Metal complexes: from pioneers to the GTC

摘要

The lecture takes into consideration the main and significant stages of the history of metal complexes. The story begins with the first empirical observations at the end of the XVIII Century, to the attempts for explaining some supposed anomalous behaviours, to the different interpretations by Jorgensen and Werner, to the Ziegler and Natta's achievements. Particular attention is devoted to the development of the study of complex formation equilibria in solution, and kinetic of complexation reactions. Together with these historical passages, consideration is also given to the different scientific fields in which the study of metal complexes gave a noteworthy contribution to increase in knowledge by suggesting some original solutions and supporting other fields of research, especially in biochemistry. With the aim of keeping alive the interest on the fundamental researches in these fields, the Group of Thermodynamics of Complexes (GTC) was constituted in Italy in 1973. The GTC has organised yearly congress and some summer schools, and has produced a wealth of scientific papers. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. [References: 31]