Written by Nobel prizewinner George Olah and his renowned co-workers, this is an in-depth yet concise overview of recent developments and significant progress in the field. As such, it covers all major C1compounds, such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, methane and methanol, carbenes, C1 halides and organometallics. For each compound there is a discussion of its natural abundance and formation, synthesis and important transformations, as well as practical applications in the area of energy and fuels, materials, industrial processes for the benefit of mankind, especially the current efforts towards oil independence through renewable energy sources, such as methanol economy. The result is a highly useful reference for a wide variety of scientists working in chemistry and energy-related industries, as well as decision-makers in those organizations concerned with the future of chemical and energy feedstocks.

Author Biography

George A. Olah is Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Distinguished Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Institute at the University of Southern California, USA. He gained his Ph.D. from the Technical University Budapest, Hungary, in 1949. He moved to Canada in 1956 and joined the staff of the Dow Chemical Company in Ontario. In 1964 he moved to America and joined the faculty of the Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. In 1977 he moved to the University of Southern California, becoming director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute in 1991. Professor Olah has received numerous awards and recognitions worldwide, including memberships in various academies of science and 12 honorary degrees. He has some 1,400 scientific papers, 20 books and more than 140 patents to his name. His research spans a wide range of synthetic and mechanistic organic chemistry. But most notably, his work on the chemistry of carbocations earned him the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Thomas Mathew is a senior scientist at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at the University of Southern California, USA. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Kerala (India) in 1989 under the supervision of Prof. C. P. Joshua, he did his initial postdoctoral studies with Prof. M. V. George at the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Trivandrum, India. He spent two years as a Humboldt Fellow with Prof. H. Prinzbach at Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany (1994-1996). In 1996, he joined the Olah-Prakash research group at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute. His main research interests are focused on superacid chemistry, hydrocarbon chemistry, development of new catalysts and organic synthetic methods, fluorine chemistry and photochemistry. G. K. Surya Prakash is currently a Professor and Olah Nobel Laureate Chair in Hydrocarbon Chemistry and Scientific Co-Director at the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at University of Southern California, USA. After gaining his bachelor and master degrees from India, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California under the direction of Prof. Olah in 1978. Professor Prakash has close to 600 scientific papers, 9 books and 25 patents to his name, and has received many accolades, including two American Chemical Society National Awards. His primary research interests are in superacid, hydrocarbon, synthetic organic & organofluorine chemistry, energy and catalysis areas.