This chapter reviews possible experimental aspects of relativistic effects in heavier Main Group elements and their compounds. Attention is focused on the sixth, seventh and eighth Period elements, for which the relativistic contribution to their physical and chemical properties is significant. Superheavy elements through Z = 120 are also discussed. This review may increase interest of theoreticians in chemistry-oriented problems that require use of relativistic methods of quantum chemistry.

Environmentally occurring organometal(loid)s have generated some severe health and safety problems. Consequently, scientists have been investigating various organisms to show the presence of such compounds (bioindicators), to follow their movement through the environment (biomonitors), and to remove them (bioremediators). Examples of such organisms and the mechanisms of their action(s) are discussed. Also mentioned are those organisms that form organometal(loid)s as a way of removing toxic inorganic species.

This title is not available to purchase from Royal Society of Chemistry. Please visit www.bioinorganic-chemistry.org/mils for title information. This volume, closely related to MILS-6, deals mainly with metal(loid)-alkyl derivatives but also with the rarer aryl compounds. Most of these (commonly toxic) compounds are formed in the environment by microorganisms, but some anthropogenic input occurs as well. MILS-7, providing a most up-to-date view, is of special relevance for researchers in analytical and bioinorganic chemistry, enzymology, environmental chemistry, physiology, toxicology, and related medical fields.

Organo compounds form an integral part of the environmental cycles of metals and metalloids. For phosphorus, selenium, and (possibly) arsenic, they are biochemical necessities. For others, they create enhanced mobility and altered biological effects. Investigations in this area grew out of human introduction of these compounds or their precursors into the natural environment.

Biological methylation is an enzymatic process in which a methyl group is transferred from one atom to another. For elements having atomic number greater than 11, biological methylation has been most extensively studied for three elements: arsenic, mercury and sulfur. However, many other elements also undergo biological methylation but have received less attention. Recent work on these less-studied elements and new applications of biological methylation to environmental remediation, along with a description of these reactions in terms of bonding models, is the focus of this review. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Water-soluble bromólkyl compounds provide a useful model for investigating aqueousreactions of alkyl bromides and metals. Bromólkyltriphenylphosphonium bromides, (C6H5)PR Br, have proven particularly useful for this purpose.