A vast range of different functional groups is potentially available from the attachment of three or four heteroatoms to carbon. Some of these are abundantly represented in the literature, others are rare, and many have yet to be described. The aim of this volume is to describe the synthesis of examples of known functional groups and to highlight those that are little known or unknown. All possible combinations of heteroatoms have been surveyed, with the exception of complexes in which carbon atoms are bonded only to transition elements. The material is organised in four parts: tetracoordinated carbon atoms bearing three attached heteroatoms are covered in Part 1, and those bearing four heteroatoms in Part II; the synthesis of tricoordinated carbon
atoms with three attached heteroatoms is described in Part III; stabilized radicals and carbocations with three attached heteroatoms are covered briefly in Part IV.