Angewandte
. Angewandte
Books
Organometallics
and Catalysis
Organometallic chemistry is a
rich and diverse area, extending
from fundamental new discoveries
in structure and bonding, to the use of
organometallic complexes in catalysis for
an increasingly wide variety of bond-forming
and bond-breaking transformations in organic
and main-group chemistry. The subject has become
a mainstay in undergraduate teaching, as well as an
important topic in related graduate-level courses.
Because of this it is a field that is now relatively
well-served by text books. Larger, broad-ranging,
general undergraduate texts on Inorganic or
Organic chemistry will devote some time to the
subject—but often this is necessarily only the bare
essentials with no real detail given. Very compre-
hensive texts such as HartwigÏs Organotransition
Metal Chemistry and ElschenbroichÏs Organome-
tallics are excellent, but perhaps not best suited as
undergraduate course books. CrabtreeÏs excellent
The organometallic chemistry of the transition
metals perhaps fits this role better. This new book
by Bochmann, Organometallics and Catalysis, has
obviously been written from the start to be a
detailed, comprehensive, but approachable text
book ideal for an undergraduate, or refresher
graduate-level, course in Organometallics. It thus
complements these, and other, texts very well. This
perhaps comes as no surprise as it is based upon the
two successful OUP Primer books from the mid-
1990s, also written by the author.
The book is organized logically, starting with a
good overview of main-group organometallic
chemistry. Electron counting (including the most
recent thoughts on counting metal–metal bonds) is
followed by descriptions of ligand classes: carbon-
yls and related ligands, olefins, metallocenes and
arene complexes, sigma complexes, alkyls and
carbenes and carbynes. The book concludes with
an extensive section on the major catalytic trans-
formations, which also bring together ideas earlier
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 7747 Ó 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Chemie
in the book. Concepts such as oxidative addition
and reductive elimination are also dealt with here.
Each chapter concludes with a “key points” sum-
mary and some problems—the answers for which
are given at the end of the text. Small vignettes are
highlighted throughout the book where a topic is
dealt with in a little more detail. Key references to
the primary literature are also provided. The text is
richly illustrated throughout (which is most wel-
comed) with examples of synthesis, structures and
reactivity often given. The author has also tried,
and generally succeeded, to convey that the subject
is one where ideas do change (metal–metal bonding
is one example), as well as the subtleties of the topic
in terms of interpretation of the experimental data.
A particularly nice touch is an Appendix on the
physical properties of common, and not so
common, solvents used in organometallic chemis-
try. This, in itself, I am sure will be consulted in
research labs looking to improve a reaction or a
recrystallization.
Given this is the first edition there were a few
minor typos and inconsistencies in the text, but this
simply resulted in a few sections that needed a
more careful read and do not detract from the
overall positive impression of a well-crafted book. I
am sure that in the second edition these will be
ironed out.
In summary this is a text that is certainly more
than fit for purpose: one that is designed to provide
a comprehensive, but accessible, teaching text in
organometallic chemistry that also conveys the
broad scope and subtleties of the subject. It
complements very well the other major books in
the area and I am sure that it will become a
significant text consulted by undergraduates, grad-
uates and educators alike.
Andrew Weller
Organometallics and
University of Oxford (UK) Catalysis
An Introduction. By Manfred
Bochmann. Oxford Univer-
International Edition: DOI: 10.1002/anie.201504479 sity Press, Oxford 2014.
432 pp., softcover,
German Edition: DOI: 10.1002/ange.201504479 £ 32.99.—ISBN 978-
0199668212
7747