For the first time the discipline of modern inorganic chemistry has been systematized according to a plan constructed by a council of editorial advisors and consultants, among them three Nobel laureates (E.O. Fischer, H. Taube and G. Wilkinson). Rather than producing a collection of unrelated review articles, the series creates a framework which reflects the creative potential of this scientific discipline. Thus, it stimulates future development by identifying areas which are fruitful for further research. The work is indexed in a unique way by a structured system which maximizes its usefulness to the reader. It augments the organization of the work by providing additional routes of access for specific compounds, reactions and other topics.

The present four volumes, published under the collective title of "Chemical Bonds in Solids," are the translation of the two Russian books "Chemical Bonds in Crystals" and "Chemical Bonds in Semiconductors." These contain the papers presented at the Conference on Chemical Bonds held in Minsk between May 28 and June 3, 1967, together with a few other papers (denoted by an asterisk) which have been specially incorporated. Earlier collections (also published by the Nauka i Tekhnika Press of the Belorussian Academy of Sciences) were entitled "Chemical Bonds in Semiconductors and Solids" (1965) and "Chemical Bonds in Semiconductors and Thermody namics" (1966) and are available in English editions from Consultants Bureau, New York (pub lished in 1967 and 1968, respectively). The subject of chemical bonds in crystals, including semiconductors, has recently become highly topical and has attracted the interest of a wide circle of physicists, chemists, and engineers. Until recently, the most successful description of the properties of solids (including semi conductors) has been provided by the band theory, which still dominates the physics of solids. Nevertheless, it is clear that the most universal approach is that based on the general theory of chemical bonds in crystals, in which details of the electron distributions between atoms and of the wave functions appear quite explicitly.

For the first time the discipline of modern inorganic chemistry has been systematized according to a plan constructed by a council of editorial advisors and consultants, among them three Nobel laureates (E.O. Fischer, H. Taube and G. Wilkinson). Rather than producing a collection of unrelated review articles, the series creates a framework which reflects the creative potential of this scientific discipline. Thus, it stimulates future development by identifiying areas which are fruitful for further research. The work is indexed in a unique way by a structured system which maximizes its usefulness to the reader. It augments the organization of the work by providing additional routes of access for specific compounds, reactions and other topics.