Fred Basolo Northwestern Uniuersity Euanston, Illinois, 60201
lnorganic Textbooks, and lnorganic Chemistry
When I was aske4if I would talk on the impact that inoreanic textbooks have had on inorganic chemistry, I immedi&ly agreed thinking that anyone who has taught inorganic chemistrv for thirty years could surely address an audience for forty minutes on the subject. L a t k when i t became time to prepare the lecture, I began to realize that the task would not he-as easv as it had seemed months earlier. I soon became confused as to whether inorganic textbooks have had an iufluence on the field of inorganic chemistry or uice verso. I remain uncertain as to the answer but I lean in the direction of the uice uersa. that research in inoreanic chemistrv has had " an impact on our inorganic texthooks. First we should he clear as to what I mean hv inorganic texthooks. These are hooks written specifically &over basic knowledge in the total area of inorganic chemistry. This does not include hooks on general chemistry or on special topics in inorganic chemistry. Albeit books in the latter category are very useful aids in the teaching of inorganic chemistry. Before commenting on some inorganic texthooks, I feel a remarks i n textbook authors. We need to make some authors are only human and we have many reasons for writing textbooks. The reason most often given is that the hook was written for the student who deserves a better textbook than the ones that are presently available. Yet the "new" textbook is often very similar to the textbooks in current use. What authors never give as a reason for writing a textbook is that they wish to impress their colleagues with their knowledge of the~field. ~-~~ ~ and ~ innarticular ~ ~ of the current develonments in the field. in ever, the textbooks themselves provfde ample evidence that the authors, either consciously or unconsciously, have this reason in mind when writing a textbook. There is no quarrel that writing to impress one's peers can in many ways improve the quality of a textbook. What is not well recognized is that this can also have a negative effect on a textbook which we agree should be written for the students and the teacher. One need onlv look a t what happened to textbooks of inorganic chemistry after the "ad;&" of crystal field theory, molecular orbital theory, and group theory. Authors and teachers have felt obligated to teach these fashionable topics, a t the expense of the more factual concepts of inorganic chemistry. The result is that we now h a v i a generatibn of young inorganic chemists who know little ahout the syntheses and reactions of inorganir compounds. Fortunately, the signs indicate that the glamor of theories is diminishing and that the pendulum is swinging hack in the direction of "real live" inorganic chemistry.
Even with this trend hack to svntheses and reactions. there remains the danger that authors of inorganic textbooks will devote most of the time to compounds and reactions of current interest to the inorganic chemist. Thus, a disproportionate number of pages are written on the chemistry. of cyclopenta. dienyl metal compounds, carboranes, and compounds of the noble gases. These compounds and their reactions are important, hut so are the more classical compounds and their reactions. T o my knowledge the cyclopentadienyl, the carhorane, and the-noble gascompounds have no commercial applications; and less than 90% of the chemistry majors in a course in inorganic chemistry will ever have to know about these compounds in their careers as professional chemists. Gorman [J. CHEM. EDUC., 50, 772 (1973)l states (and I agree) "the future organic or analytical chemist should he exnosed to a hodv of knowledee concernine" the more imnortaut inorganic compounds of the commonest element". Furthermore if a lavman asks an art historian who painted the Mona Lisa and &ring what period, he has a right to expect to be eiven the correct answer. The same is true of a lavman who asks a chemist how baking soda (or some other common substance) is manufactured. It is oot enouah to sav "I don't know hut I can look i t up". Yet, unfortuna
