A paradox's coming of age

Biological inorganic chemistry: structure and reactivity

Ivano Bertini, Harry Gray, Edward Stiefel, Joan Selverstone Valentine 

Sausalito, US: University Science Books 2008 | 739pp | ?55.99 (HB) ISBN 9781891389436 

Review by Claudia Blindauer 

Considering the major advances in the exciting area of biological inorganic chemistry that the last decade has seen, it was high time for this new compilation. This is a very special book - whilst it has been conceived as an authoritative work for graduate or senior undergraduate courses in bio-inorganic chemistry, it is, with 739 pages in total, also clearly a welcome reference book for researchers in the field. This is a direct consequence of the authors’ aim to ’capture the full vibrancy of the field’. They have certainly achieved this goal, not least by drafting in the assistance of a long list of experts in the various fields of current bio-inorganic chemistry. This approach has furnished a book in which the quality of the provided information is high throughout, and more often than not, the passion of the individual authors for the field shines through - which makes the texts very readable indeed.  

The overall structure of the book is clear and renders the book useful for a variety of readers. The relatively short part A is composed of six chapters that deal with underlying and unifying principles, whereas part B constitutes the bulk of the book and looks in more detail at many important systems. Two very well thought-out tutorials are included for those readers who need to catch up on two foundations of biological inorganic chemistry, namely cell biology, biochemistry, and evolution on the one hand, and coordination chemistry on the other. It is also commendable that the authors emphasise the importance of 3D structures and encourage the reader to make full use of the RCSB Protein Data Bank (www.rcsb.org), by providing respective pdb codes in the text. 

This book is certainly a must-have for everyone involved in research and teaching in biological inorganic chemistry, and should be available in any chemistry library.