The Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals

This textbook is now in its 7th edition, but it doesn't really matter which edition you get -- this is a remarkable book! Crabtree's text is conversational and intuitive and it does not contain a whole lot of technical details (e.g., MO diagrams are used minimally). However, it is jam packed with information -- carefully selected nuggets of knowledge for a student's first exposure to organometallic chemistry. It is a sign of a true master scientist and educator that Crabtree manages to write a book that is very, very readable (even enjoyable) and never feels burdensome or overwhelming, but successfully provides a grad student (or advanced undergrad) with the background knowledge to be able to start reading the primary literature in organometallic chemistry or delve deeper into more specialized reviews and monographs. While there are plenty of literature references at the end of each chapter, this text is not intended to be comprehensive. (For a more comprehensive overview of the organometallic chemistry of the d block, the Hartwig text is the gold standard.) My only critique of this otherwise finely crafted textbook is that the chemical structures displayed are sometimes not very visually appealing....

Very interest updated version of organometallics.