Book excerpt: Molten salts are of considerable significance to chemical technology. Applications range from the established ones, such as the production of aluminum, magnesium, sodium and fluorine, to those as yet to be fully exploited, such as molten salt batteries and fuel cells, catalysis, and solar energy. Molten salts are investigated for different purposes by many diverse techniques. There is a need to keep investigators working in different areas, such as metal production, power sources, and glass industry, aware of progress in various specialties, as well as to familiarize new research workers with the fundamental aspects of the broad field of molten salt _ chemistry. This volume constitutes the plenary lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Molten Salt Chemistry, Camerino, Italy, August 3-15, 1986. The fundamentals and several selected applications of molten salt chemistry were addressed. The major fundamental topics covered at this ASI were the structure of melts, thermodynamics of molten salt mixtures, theoretical and experimental studies of transport processes, metal-metal salt solutions, solvent properties of melt systems, acid-base effects in molten salt chemistry, electronic absorption, vibrational, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of melt systems, electrochemistry and electroanalytical chemistry in molten salts, and organic chemistry in molten salts. The applied aspects of molten salt chemistry included the chemistry of aluminum production, electrodeposition using molten salts, and molten salt batteries and fuel cells.