Theoretical Organic Chemistry

This volume is devoted to the various aspects of theoretical organic chemistry. In the nineteenth century, organic chemistry was primarily an experimental, empirical science. Throughout the twentieth century, the emphasis has been continually shifting to a more theoretical approach. Today, theoretical organic chemistry is a distinct area of research, with strong links to theoretical physical chemistry, quantum chemistry, computational chemistry, and physical organic chemistry. The objective in this volume has been to provide a cross-section of a number of interesting topics in theoretical organic chemistry, starting with a detailed account of the historical development of this discipline and including topics devoted to quantum chemistry, physical properties of organic compounds, their reactivity, their biological activity, and their excited-state properties.

This book provides state-of-the-art information on how studies in applied theoretical organic chemistry are conducted. It highlights the many approaches and tools available to those interested in using computational chemistry to predict and rationalize structures and reactivity of organic molecules. Chapters not only describe theoretical techniques in detail, but also describe recent applications and offer practical advice. Authored by many of the world leaders in the field of applied theoretical chemistry, this book is perfect for both practitioners of computational chemistry and synthetic and mechanistic organic chemists curious about applying computational techniques to their research. Contents: Modeling Organic Reactions — General Approaches, Caveats, and Concerns (Stephanie R Hare, Brandi M Hudson and Dean J Tantillo)Overview of Computational Methods for Organic Chemists (Edyta M Greer and Kitae Kwon)Brief History of Applied Theoretical Organic Chemistry (Steven M Bachrach)Solvation (Carlos Silva Lopez and Olalla Nieto Faza)Conformational Searching for Complex, Flexible Molecules (Alexander C Brueckner, O Maduka Ogba, Kevin M Snyder, H Camille Richardson and Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong)NMR Prediction (Kelvin E Jackson and Robert S Paton)Energy Decomposition Analysis and Related Methods (Israel Fernández)Systems with Extensive Delocalization (L Zoppi and K K Baldridge)Modern Treatments of Aromaticity (Judy I-Chia Wu)Weak Intermolecular Interactions (Rajat Maji and Steven E Wheeler)Predicting Reaction Pathways from Reactants (Romain Ramozzi, W M C Sameera and Keiji Morokuma)Unusual Potential Energy Surfaces and Nonstatistical Dynamic Effects (Charles Doubleday)The Distortion/Interaction Model for Analysis of Activation Energies of Organic Reactions (K N Houk, Fang Liu, Yun-Fang Yang and Xin Hong)Spreadsheet-Based Computational Predictions of Isotope Effects (O Maduka Ogba, John D Thoburn and Daniel J O'Leary)Stereoelectronic Effects: Analysis by Computational and Theoretical Methods (Gabriel dos Passos Gomes and Igor Alabugin)pKa Prediction (Yijie Niu and Jeehiun K Lee)Issues Particular to Organometallic Reactions (Gang Lu, Huiling Shao, Humair Omer and Peng Liu)Computationally Modeling Nonadiabatic Dynamics and Surface Crossings in Organic Photoreactions (Arthur Winter)Challenges in Predicting Stereoselectivity (Elizabeth H Krenske) Readership: Practitioners of computational chemistry and synthetic and mechanistic organic chemists curious about applying computational techniques to their research. Keywords: Organic Chemistry;Theoretical Chemistry;Stereoselectivity;NMR Prediction;pKa Prediction;Organic PhotoreactionsReview: Key Features: A particular strength is the mix of theoretical background, informative examples and practical advice providedChapters are authored by many of world leaders in the field of applied theoretical chemistry

As a general rule any interdisciplinary subject and that includes Computational Theoretical Organic Chemistry (CTOC) incorporates people from the two overlaping areas. In this case the overlaping areas are Computational Theoretical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. Since CTOC is a relatively young science, people continue to shift from their major discipline to this area. At this particular time in history we have to accept in CTOC people who were trained in Computational Theoretical Chemistry and do not know very much about Organic Chemistry, but more often the opposite case is operative Experimental Organic Chemistry who have not been exposed to Computational Theoretical Chemistry. This situation made NATO Advanced Study Institute in the field of CTOC necessary. The inhomogenity outlined above was present in the NATO Advanced Study Institute, held at Menton in July 1980, and to some degree it is noticable from the content of this volume. This book contains 20 contributions. The first contribution is an Introduc tion chapter in which the initiated experimental chemists are briefed about the subject matter. The last chapter describes very briefly the "Computational Laboratory" that was designed to help people with an experimental back ground in order to obtain some first hand experience. Between the first and the last chapters there are 18 contributions. These contributions were arranged in a spectrum from the exclusively method oriented papers to the applications of existing computational methods to problems of interest in Organic Chemistry.

People who attended the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) entitled NEW THEORETICAL CONCEPTS FOR UNDERSTANDING ORGANIC REAC TIONS held at Sant Feliu de Gufxols on the Costa Brava of Spain had a unique experience. They have seen the evolution of the field from qualitative arguments through the generation of Potential Energy Surfaces (PES) to the use of PES in molecular dynamics. The excellent lectures that were dedicated to the various aspects of Potential Energy Surfaces clearly revealed a colossal amount of ma terial that represents our current understanding of the overall problem. It is our hope that the present volume will recreate the excitement in the readers that we all experienced during the meeting in Spain. One can say, without too much exaggeration, that chemistry has become and exercise on potential energy surfaces (PES). Structural (position of the energy minima), spectroscopic (vicinity around the minima), and reactivity (reaction path along the surface) properties may be determined from the analysis of PES. New theoretical tools, together with recent developments in computer technology and programming, have allowed to obtain a better knowledge of these surfaces, and to extract further chemical information from them, so new horizons have been added to Theoretical Organic Chemistry.