Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry IV. [antikvár]

PREFACE Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry is an eleven-volume reference work on the chemical elements and their inorganic compounds. It is comprehensive in the extensiveness of the fields covered rather than in the fullness of their treatment ; hence, the volumes are offered individually as a vade mecum for the advanced worker—whether industrial or academic—not as an encyclopedic work. Their purpose, therefore, is to serve as a ready reference to those engaged in chemical manufacture and development and to those in advanced studies in chemistry in institutions of higher learning. To meet the requirements of these groups, emphasis has been placed largely on chemical properties and relationships and their interpretation in terms of theoretical concepts of atomic and molecular structure, the deductions from the periodic system, and the basic ideas relating to electrolytes. As a consequence, chapters on the elements are supplemented by special topics, as coordination compounds, catalysis, and reactions in nonaqueous solutions. The various volumes of Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry have certain usefulness in courses, especially advanced courses in colleges and universities. Nevertheless, the organization and manner of presentation of these books are not primarily pedagogic. Each chapter is essentially an independent unit, not based upon another coming before or after it. Terms are used with or without definition and statements are made with or without previous background for their understanding, for readers are assumed to be equipped with such knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry to understand what is written. Indeed, the level at which the subject is presented is not too high for the average senior in chemistry or the recent graduate in this field. Notwithstanding the independence of the separate topics, there is a general unity in the treatment brought about by adhering very closely to the relationships in the periodic system and to the interpretations derived from atomic and molecular investigations. However, the transition elements, with the exception of the halogens, are treated before the regular elements. Another feature is the presentation in tabular form of the chief physical constants of the elements. Chemical properties and the uses of the elements and their compounds are severally stressed for the most part according to their relative importance. Many inorganic compounds are not mentioned at all, and for a description of these substances the