The f Elements

The lanthanides and actinides (the f elements) are rarely studied in detail by chemistry undergraduates. More often they appear as an afterthought in bonding, spectroscopy, magnetism, coordination chemistry, and organometallics courses. This is largely because of a lack of an accessible text treating the chemistry of these elements in one cover. Moreover, the placement of lanthanides and actinides in the closing pages of standard inorganic chemistry text books serves to marginalise these elem…