Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry

Citation

Rayner-Canham, G., & Overton, T. (2014). Descriptive Inorganic Chemistry (6th ed.). W. H. Freeman / Macmillan Learning.

Chapter Summary

The sixth edition has 24 chapters: nine on principles, then a tour of the periodic table from hydrogen to the actinoids. Macmillan describes it as a less rigorous, less mathematical route into inorganic chemistry that uses the periodic table as the context for exploring chemical properties and relationships between elements in different groups, covering both historical development and contemporary applications, especially industrial processes and environmental issues. The publisher lists four features of this edition: each chapter opens with a "Context", a real-world aspect of inorganic chemistry tied to the chapter content (examples given include the greenhouse effect, ionic solvents and green chemistry, carbon nanotubes or graphene, ADP and ATP, water fluoridation, radon, the biological importance of zinc, and lasers or nuclear power); new step-by-step worked examples; updated Biological Aspects sections at the ends of chapters; and videos of compounds and reactions on the free companion site.

Chapters 1–2: The Electronic Structure of the Atom: A Review; The Structure of the Periodic Table

The opening chapter is explicitly a review of atomic structure from general chemistry; the second sets out the organisation of the periodic table on which the rest of the book depends.

Chapters 3–5: Covalent Bonding and Molecular Spectroscopy; Metallic Bonding, Alloys, and Composites; Ionic Bonding and Solid State Behaviour

Three chapters on the three bonding types, each linked to properties: molecular spectroscopy with covalent bonding, alloys and composites with metallic bonding, and solid-state behaviour with ionic bonding.

Chapters 6–8: Why Compounds Exist – Inorganic Thermodynamics; Solvent Systems and Acid-Base Behavior; Oxidation and Reduction

The explanatory tools: thermodynamics applied to the question of why particular compounds form, acid–base behaviour in water and other solvents, and redox chemistry.

Chapter 9: Periodic Patterns

A chapter devoted to the patterns that run across the table, the bridge between the principles and the group-by-group survey.

Chapters 10–12: Hydrogen; The Group 1 Elements: The Alkali Metals; The Group 2 Elements: The Alkaline Earth Metals

The descriptive survey begins with hydrogen in a chapter of its own, followed by the alkali and alkaline earth metals.

Chapters 13–18: The Group 13 Elements through The Group 18 Elements

One chapter for each main group from 13 to 18: the group 13 and 14 elements, the pnictogens (15), the chalcogens (16), the halogens (17) and the noble gases (18).

Chapters 19–22: Transition Metal Complexes; Properties of the 3d Transition Metals; Properties of the 4d and 5d Transition Metals; The Group 12 Elements

Coordination chemistry comes first, then the first-row transition metals and the heavier 4d and 5d metals in separate chapters. Group 12 (zinc, cadmium, mercury) has a chapter of its own after the transition metals.

Chapters 23–24: Organometallic Chemistry; The Rare Earth and Actinoid Elements

The book ends with a single chapter on organometallic chemistry and one on the rare earth and actinoid elements.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–9: Principles

• Periodic table structure: the organisation of the elements that frames every later chapter.
• Bonding types and properties: covalent, metallic and ionic bonding, each linked to the behaviour of real materials.
• Inorganic thermodynamics: energy arguments for why some compounds exist and others do not.
• Acid–base and redox behaviour: the two reaction types used throughout the descriptive chapters.
• Periodic patterns: trends and relationships that cut across groups.

Chapters 10–24: The Elements

• Group chemistry: the properties of each main group, from hydrogen and the alkali metals to the noble gases.
• Transition metal complexes: coordination compounds as the basis for understanding the d-block metals.
• 3d versus 4d and 5d metals: the first-row metals treated separately from their heavier congeners.
• Organometallic compounds: metal–carbon chemistry introduced in a single chapter.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Concepts used to explain facts. Macmillan's author note says Rayner-Canham wrote the book because he could not find an inorganic text that used concepts to explain the properties and uses of the elements and their compounds; the structure, nine principles chapters followed by fifteen descriptive ones, reflects that aim.
• Context throughout. Every chapter opens with a real-world Context, the Biological Aspects sections serve students from biology, and the publisher stresses industrial and environmental applications and historical development.
• Accessible level. The publisher positions the book as a less mathematical way into inorganic chemistry, which suits a first inorganic course and students outside chemistry.
• Fine-grained treatment of the elements. Hydrogen, each main group from 13 to 18, group 12 and the 4d/5d metals all have their own chapters, giving more space to descriptive chemistry than a chapter-per-block arrangement.

Limitations

• Light on theory. The publisher's own description, less rigorous and less mathematical, means that symmetry, group theory and detailed bonding models do not appear in the chapter list; students heading for advanced inorganic courses will need a more theoretical text.
• Dated edition. Published in 2014, it predates later developments such as the 2016 naming of elements 113, 115, 117 and 118.
• Organometallic chemistry in one chapter. Organometallic chemistry receives a single chapter near the end, enough for an introduction but not for a course on the topic.

Where It Fits in the Course

Rayner-Canham and Overton's book is the descriptive first course among the inorganic chemistry books on this list. Scerri's The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction makes a good companion or preface: it explains how the table came about and why it has its shape, while this book uses the table to organise the chemistry of the elements.

Housecroft's Inorganic Chemistry and Shriver, Weller, Overton and colleagues' Inorganic Chemistry (Overton is also a co-author of the latter) combine physical-inorganic principles, symmetry and spectroscopy with systematic chemistry of the blocks and are the natural next step for chemistry majors. Pfennig's Principles of Inorganic Chemistry develops symmetry, group theory and molecular orbital models in depth, and Crabtree's The Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals takes Chapter 23's topic to graduate level.

How to Use This Book

The book suits undergraduates taking their first inorganic chemistry course, including the biology majors who, according to the publisher, often take it, and students in other sciences who need a working knowledge of the elements. Chapter 1 presents atomic structure as a review, so a general chemistry course is assumed.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapters 1–9, the principles; Chapter 6 on inorganic thermodynamics and Chapter 9 on periodic patterns repay careful study, because the descriptive chapters return to them.
• Descriptive survey: Chapters 10–18 for the main-group elements, read in order or by the groups a course emphasises.
• Transition metals: Chapters 19–22, starting with complexes in Chapter 19.
• Optional or later: Chapters 23–24 on organometallic chemistry and the f-block, depending on the course.

Use each chapter's opening Context as motivation and its worked examples as a model for problems; biology students should read the Biological Aspects sections closely. The companion-site videos of compounds and reactions are useful for students with little laboratory experience.