Solvents other than water are used in chemical analysis, chemical manufacturing, and in specialized syntheses. This book covers the principles and uses of non-aqueous solvents at a level suitable for first or second-year undergraduates. The book first discusses the general properties of solvents, and introduces the necessary concepts for making rational choices of solvents for different applications. There is a discussion of the various chemical interactions between solvents and the substances dissolved in them, and how solvents change the course of reactions. The chemistry of 16 common solvents is discussed, emphasizing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The book concludes with an account of the chemistry of molten salts and discusses the use of low melting temperature compounds as synthetic media. The book expands on the brief treatment of non-aqueous solvents given in many textbooks while avoiding the complexities introduced in research treatises. It is the only book currently available that provides an in-depth treatment accessible to undergraduates.

An excellent resource for all graduate students and researchers using electrochemical techniques. After introducing the reader to the fundamentals, the book focuses on the latest developments in the techniques and applications in this field. This second edition contains new material on environmentally-friendly solvents, such as room-temperature ionic liquids.

Enzymatic catalysis has gained considerable attention in recent years as an efficient tool in the preparation of natural products, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and food ingredients. The high selectivity and mild reaction con- tions associated with enzymatic transformations have made this approach an attractive alternative in the synthesis of complex bioactive compounds, which are often difficult to obtain by standard chemical routes. However, the maj- ity of organic compounds are not very soluble in water, which was traditi- ally perceived as the only suitable reaction medium for the application of biocatalysts. The realization that most enzymes can function perfectly well under nearly anhydrous conditions and, in addition, display a number of useful properties, e. g. , highly enhanced stability and different selectivity, has d- matically widened the scope of their application to the organic synthesis. Another great attraction of using organic solvents rather than water as a reaction solvent is the ability to perform synthetic transformations with re- tively inexpensive hydrolytic enzymes. It is worth reminding the reader that in vivo, the synthetic and hydrolytic pathways are catalyzed by different enzymes. However, elimination of water from the reaction mixture enables the “reversal” of hydrolytic enzymes and thus avoids the use of the expensive cofactors or activated substrates that are required for their synthetic count- parts.

Considerable attention has been focussed on non-aqueous chemistry in the last decade and this situation has arisen no doubt from a realization of the vast application of this branch of chemistry. Within this field much energetic work has been channelled into the determination of the coordination chemistry of tran sition metals in these solvent 8ystems. Elaborate experimental techniques have been developed to discover, in particular, the magnetic and spectral properties of complex compounds, and the theoretical background of such systems has been expanded to corroborate, as far as possible, the experimental results. This text has, however, a different bias from many books currently available on this branch of chemistry, and is designed to be a survey of known facts on many of the non-aqueous solvents currently in use mainly in the field of halogen chemistry, together with a discussion of these facts in the light of accepted principles. As such, it is hoped to close a gap in the literature of which many workers and advanced students in this field will be aware. The treatment is meant to be selective rather than completely comprehensive and must unevitably reflect some of the special interests of the author.

Solvation, Ionic and Complex Formation Reactions in Non-Aqueous Solvents: Experimental Methods for their Investigation presents the available methods and their particular value in investigating solutions composed of non-aqueous solvents. This book is composed of 10 chapters and begins with a brief description of the complexity of the interactions possible n solutions. The subsequent chapters deal with a classification of the solvents and empirical solvent strength scales based on various experimental parameters, together with various correlations empirically describing the solvent effect. Other chapters present the methods for the purification of solvents and ways of checking their purity, as well as the individual results achieved during investigations of the solvent effect, particularly the general regularities recognized. The remaining chapters provide a review of the coordination chemistry of non-aqueous solutions. This book will prove useful to analytical and inorganic chemists.