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Since the discovery of ferrocene and the sandwich-type complexes, the development of organometallic chemistry took its course like an avalanche and became one of the scientific success stories of the second half of the twentieth century. Based on this development, the traditional boundaries between inorganic and organic chemistry gradually disappeared and a rebirth of the nowadays highly important field of homogeneous catalysis occurred. It is fair to say that despite the fact that the key discovery, which sparked it all off, was made more than 50 years ago, organometallic chemistry remains a young and lively discipline.
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Landmarks in Organo-Transition Metal Chemistry
Profiles in Inorganic Chemistry Series Editor: John P. Fackler, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas Current Volumes in this Series: Landmarks in Organo-Transition Metal Chemistry: A Personal View Helmut Werner From Coelo to Inorganic Chemistry: A Lifetime of Reactions Fred Basolo
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Helmut Werner
Landmarks in Organo-Transition Metal Chemistry A Personal View
13
Helmut Werner Institute of Inorganic Chemistry University of Wu¨rzburg Germany
ISSN: 1571-036X ISBN: 978-0-387-09847-0 DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-09848-7
e-ISBN: 978-0-387-09848-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008940859 # Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com
To Monika, Andreas, and Annemarie And in Loving Memory of Helga
Foreword
Organometallic chemistry has witnessed an exponential growth in the past half decade, and today is represented at its frontiers by the second edition of a multivolume text, two major journals and a plethora of monographs. Helmut Werner, a pioneer who has contributed extensively to the field, now offers us a personal view of important areas of transition metal chemistry. It is unusual in that it provides an historical perspective on some of the more significant developments in this area. He writes both with a great generosity of spirit and an obvious love of the subject. It is evident that both for him, and now his readers, it is not only the science, but also its protagonists, that are the focus of much attention. The first two chapters provide interesting information on Helmut’s family and scientific background, culminating in his Wu¨rzburg C4 professorship (since 1975); he has mentored 110 Ph.D. students and 40 postdoctoral and visiting scientists. He continues in Chap. 3 to provide an account of the birth of the subject and its development in the nineteenth century. Subsequent chapters deal with metal carbonyls and derived clusters, the discovery of ‘‘sandwich’’ compounds, triple-decker analogues, metal–ethene complexes and their congeners, metal carbenes and carbynes, and finally metal alkyls and aryls. Each chapter has ample references. Helmut’s acco