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Article: Synthetic Methods of Organometallic and Inorganic Chemistry: Lanthanides and Actinides, vol. 6.
- Article from:
- Chemistry and Industry
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Society of Chemical Industry. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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'Footnotes to the periodic table' is the epithet introduced by the editor of this sixth volume of the new successor to Brauer's justly-famous Handbuch der Praparativen Anorganischen Chemie. But what footnotes they are; and what a lot they can tell us about the main text above them.
The isolation and characterisation of the lanthanide and actinide series of elements, and of their simple compounds, are the two really heroic episodes in the development of modern inorganic chemistry. The characterisation of the lanthanide elements, undertaken for the most part before there was any clear understanding of the underlying structure of the periodic table and hence before ...