In the last decade there have been numerous advances in the area of rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation, such as highly selective catalysts of industrial importance, new insights into mechanisms of the reaction, very selective asymmetric catalysts, in situ characterization and application to organic synthesis. The views on hydroformylation which still prevail in the current textbooks have become obsolete in several respects. Therefore, it was felt timely to collect these advances in a book. The book contains a series of chapters discussing several rhodium systems arranged according to ligand type, including asymmetric ligands, a chapter on applications in organic chemistry, a chapter on modern processes and separations, and a chapter on catalyst preparation and laboratory techniques. This book concentrates on highlights, rather than a concise review mentioning all articles in just one line. The book aims at an audience of advanced students, experts in the field, and scientists from related fields. The didactic approach also makes it useful as a guide for an advanced course.

Some years ago, I agreed to contribute a volume to the Academic Press 'Organo metallic Chemistry' series - the metals to be covered were rhodium and iridium. Initially, my plan was to discuss both the fundamental organometallic chemistry and applications in organic synthesis. When the first draft of the manuscript was complete, it was apparent that I had exceeded my allowance of pages by a huge amount. It was then that I decided that the catalysis section warranted separate treatment. I am grateful to Reidel for agreeing to publish this volume on Homogeneous Catalysis with Compounds of Rhodium and Iridium as part of their 'Catalysis by Metal Complexes' series. The material I had for the original Academic Press project covered the litera ture to the end of 1978. I decided to update this to the end of 1982 with a few key references from 1983. It is some measure of the rate of progress in this field that the number of references almost doubled during this revision.

An essential reference to the highly effective reactions applied to modern organic synthesis Rhodium complexes are one of the most important transition metals for organic synthesis due to their ability to catalyze a variety of useful transformations. Rhodium Catalysis in Organic Synthesis explores the most recent progress and new developments in the field of catalytic cyclization reactions using rhodium(I) complexes and catalytic carbon-hydrogen bond activation reactions using rhodium(II) and rhodium(III) complexes. Edited by a noted expert in the field with contributions from a panel of leading international scientists, Rhodium Catalysis in Organic Synthesis presents the essential information in one comprehensive volume. Designed to be an accessible resource, the book is arranged by different reaction types. All the chapters provide insight into each transformation and include information on the history, selectivity, scope, mechanism, and application. In addition, the chapters offer a summary and outlook of each transformation. This important resource: -Offers a comprehensive review of how rhodium complexes catalyze a variety of highly useful reactions for organic synthesis (e.g. coupling reactions, CH-bond functionalization, hydroformylation, cyclization reactions and others) -Includes information on the most recent developments that contain a range of new, efficient, elegant, reliable and useful reactions -Presents a volume edited by one of the international leading scientists working in the field today -Contains the information that can be applied by researchers in academia and also professionals in pharmaceutical, agrochemical and fine chemical companies Written for academics and synthetic chemists working with organometallics, Rhodium Catalysis in Organic Synthesis contains the most recent information available on the developments and applications in the field of catalytic cyclization reactions using rhodium complexes.