Introduction

Abstract

Textbooks on physical inorganic chemistry can, during their preparation, easily evolve into compilations of apparently unrelated topics. In writing the present book, therefore, it was decided to circumvent this problem by adopting a single, unifying theme: coordination chemistry. The benefit of this approach is that the theme spans almost all aspects of physical inorganic chemistry; furthermore, the resulting book also doubles up as a text on coordination chemistry itself. In achieving this duality, some of the material present might appear out of place in a book devoted to physical inorganic chemistry alone. However, it is probably no bad thing that, for example, in addition to a discussion about the chemical bonding within a particular exotic species, reference can also be found to its preparation. Since, then, the theme of this book is that of coordination compounds (or, as they are often called, coordination complexes), our first task is to define the term coordination compound. This is not straightforward, for the use of the term is determined as much by history and tradition as by chemistry. In practice, however, confusion seldom arises. Let us consider an example.