Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews
Ligand Field Theory and Its Applications by Brian N. Figgis and Michael A. Hitchman Wiley-VCH: New York, 2000. 354 pp. 114 figures, 35 tables, 9 appendices. ISBN 0-471-31776-4. $84.95. reviewed by John F. C. Turner
Ligand Field Theory and Its Applications by Brian N. Figgis and Michael A. Hitchman is a welcome extension and reworking of Introduction to Ligand Fields. It is a short, dense book in the “old school” style—much text and no photographs. It covers many aspects of transition metal ion chemistry from a standpoint that is solidly grounded in quantum mechanics. Starting with an overview of the material in chapter 1, it then moves through the derivation and application of the crystal field, the failures of crystal field theory, and the angular overlap model. The basic physics of the transition metal ion is rounded off with a discussion of the energy levels and the effect of strong and weak ligand fields. The first section of the book is then completed with a short discussion of the influence of d configuration on the geometry and stability of complexes. The rest of the book is devoted to the spectroscopic and magnetic properties of the ions, with a glance at the actinides. This book is strongly rooted in the quantum mechanics of transition metal ions, there is a tremendous amount to recommend it, and a fresh text that covers this material is sorely needed at this level. It is also refreshing to read a dense, nay meaty, text that directly opposes the current trend of the
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glossy presentation of very little—the “Science as Entertainment” approach. Transition metal ions are complicated, and there is some careful physics that needs to be understood before the richness of transition metal chemistry can be truly appreciated. This book certainly does justice to the subject. There are some criticisms that may be made. The notation is not well thought through in places, and the diagrams are often badly drawn and unclear, often sufficiently so to obscure the underlying science. The treatment of some of the material is also a little hurried in places and another hundred or so pages to allow a fuller exposition would have been welcome. One is also left a little hungry in places for more detail; the discussion on magnetism in condensed phase and in coupled systems is short; the chapter on d configuration on stability is positively cursory. Expansion of some of the sections at the expense of some of the weaker sections would have been advantageous. Some of these criticisms should be mellowed with the fact that the book does not set out to be a comprehensive text for inorganic chemistry, simply to describe the transition metal ions. This is a book that is thoroughly recommended for good final-year undergraduates and beginning graduate students and makes a useful adjunct to more descriptive and qualitative books. Ligand Field Theory and Its Applications is an excellent addition to the literature and, coupled with a good molecular orbital text, will make a good text for a complete inorganic structure and bonding course. John F. C. Turner is in the Department of Chemistry, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1600;
[email protected].
Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 79 No. 9 September 2002 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
