The articles contained in this volume are based on lectures presented at
a special award symposium held at the 167th meeting of the American Chemical
Society in Los Angeles during April of 1974. The symposium was organized
to honor Professors F. A. Cotton and L. F. Dahl, recipients of the 1974 ACS
awards for inorganic chemistry. The scope and style of chapters in this volume
differ from those in previous volumes because the authors were requested to
be brief and to discuss primarily work performed in their own laboratories.
Review articles published in Accounts of Chemical Research have served as
guidelines. Eleven of the fourteen participants have contributed to this undertaking,
and I wish to take this opportunity to thank them for their cooperation.