Abstract
A critical review of the Engel-Brewer theory of metallic bonding is presented with an emphasis on its inapplicability to transition metals. Taking recourse to pseudopotential arguments for nontransition metals and to tight binding model for d-transition metals, the cohesive and crystal structure trends among metals across the periodic table is briefly discussed. It is clear that a direct inclusion of d-electron counts is absolutely necessary to correlate meaningfully the observed structural trend with the valence electron configuration. In view of this limitation, the classical Brewer’s scheme is revised in such a manner that some of the anomalies encountered in the case of transition metals are removed. A discussion of the philosophical basis of Brewer’s model is presented.
