The first seven metals in the periodic table are lithium, beryllium, sodium, magnesium, aluminium, potassium and calcium, known collectively as the “lightest metals”. The growing uses of these seven elements are enmeshing them ever more firmly into critical areas of 21st century technology, including energy storage, catalysis, and various applications of nanoscience.

This volume provides comprehensive coverage of the fundamentals and recent advances in the science and technology of the lightest metals. Opening chapters of the book describe major physical and chemical properties of the metals, their occurrence and issues of long-term availability. The book goes on to disucss a broad range of chemical features, including low oxidation state chemistry, organometallics, metal-centered NMR spectroscopy, and cation-π interactions. Current and emerging applications of the metals are presented, including lithium-ion battery technology, hydrogen storage chemistry, superconductor materials, transparent ceramics, nano-enhanced catalysis, and research into photosynthesis and photoelectrochemical cells.

The content from this book will be added online to the Encyclopedia of Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry: http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/ref/eibc

Professor Timothy P. Hanusa, Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, USA
Professor Timothy P. Hanusa's research is focused on the use of ligand design to control the reactivity of main-group and transition metal organometallic and coordination complexes; investigations of steric effects on the reactivity and magnetic properties of metal complexes; synthesis of precursors to materials with desirable electronic/optical properties; and computational investigations of bonding and structure in inorganic systems.