Organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, main group chemistry. Where are the frontiers at present?

Abstract

The traditional partitions of chemistry are not so clear-cut. Organometallic chemistry, by bridging organic and inorganic chemistry, has contributed largely to unifying the wider field of molecular chemistry over the entire Periodic Table. Its many interactions with analytical, physical and biological chemistry, material sciences, surface sciences, etc., are growing, as is its industrial impact. Where are the limits to organometallic chemistry today? Should it have a particular status? Frontiers have seldom been heuristic. The tremendous development of organometallic chemistry illustrates indeed that fertility results from approaches which integrate the knowledge, concepts and methods of research domains which were hitherto separate. Results involving perfluorochemicals, transition metal-induced phosphorus chemistry and early transition metal organometallics are presented, which could just as well be claimed by organic chemistry as by inorganic chemistry, or fluorine chemistry, or coordination chemistry, or phosphorus chemistry, or… organometallic chemistry.