Modern Cyclophane Chemistry. Edited by Rolf Gleiter and Henning Hopf.

The present book, Modern Cyclophane Chemistry, is best classified as an extensive monograph consisting of 20 chapters, written by a group of authors whose names read like a “Who s Who?” of cyclophane chemistry. The book is clearly written for the academic researcher/lecturer and graduate students in the field of organic chemistry. On over 500 pages, it contains everything the reader always wanted to know, but never dared to ask, about cyclophane chemistry. The book fits well into the vastly popular “Modern ...” series from Wiley-VCH:Modern Acetylene Chemistry I and II, Modern Arene Chemistry, Modern Allene Chemistry, etc., and has the same aspiration to quality and comprehensiveness. Overall, it is a superb book, edited by two giants in the field of cyclophane chemistry. I have read a few of the 20 chapters and has browsed through the rest of them. The first impression is that of a very carefully edited and asthetically pleasing opus. All of the chapters are well structured, pedagogically valuable, and easily readable, and give excellent references to published material, including work of the authors and of other groups. The use of graphics, figures, and pictures is very appropriate and helps in the easy understanding of the topics that are discussed. A significant amount of information could be gleaned from the beautiful, carefully done, and high-quality graphics. This monograph gives an excellent historical overview, as well as a timely review of the evergrowing and fascinating field of cyclophane chemistry. A particularly attractive feature for academic teachers is the inclusion of many exciting structures and reactions, which can easily be used for topics in a graduate class. The book describes sophisticated, yet important, examples of organic reactions that are valuable for the construction of non-natural products. The subject index is easy to use, and gives excellent access to the topics treated in this volume. Particularly advantageous is that the UV/Vis spectra (Chapter 11) are tabulated and easily accessible, almost as in a reference book. Overall, it was a pleasant experience to read and review this excellent, exciting, yet rounded monograph about cyclophane chemistry, which should be bought by interested graduate students and university teachers. The book should be in every library. Both the editors, as well as the authors of the individual chapters, did an excellent job in the creation of this opus.