Atoms in molecules : a quantum theory / Richard F.W. Bader.

The molecular structure hypothesis - that a molecule is a collection of atoms linked by a network of bonds - was forged in the crucible of nineteenth century experimental chemistry and has continued to serve as the principal means of ordering and classifying the observations of chemistry. There is a difficulty with the hypothesis, however, in that it is not related directly to the physics which governs the motions of the nuclei and electrons that make up the atoms and the bonds. It is the purpose of this important book - now available in paperback for the first time - to show that a theory can be developed to underpin the molecular structure hypothesis - that the atoms in a molecule are real, with properties predicted and defined by the laws of quantum mechanics can be incorporated into the resulting theory - a theory of atoms in molecules. The book is aimed at those scientists responsible for performing the experiments and collecting the observations on the properties of matter at the atomic level, in the belief that the transformation of qualitative concepts into a qualitative theory will serve to deepen our understanding of chemistry.

List of symbols ; 1. Atoms in chemistry ; 2. Atoms and the topology of the charge desnity ; 3. Molecular structure and its change ; 4. Mathematical models of structural change ; 5. The quantum atom ; 6. The mechanics of an atom in a molecule ; 7. Chemical models and the Laplacian of the charge density ; 8. The action principle for a quantunm subsystem ; Appendix - Tables of data ; Index

Includes bibliographical references and index.