Organophosphorus chemistry continues to generate a very large volume of
literature, with no sign of any decline in activity. In this volume, we have
increased our period of coverage of the literature, bringing it up to June 2004,
in order to try to remedy the increasingly evident problem that our team of
writers has in putting together these volumes in a timely manner. Our coverage
of the above period is complete apart from the absence of the usual chapter on
ylide chemistry. This deficiency, and the fact that this volume will not appear
until early 2006, reflect the conflicting pressures which our authors are facing in
collecting the information and in finding the substantial time needed to write
these usually comprehensive reports. In consequence, it is probable that this
volume will be last in the current style. Future volumes are likely to offer a
more selective and critical coverage of the area, since the increasing availability
of computer-aided literature search facilities makes attempts to provide com￾prehensive coverage unnecessary