2 Homometallic Alkoxides

Foreword
The value of a book may well be judged by the number of times a person has to
buy it, for, while many books once read gather dust upon a shelf, those more often
sought can sometimes be seldom found. Over 20 years ago, I was fortunate to receive
a complimentary copy of “Metal Alkoxides” by Bradley, Mehrotra and Gaur. As one
interested in alkoxide metal chemistry, this proved a valuable reference for me and
my research group. In fact, I had to purchase two subsequent copies and probably
would have purchased more were it not for the fact that the book became out of print
and unavailable except through the library. Now I have received the galley proofs of
the second edition entitled “Alkoxo and Aryloxo Derivatives of Metals” byBradley,
Mehrotra, Rothwell and Singh. After 20 years, virtually every field of chemistry must
have changed to the extent that a new edition would be appropriate. However, it is
unlikely that any field of chemistry, save computational chemistry, will have changed
as much as that of the chemistry of metal alkoxides and aryloxides during the period
1978–2000. The explosion of interest in metal alkoxides has arisen primarily for two
reasons. First and foremost, we have witnessed the tremendous growth of materials
chemistry spurred on by the discovery of high temperature superconducting oxides
and by the increasingly important role of other metal oxides to technology. Metal
alkoxides, mixed metal alkoxides and their related complexes have played an essential
role in the development of new routes to these materials either by sol-gel or chemical
vapor deposition techniques. In a second area of almost equal magnitude, we have
seen the growth of a new area of organometallic chemistry and catalysis supported
by alkoxide or aryloxide ancillary ligands. As a consequence of these major changes
in chemistry, virtually any issue of a current chemistry journal will feature articles
dealing with metal alkoxides and aryloxides. Thus, although the present book owes its
origins, and to some extent its format, to the first edition, its content is largely new. For
example, while the first edition reported on but a handful of structurally characterized
metal alkoxides, this second edition carries a whole chapter dealing with this topic, a
chapter with over 500 references to publications. The second edition is therefore most
timely, if not somewhat overdue, and will be a most valuable reference work for this
rapidly expanding field of chemistry. I only hope that I can hold on to my copy more
successfully than I did in the first instance.
Malcolm H. Chisholm FRS
Distinguished Professor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
The Ohio State University
Department of Chemistry
Columbus, OH 43210-1185 USA
January 2001