Developed from a symposium organized by the editor and held at Stanford University, Stanford, California, March 30-31, 1995. Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Henry Taube, 1983 Nobel Laureate / Jerry Walsh -- The Taube Revolution, 1952-1954 / Michael Ardon -- From electron transfer reactions to the effects of backbonding / Henry Taube -- Structure and bonding in molecular hydrogen complexes of osmium(II) / Ian Bytheway [and others] -- Osmium(II) dearomatization agents in organic synthesis / W. Dean Harman -- A novel, high-yield system for the oxidation of methane to methanol / Roy A. Periana -- Intrinsic ancillary ligand effects in cationic zirconium polymerization catalysts / David E. Richardson -- Zeolites offer variety as ligands / J.N. Armor and Brian H. Toby -- Reactions catalyzed by methylrhenium trioxide / James H. Espenson and Mahdi M. Abu-Omar -- Steric effects in redox reactions and electron transfer rates / Rodney J. Geue [and others] -- Intrinsic barriers to atom transfer between transition-metal centers / Carol Creutz -- Nuclear factors in main-group electron transfer reactions / David M. Stanbury -- Calculation of rate constants from spectra : nonradiative decay and electron transfer / Darla Graff, Juan Pablo Claude, and Thomas J. Meyer -- Ligand-induced, stereochemical relaxation of electronic constraints in a simple chemical process : examples from hexaam(m)ine Cr(III) photophysics / John F. Endicott [and others] -- Time-resolved infrared studies of migratory insertion mechanisms in manganese carbonyls / Peter C. Ford and William T. Boese -- Redox reactions of binuclear complexes of ruthenium and iron : kinetic vs. thermodynamic control and activation effects / Albert Haim -- Electron delocalization through the disulfide bridge / Icaro de Sousa Moreira and Douglas Wagner Franco -- Kinetic and equilibrium studies of the reactions of cysteine and pencillamine with aqueous iron (III) / M.J. Sisley and R.B. Jordan -- Taube's influence on the design of oscillating reactions ; ClOp8b2s-driven Clop-b2s-Ip-s oscillator and turing structures / Irving R. Epstein, Kenneth Kustin, and István Lengyel -- Hydrolysis of coordinated nitriles and linkage isomerization reactions in ruthenium ammine complexes with nitriles and amides / Zúenis Novais da Rocha, Glaico Chiericato, Jr., and Elia Tfouni -- Electron transfer in bioinorganic chemistry : role of electronic structure and the entatic state / Edward I. Solomon [and others] -- Long-range intramolecular electron transfer reactions across simple organic bridges, peptides, and proteins / Stephan S. Isied -- Ruthenium in biology : DNA interactions / Michael J. Clarke -- Ru(II)-polyaminopolycarboxylate complexes for improved DNA probes / Rex E. Shepherd [and others] -- The role of inorganic chemistry in cellular mechanisms of host-resistance to disease / James K. Hurst -- Application of Taube insights to nuclear medicine : in vivo inorganic chemistry / Edward Deutsch. The book presents an overview of the advances pioneered by Henry Taube over four decades in the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, charge transfer complexes, and [pi] back-bonding effects in metal-ligand interactions. The application of these principles to diverse areas of chemistry and biology such as the selective and controlled oxidation of organic functional groups, polymerization catalysis, metal biological interactions with DNA, biological electron transfer reactions, and new imaging agents in diagnostic medicine are discussed.