Preface to the second edition

The first edition of this book published in 1986 was well received by the chemistry and materials science communities and this resulted in the paperback edition published in 1989. We are most gratified by this warm reception to the book which has been found useful by students and teachers as well as practising solid state chemists and materials scientists. Since we first wrote the book, there have been many new developments in the various aspects of solid state chemistry covering synthesis, structure elucidation, properties, phenomena and reactivity. The discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates created a great sensation and gave a boost to the study of solid state chemistry. Many new types of materials such as the fullerenes and carbon nanotubes have been discovered. We have now revised the book taking into account the new developments so that it reflects the present status of the subject adequately and points to new directions. In this edition, we have incorporated new material in all the chapters and updated references to the literature. New sections dealing with porous solids, fullerenes and related materials, metal nitrides, metal tellurides, molecular magnets and other organic materials have been added. Under preparative strategies, we have included new types of synthesis reported in the literature, specially those based on soft chemistry routes. We have a new section covering typical results from empirical theory and electron spectroscopy.