This undergraduate teaching text and accompanying Periodic Table DVD, provides an introduction to the transition metals. The first two chapters introduce the reader to the chemistry of the first-row transition elements in different oxidation states, in particular +2 and +3 and their relative stability, largely using interactive activities and video on the DVD. This is followed by a study of coordination chemistry and the stability of complexes. Later chapters look at theories of metal-ligand bonding, in particular the way models can be used to rationalise many of the properties of transition metals and their compounds, such as colour, magnetism and stereochemistry. Starting with the simple, yet powerful crystal field approach, the book finishes with a largely pictorial treatment of molecular orbital theory. The text also includes interactive activities on the accompanying Periodic Table DVD, in-text questions with answers, full colour diagrams and revision exercises on an associated website www.rsc.org/metalsandlife
Eleanor Crabb is a Lecturer in materials chemistry at The Open University and was recently seconded part-time to one of the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) awarded to The Open University. Her research interests are in heterogeneous catalysis. She has written on a number of science courses, producing both text based and multimedia materials, including Separation, Purification and Identification, part of the Molecular World Series (a collection of OU undergraduate texts also published by the RSC). Rob Janes is a Staff Tutor at The Open University in Wales. He has co-authored the Elements of the p-block in the Molecular World Series and has produced a CD-ROM-database of chemical demonstrations to accompany the book. Together with Elaine Moore, he was also a co-author of Metal-ligand bonding, another RSC publication. He is a co-presenter of Magic Molecules, a demonstration lecture aimed at schools and the general public. David Johnson is a Visiting Reader in chemistry at The Open University. He was a founding member of the Department and worked on many of the chemistry courses writing a number of copublished texts including Metals and chemical change and Elements of the p Block, part of the Molecular World Series. Elaine Moore is Reader in theoretical chemistry at The Open University. Her research interests lie in the field of computational chemistry. She is the author of OU teaching texts in chemistry, physics and astronomy, including Molecular Modelling and Bonding, in the Molecular World Series, and Metal-ligand bonding. Lesley Smart is a Visiting Senior Lecturer in chemistry at The Open University. She has written on many science courses and chaired the production of the Molecular World Series. She is also an author of two books in the series' The Third Dimension and Separation, Purification and Identification.
