Publisher's Synopsis
This volume concentrates on those areas of group theory that are applicable in a chemical context. It covers the fundamentals of group theory, proceeds to discuss their relevance to chemistry and finally goes on to illustrate how group-theoretical principles may be employed in the analysis and characterization of a wide variety of chemical systems.;In chapter one, after an outline of some historical aspects of the use of symmetry in chemistry is given. the scene is set by introducing a number of group theoretical techniques that have been employed by chemists. Chapter two considers in detail the nature and the differing types of groups that have been employed by chemists and others in the their description of chemical systems. In chapter three a mathematical formalism is presented that is now being increasingly used for the interpretation of stereochemistry phenomena. The symmetry of molecules is analyzed from a group-theoretical perspective in chapter four, while in chapter five the symmetry of the chemical graphs that are commonly used to represent both organic and inorganic molecules is addressed. Chapters four and five together encompass applications such as the enumeration of many different chemical isomers and analysis of the symmetry characteristics of a variety of recently synthesized molecules such as the fullerenes. The concluding chapter six examines the symmetry of wave function for many-particle systems and thereby elucidates the role of the group theory in quantum chemistry.
