Organometallics in Environment and Toxicology Volume 7

Volume 7, devoted to the vital and rapidly expanding research area around metal-carbon bonds (see also MILS-6) focuses on the environment. With more than 2500 references, 35 tables, and nearly 50 illustrations, many of these in color, it is an essential resource for scientists working in the wide range from organometallic chemistry, inorganic biochemistry, environmental toxicology all the way through to physiology and medicine. In 14 stimulating chapters, written by 29 internationally recognized experts, Organometallics in Environment and Toxicology highlights in an authoritative and timely manner environmental cycles of elements involving organometal(loid) compounds as well as the analytical determination of such species. Organometallic compounds contain per definition a metal-carbon bond. Therefore, the present Volume 7 is related to the preceding Volume 6, Metal-Carbon Bonds in Enzymes and Cofactors, which, as follows from its title, focused on living organisms. Volume 7 opens with two general chapters; first, environmental cycles of elements, which involve organometal(loid)s, thus enhancing the element mobility, are discussed, and next the analysis and quantification of the pertinent species are critically reviewed. The discovery that the biologically active form of vitamin B12, its coenzyme 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin, and the corresponding methylcobalamin are all compounds with a cobalt-carbon bond, opened up a new area in organometallic chemistry (MILS-6). In fact, the cobalt-containing corrin-like (B12) cofactor is similar to the nickel coenzyme F430 involved in bacterial methane formation as is pointed out in Chapter 3. Furthermore, it is now recognized that methanogens are obligate anaerobes that are responsible for all biological methane production on earth (ca. 109 tons per year). In Chapters 4 and 5 the organic derivatives of tin and lead, their synthesis, use, environmental distribution, and their toxicity are summarized. The next two chapters deal.