Book excerpt: Intermetallic compounds play an extraordinary role in daily life for construction materials and well-defined functions that are based on their specific chemical and physical properties, e.g. magnetism and superconductivity. High-tech materials are meanwhile indispensable in our technology-driven information society. The Periodic Table comprises more than 80 metallic elements which offer an incredible potential for formation of binary, ternary and even multinary intermetallic compounds with peculiar crystal structures and properties. The present textbook introduces into the basics of intermetallic chemistry with an emphasis on crystal chemistry and selected chemical and physical properties.