the current volume continues the tradition of providing significant and interesting procedures, which should prove worthwhile to many synthetic chemists working in increasingly diverse areas. following precedent, there is no specific or central theme to this volume, but the procedures can be organized into four main categories: (1) asymmetric syntheses, chiral auxiliaries and chiral ligands; (2) reactions that are promoted by metals or proceed via organometallic intermediates; (3) cycloaddition reactions; (4) valuable synthetic transformations and building blocks.