Summarizes results and advances discussed at the Ninth International Meeting in Boron Chemistry in Heidelberg, July 14-18, 1996. A total of ten plenary and 24 session lectures as well as 44 short communications were presented to the international community of boron chemists and colleagues interested in various areas of this chemistry, covering aspects of theoretical, inorganic, organic and medicinal chemistry as well as material sciences.

Table of Contents:
Theoretical/computational chemistry: are boron aromatic? an analysis of their magnetic properties, P.v.R. Schleyer et al; Geometrical relationships among carbonate classes, R.E. Williams; 11 BNMR chemical shift rules in the light of iglo calculations, S. Hermanek et al; New aspects in decaborane chemistry - the electron localization function (ELF) in close-boron monohalides, R. Kellner et al. Organoboranes: Alkylidene borates - surprising structures and an excursion into a rich chemistry, H. Ederle et al; Reactivity of alkenylboranes, B. Wrackmeyer; Cycling organohydroborate anions as hydride transfer agents in reactions with organic and organometallic compounds, S.G. shore et al; Synthesis of arylboronates via palladium (0)- catalysed cross coupling reaction of alkoxydiboron with aryl halides or triflates, T. Ishiyama, N. Miyaura; Hexaboryl benzene and tetraboryl ethene derivatives, A. Maderna et al; synthesis of cycloheptatrienyl and cyclononatetraenyl derivatives of boron - different selection rules for (l,j) sigmatropic reactions of boron and tin, I.D. Gridnev et al; Zirconocene-mediated cyclization of l,w-dibora enynes, G. Desirmont et al; Novel structural motifs in organometallic chemistry by boron-nitrogen (phosphorous) donor-acceptor bonding, J. Jakle, M. Wagner; Tetrabutylammonium fluoride promoted regiospecific reaction of (trimethylsilyl)-o-carborane with carbonyl compounds, J. Cai et al; On phosphanylboranes R(X)B-Pr'(Y) with thermally labile substituent at the boron atom, E. Sattler, H. Krautscheid. Organoboranes in organic synthesis: Allylic boranes in synthesis and transformations of heterocyclic compounds, Y.N. Bubnov; The reaction of organoboranes with carbonyl compounds and their derivatives, G.W. Kabalka; Recent advances in our sixty-year program on diborane and organoboranes for synthesis, H.C. Brown, P.V. Ramachandran; Haloboration to alkynes and the related reactions, A. Suzuki; New borane-amine adducts for hydroboration and reduction, M. Zaidlewicz, H.C. Brown; New reactions of alkenyl boronic acids, N.A. Petasis, I.A. Zavialov. Chiral organoboranes: Synthesis of asymmetric natural products via boronic esters, D.S. Matteson; Synthesis and application of chiral organoboranes, G. Bir et al; Intramolecular asymmetric reductions with diisopinocampheylborane, P.V. Ramachandran, H.C. Brown; New, convenient methods of optical resolution of racemic diols through borate complexes, M. Periasamy. Boron heterocycles and their complexes: Boratabenzene chemistry revisited, G.E. Herberich; Controlling factors in the formation and reactivity of boron-nitrogen and boron-carbon compounds, A. Meller, W. Maringgele. (Part contents).