VIII Preface to the Third Edition of Chemistry,Philipps University,Marburg/Germany.Special thanks are due to the staff of Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH,Weinheim/Germany,particularly to Dr.Elke Westermann,for their fine work in turning the manuscript into the final book.Lastly. my biggest debt is to my wife Maria,not only for her assistance in the preparation of the manu cript,but also for her constant encouragement and support during the writing of this book Marburg (Lahn),Spring 2002 Christian Reichardtof Chemistry, Philipps University, Marburg/Germany. Special thanks are due to the sta¤ of Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim/Germany, particularly to Dr. Elke Westermann, for their fine work in turning the manuscript into the final book. Lastly, my biggest debt is to my wife Maria, not only for her assistance in the preparation of the manuscript, but also for her constant encouragement and support during the writing of this book. Marburg (Lahn), Spring 2002 Christian Reichardt VIII Preface to the Third Edition