"Quantum Theory for Chemical Applications (QTCA) Quantum theory, or more specifically, quantum mechanics is endlessly fascinating, curious & strange, and often considered to be difficult to learn. It is true that quantum mechanics is a mathematical theory. Its scope, its predictions, the wisdom we gain from its results, all these become fully clear only in the context of the relevant equations and calculations. But the study of quantum mechanics is definitely worth the effort, and - as I like to tell my students- it is not rocket science"--

"Imagination and shrewd guesswork are powerful instruments for acquiring scientific knowledge . . . " 1. H. van't Hoff The last decades have witnessed a rapid growth of quantum chemistry and a tremendous increase in the number of very accurate ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of molecules yielding results of admirable accuracy. This dramatic progress has opened a new stage in the quantum mechanical description of matter at the molecular level. In the first place, highly accurate results provide severe tests of the quantum mecha nics. Secondly, modern quantitative computational ab initio methods can be synergetically combined with various experimen tal techniques thus enabling precise numerical characterization of molecular properties better than ever anticipated earlier. However, the role of theory is not exhausted in disclosing the fundamental laws of Nature and production of ever increasing sets of data of high accuracy. It has to provide additionally a means of systematization, recognition of regularities, and ratio nalization of the myriads of established facts avoiding in this way complete chaos. Additional problems are represented by molecular wavefunctions provided by the modern high-level computational quantum chemistry methods. They involve, in principle, all the information on molecular system, but they are so immensely complex that can not be immediately understood in simple and physically meaningful terms. Both of these aspects, categorization and interpretation, call for conceptual models which should be preferably pictorial, transparent, intuitively appealing and well-founded, being sometimes useful for semi quantitative purposes.

REVIEWS IN COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY Kenny B. Lipkowitz, Raima Larter, and Thomas R. Cundari This volume, like those prior to it, features chapters by experts in various fields of computational chemistry. TOPICS COVERED IN Volume 21 iNCLUDE AB INITIO QUANTUM SIMULATION IN SOLID STATE CHEMISTRY; MOLECULAR QUANTUM SIMILARITY; ENUMERATING MOLECULES; VARIABLE SELECTION; BIOMOLECULAR APPLICATIONS OF POISSON-BOLTZMANN METHODS; AND DATA SOURCES AND COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES FOR GENERATING MODELS OF GENE REGULATORY NETWORKS. FROM REVIEWS OF THE SERIES "Reviews in Computational Chemistry remains the most valuable reference to methods and techniques in computational chemistry." --JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR GRAPHICS AND MODELLING "One cannot generally do better than to try to find an appropriate article in the highly successful Reviews in Computational Chemistry. The basic philosophy of the editors seems to be to help the authors produce chapters that are complete, accurate, clear, and accessible to experimentalists (in particular) and other nonspecialists (in general)." --JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

This book distills the knowledge gained from research into atoms in molecules over the last 10 years into a unique, handy reference. Throughout, the authors address a wide audience, such that this volume may equally be used as a textbook without compromising its research-oriented character. Clearly structured, the text begins with advances in theory before moving on to theoretical studies of chemical bonding and reactivity. There follow separate sections on solid state and surfaces as well as experimental electron densities, before finishing with applications in biological sciences and drug-design. The result is a must-have for physicochemists, chemists, physicists, spectroscopists and materials scientists.

This is the first edited volume that features two important frameworks, Hückel and quantum chemical topological analyses. The contributors, which include an array of academics of international distinction, describe recent applications of such topological methods to various fields and topics that provide the reader with the current state-of-the-art and give a flavour of the wide range of their potentialities.

New textbooks at all levels of chemistry appear with great regularity. Some fields like basic biochemistry, organic reaction mechanisms, and chemical thermody namics are well represented by many excellent texts, and new or revised editions are published sufficiently often to keep up with progress in research. However, some areas of chemistry, especially many of those taught at the graduate level, suffer from a real lack of up-to-date textbooks. The most serious needs occur in fields that are rapidly changing. Textbooks in these subjects usually have to be written by scientists actually involved in the research which is advancing the field. It is not often easy to persuade such individuals to set time aside to help spread the knowledge they have accumulated. Our goal, in this series, is to pinpoint areas of chemistry where recent progress has outpaced what is covered in any available textbooks, and then seek out and persuade experts in these fields to produce relatively concise but instructive introductions to their fields. These should serve the needs of one semester or one quarter graduate courses in chemistry and biochemistry. In some cases, the availability of texts in active research areas should help stimulate the creation of new courses. New York, New York CHARLES R. CANTOR Preface This book is not a traditional quantum chemistry textbook. Instead, it represents a concept that has evolved from teaching graduate courses in quantum chemistry over a number of years, and encountering students with diverse backgrounds.

On March 26-27, 1980, a symposium organized by one of us (P. P. ) was held at the l79th American Chemical Society National ~1eeting in Houston, Texas, under the sponsorship of the Theoretical Chemistry Subdivision of the Division of Physical Chemistry. The symposium was entitled "The Role of the Electrostatic Potential in Chemistry," and it served as a stimulus for this book. The original scope and coverage have been broadened, however; included here, in addition to contributions from the eleven invited symposium speakers and two of the poster-session participants, are four papers that were specially invited for this book. Furthermore, several authors have taken this opportunity to present at least partial reviews of the areas being discussed. Most of the manuscripts were completed in the late spring and early summer of 1980. We hope that this book will achieve two goals: First, we are trying to provide an overall picture, including recent advances, of current chemical research, both fundamental and applied, involving the electrostatic potential. Second, we want to convey an appreci ation of both the powers and also the limitations of the electro static potential approach. In order to achieve these goals, we have selected contributors whose research areas provide a very broad coverage of the field. Throughout the book, we have used a. u.