The art of chemistry is to thoroughly understand the properties of molecular compounds and materials and to be able to prepare novel compounds with p- dicted and desirable properties. The basis for progress is to fully appreciate and fundamentally understand the intimate relation between structure and function. The thermodynamic properties (stability, selectivity, redox potential), reactivities (bond breaking and formation, catalysis, electron transfer) and electronic properties (spectrosc...

The series Structure and Bonding publishes critical reviews on topics of research concerned with chemical structure and bonding. The scope of the series spans the entire Periodic Table and addresses structure and bonding issues associated with all of the elements. It also focuses attention on new and developing areas of modern structural and theoretical chemistry such as nanostructures, molecular electronics, designed molecular solids, surfaces, metal clusters and supramolecular structures...

This volume provides an overview of current research and recent advances in the area of energetic materials, focusing on decomposition, crystal and molecular properties. The contents and format reflect the fact that theory, experiment and computation are closely linked in this field. Since chemical decomposition is of fundamental importance in energetic performance, this volume begins with a survey of the decomposition processes of a variety of energetic compounds. This is followed by deta...

Hydrogen bond (H-bond) effects are known: it makes sea water liquid, joins cellulose microfibrils in trees, shapes DNA into genes and polypeptide chains into wool, hair, muscles or enzymes. Its true nature is less known and we may still wonder why O-H...O bond energies range from less than 1 to more than 30 kcal/mol without apparent reason. This H-bond puzzle is re-examined here from its very beginning and presented as an inclusive compilation of experimental H-bond energies and geometries...

Providing an up-to-date and lucid presentation of phenomena across modern advanced-level solid state physics, this new edition builds on an elementary understanding to introduce students to the key research topics with the minimum of mathematics. It covers cutting-edge topics, including electron transport and magnetism in solids. It is the first book to explain topological insulators and strongly correlated electrons. Explaining solid state physics in a clear and detailed way, it also has ...

This book intends to be an easy and concise introduction to the field of nuclear magnetic resonance or NMR, which has revolutionized life sciences in the last twenty years. A significant part of the progress observed in scientific areas like Chemistry, Biology or Medicine can be ascribed to the development experienced by NMR in recent times. Many of the books currently available on NMR deal with the theoretical basis and some of its main applications, but they generally demand a strong bac...

This new text surveys a series of fundamental problems in astrophysics, both analytically and computationally, for advanced students in physics and astrophysics. The contents are supported by more than 110 class-tested Mathematica® notebooks, allowing rigorous solutions to be explored in a visually engaging way. Topics covered include many classical and historically interesting problems, enabling students to appreciate the mathematical and scientific challenges that have been overcome in t...

Seismic waves - generated both by natural earthquakes and by man-made sources - have produced an enormous amount of information about the Earth's interior. In classical seismology, the Earth is modeled as a sequence of uniform horizontal layers (or spherical shells) having different elastic properties and one determines these properties from travel times and dispersion of seismic waves. The Earth, however, is not made of horizontally uniform layers, and classic seismic methods can take lar...

Ideas of Quantum Chemistry shows how quantum mechanics is applied to chemistry to give it a theoretical foundation. From the Schroedinger equation to electronic and nuclear motion to intermolecular interactions, this book covers the primary quantum underpinnings of chemical systems. The structure of the book (a TREE-form) emphasizes the logical relationships among various topics, facts and methods. It shows the reader which parts of the text are needed for understanding specific aspects of...

Describing the physical properties of quantum materials near critical points with long-range many-body quantum entanglement, this book introduces readers to the basic theory of quantum phases, their phase transitions and their observable properties. This second edition begins with a new section suitable for an introductory course on quantum phase transitions, assuming no prior knowledge of quantum field theory. It also contains several new chapters to cover important recent advances, such ...

This book outlines methods to improve functioning of these polymer based devices – in particular, the multi-faceted cognition of these materials. In situ electrochemical techniques are studied to elucidate redox switching between non-conducting and conducting states.The book examines the advantages of combinations of in situ electrochemical techniques in a hyphenated mode for analyzing conducting polymers.

Aimed at students and researchers entering the field, this pedagogical introduction to numerical relativity will also interest scientists seeking a broad survey of its challenges and achievements. Assuming only a basic knowledge of classical general relativity, the book develops the mathematical formalism from first principles, and then highlights some of the pioneering simulations involving black holes and neutron stars, gravitational collapse and gravitational waves. The book contains 30...