Abstract
The Faraday Discussions meeting on Mechanistic Processes in Organometallic Chemistry was a brilliant occasion to assemble chemists from diverse sub-disciplines to discuss the progress and limitations of the study of reaction mechanisms using organometallic systems for stoichiometric or catalytic reactions. It was also highly meaningful that this Discussion was held at the University of York, where the tradition of analysing and understanding chemical events is very strong (as shown in the presentation by Ian Fairlamb). From the presentation of experimental and theoretical results, the feeling is that of a half filled/half empty glass: immense progress has been made and more physical and theoretical methods are now available to study these systems, but the path in front of us is still very long and full of pitfalls. To quote Todd Marder: “It is still worthwhile and exciting to get out of bed in the morning to go to the laboratory and explore more deeply the complexity of chemical reactions.”