Dietmar Seyferth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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608 Organometallics, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1986 industry in Japan. His section on “Future Prospects for Silicones” suggests that (0rgano)silicon research will have a healthy and growing industrial base in the years to come. It is sometimes interesting (and sometimes amusing) to read the acknowledgments a t the end of papers. One in this book merits mention. Invitations to speak at a conference such as this one usually are issued far in advance. Not just a few of us, having accepted an invitation to speak at some such conference or other months in advance, have “sweated” those months trying to get together enough new results to give a reasonable talk when the time comes. Usually, we do not start from scratch but plan to talk about an ongoing, albeit only partly developed area of research. Not so Hans Bock, who has been noted for his interesting research a t the forefront of many different areas of chemistry. His acknowledgment reads: “Thanks are expressed especially to the co-workers mentioned, who-presently working in other areas of main-group chemistry-on short notice switched to organosilicon chemistry and produced in less than half a year the results reported here.” This book will be of interest to organosilicon aficionados as well as those “outsiders” who would like to find out something about the current directions of organosilicon research. Although it consists of camera-ready manuscripts, this book has been attractively produced. Dietmar Seyferth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry. 8th Edition. Sn, Organotin Compounds. Part 11. Trimethyltin- and Triethyltin-Oxygen Compounds. H. Schumann and I. Schumann, volume authors. U. Kruerke, volume editor. Gmelin Institut fur Anorganische Chemie der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissenschaften and Springer Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg/New York. 1984. x + 292 pages. DM 995. In this, the eleventh volume of the Gmelin organotin series, the Schumanns begin their coverage of organotin compounds

Book Reviews containing Sn-0 bonds. This, if one includes the patent literature, is a vast subject. The present book deals only with mononuclear trimethyl- and triethyltin-oxygen compounds. These include the hydroxides (but not the dinuclear oxides), the alkoxides, carboxylates, peroxides, carbamates, and various derivatives of inorganic oxyacids. Because trimethyl- and triethyltin derivatives are so very toxic, their applications are restricted and, as a result, this book is not overly long. Information concerning preparation, physical properties, structure, spectroscopic properties (IR, ‘H, I3C,Il9Sn NMR, llgmSnMossbauer, PE), chemical reactivity, and biological activity is given, if available, for the compounds covered, in text and in tables. Figures show those structures which have been determined. The literature cutoff date is December 31,1982. A useful feature in this book is the up-dating of the coverage of the general review literature of organotin compounds (earlier collections of reviews are found in Vol. 1, 5, 7 , 8, and 9 of the organotin series). A fine net was used in chasing down this review literature, and some strange fish were caught. For instance, in this book, in the section of reviews on analysis (page 2), the review on “Harmful Substances in Women’s Underwear” (in Japanese) will be one of particular interest to all organotin chemists. Perhaps more useful to the user of this book is the 36-page list of general literature on organotin-oxygen compounds which includes general reviews and also articles on preparation and reactions, physical properties, analysis, toxicology and biological applications, and uses (including a list of patents). We may assume that the literature coverage, as usual, is very thorough and that littl has been missed. The 96 cited references on (CH3),SnOH, for instance, range from the very old [Cahours, A. Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1860,114,3541 to the recent (but sometimes hard to track down) [e.g., Kyu Lee, I.; Bae, B.-S.; Ghim, G.-J. Taehan Hwahakhoe Chi 1980,24,393] and include chemical, physical, and biological journals. This is a useful addition to the Gmelin organotin series. Further volumes will deal with other R,Sn-oxygen compounds and the much more numerous RzSn and RSn types. Dietmar Seyferth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology