Other methods of preparing coordination compounds

There have been developments in synthetic methods. First, related to the heat and grind method, gel/colloid methods of producing reaction precursors are giving much more control and more reproducibility of the final product. Secondly, hydrothermal methods are finding utility. In these, reactions are carried out at high temperature and pressure conditions in the presence of a solvent (not necessarily water, although this has been most commonly used). For instance, Fe Fe2 F8 H20 was prepared in this way using liquid HF as a solvent. 

Whilst many textbooks of practical inorganic chemistry provide useful information, the most general source, used for much of the material in the present chapter, is the series Inorganic Syntheses that McGraw Hill started in 1939 and is still continuing, although now published by J. Wiley (over 20 volumes have been published). 

Another source, almost as valuable, is Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry, G. Bauer (ed.) in two volumes, Academic Press, London 1963 and 1965. 

A standard reference is D. F. Shriver, The Manipulation of Air-Sensitive Compounds, McGraw Hill, New York, 1969. Other useful texts include  

A recent discussion of template reactions is Template Syntheses , a long review by R. Hoss and F. Vogtle in Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. (1994), 33, 375. 

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