Written by highly renowned and experienced authors, this is the only reference on the application of solvents as reagents.
Clearly structured, the text describes various methods for the activation and reaction of these small molecules, highlighting the synthetic opportunities as well as process-oriented advantages. To this end, all relevant types of solvents are covered separately and emphasized with numerous synthetic examples, while taking care to explain applications so as to avoid undesired side reactions.
The result is a unique resource for every synthetic chemist and reaction engineer in industry and academia working on the methodical optimization of synthetic transformations.


Xiao-Feng Wu is Professor at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (ZSTU) in China and also leads a research group at the Leibniz-Institute for Catalysis in Rostock (Germany). He studied chemistry at ZSTU, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in science in 2007. In the same year, he went to Universite de Rennes 1 (France) to work with Prof. C. Darcel. He obtained his master's degree there in 2009 and then joined the group of Prof. M. Beller at the Leibniz-Institute for Catalysis in Rostock. He completed his PhD thesis in January 2012 and was promoted to Full Professor at ZSTU in 2013. In March 2017, Xiao-feng defended his Habilitation successfully in Rennes 1 University (France). His research interests include carbonylation reactions, heterocycles synthesis, and the catalytic application of cheap metals. He has already authored 10 books, 15 chapters and >180 publications in international journals.