The need for surveys in all areas of chemistry remains clear. This
volume is the first product of a desire for a series in the area of inorganic
reaction mechanisms. It was decided to collect reviews by active inorganic
chemists working in the area of mechanisms and to have a group of these
reviews appear together as one volume in the series “Progress in Inorganic
Chemistry.”
Two points deserve mention. First, I believe that understanding of the
inorganic compounds and reactions is important to the understanding of
the mechanisms. Thus considerable latitude of subject occurs in this
volume. Second, attempts were made to include as authors chemists in
other countries whose work on mechanisms may be less familiar to the
American chemists than is the work carried out in the United States.
I would appreciate comments and criticisms.
Thanks are due to the many persons who helped make this volume
possible.