Even brilliant colors are all bound to scatter, Who in our changing
world can stay forever? From Iroha-uta, ancient Buddhistic poem of Japan
For many years we have been engaged in the preparation and
characterization of new metal complexes and chelates, and especially the
interpretation of their electronic spectra in solutions. In the course
of these studies, we have encountered a number of strange changes in
color which occur upon heating, cooling or compressing the solutions, or
changing the nature of the solvent. Similar effects of temperature and
pressure on the color were often also observed in the solid state.
Records of visual observations, spectral measurements, and their
interpretations and analyses accumulated each year, until we found
ourselves, quite suddenly, in the middle of a fantastic world of color
changes - the world of inorganic thermochromism and related chromo
tropic phenomena. This book is a result of the reviews by Sone and Prof.
S. Utsuno (Kagaku no Ryoiki, 22, 222 (1968); Bunko Kenkyu, 25,123
(1976)), and a series of papers by Fukuda, Sone et al. published in
the 1. Inorg. Nucl. Chern., Bull. Chern. Soc. Japan, and various other
journals after 1970.