Fundamentals of Organometallic Catalysis

This book is a translation of the second German edition of Grundlagen der metallorganischen Komplexkatalyse by Dirk Steinborn, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, and is a textbook aimed at undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students. It is reviewed by Piet van Leeuwen, Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Tarragona, Spain, who is also the author of the textbook Homogeneous Catalysis: Understanding the Art (Springer, 2004).

In his review in Angewandte Chemie, van Leeuwen writes:

The book starts with three introductory chapters. In the history of the development of organometallic catalysis, and also later in the respective chapters, the author shows how large the contribution of German chemists has been to the exploration of the area and, in addition, he pays tribute to the many Nobel Prize winners in catalysis. Except for the inventions of the last two decades, most inventions originate from industry or applied research institutes.

The chapters that follow present the details of the usual reactions: hydrogenation, hydroformylation, carbonylation, metathesis, oligomerization, polymerization, C—C cross-coupling, addition of HCN, hydrosilanes, and amines to alkenes, and oxidation of alkenes and alkanes.

Also two chapters are devoted to less-common topics, diene oligomerization and nitrogen fixation.

The book contains a wealth of material, but a student will have to work through all the material to catch all of the basic concepts. Studied in this way, the book will aid the development of a new generation of experts in homogeneous catalysis.

Van Leeuwen criticises that the font is very small, and therefore in the footnotes he could not distinguish between “C_sp2” and “C_sp3”. Also he thinks the pages are rather shiny, which makes the book difficult to read. The book is only in black and white, but the price of the paperback issue makes this textbook worth considering.

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