper stereo-
chemical models, and the secrets of stermpsis. The 32-page ap-
pendix on nomenclature is a comprehensive summary of all the
main sections of the last (1990) IUPAC "Red Book." An ll-page
(three columns per page) index makes the volume "user-friendly."
A shortcoming of previous editions mentioned by some review-
ers has been the selection and number of problems. This new up-
to-date edition contains 634 end-of-chapter pmhlems (62 for the
organometallics chapter alone), many of them new, and some con-
- . -
tainine several oarts or reouirine use of the lihrarv. A solutions
manual provides answers tu prublems. It rs indeed a pleasure to
r ~ o m m c n dwarmly this thoroughly r r v i s d and updatrd edition
ofa timetested favorrtr among lnstruetorsof one. or two-srmrstrr
undergraduate and graduate inorganic chemistry courses.
G e o r g e B. Kauffman
California ~tateiJniversit~,Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740
Monographs
C h a r g e Transfer Photochemistry o f Coordination
Compounds
Off6Horvath and Kenneth L. Stevenson. VCH: New York. NY
1993. xviii + 380 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.2 x 24.2 cm.
This hook offers a detailed summary of the results of studies on
charge transfer photochemistry of metal complexes over the past
decade. Coverage addresses photoinduced processes in which the
primary step is a charge transfer reaction of the excited metal
complex, and provides in-depth descriptions of the photochemistry
of the complexes themselves. For easy reference, each chapter ex-
amines the photoredox properties of complexes of a series of met-
als belonging to the same column of the periodic table, including
hoth transition metals and main p u p metals (for those that show
photoactivity).
Reviewer
George 8. Kauffman A279
Volume 70 Number 10 October 1993 A279