Jens Peder Dahl - Böcker

The· simplest picture of an atom, a molecule or a solid is the picture of its distribution of charge. It is obtained by specifying the positions of the atomic nuclei and by showing how the density, p(E), of the electronic charge-cloud varies from place to place. A much more detailed picture is provided by the many-electron wavefunction. This quantity shows not only the arrangement of the electrons with respect to the nuclei, but also the arrangement of the electrons with respect to each other, and it allows the evaluation of the total energy and other properties. The many-electron wavefunction is in principle obtained by solving the many-electron Schrodinger equation for the motion of the interacting electrons under the influ­ ence of the nuclei, but in practice the equation is unsolvable, and it is necessary to proceed by methods of approximation. Needless to say, .such methods will as a rule depend on the complexity of the system considered.

The· simplest picture of an atom, a molecule or a solid is the picture of its distribution of charge. It is obtained by specifying the positions of the atomic nuclei and by showing how the density, p(E), of the electronic charge-cloud varies from place to place. A much more detailed picture is provided by the many-electron wavefunction. This quantity shows not only the arrangement of the electrons with respect to the nuclei, but also the arrangement of the electrons with respect to each other, and it allows the evaluation of the total energy and other properties. The many-electron wavefunction is in principle obtained by solving the many-electron Schrodinger equation for the motion of the interacting electrons under the influ­ ence of the nuclei, but in practice the equation is unsolvable, and it is necessary to proceed by methods of approximation. Needless to say, .such methods will as a rule depend on the complexity of the system considered.

J.P. Dahl: Carl Johan Ballhausen (1926–2010).-  J.R. Winkler and H.B. Gray: Electronic Structures of Oxo-Metal Ions.- C.D. Flint: Early Days in Kemisk Laboratorium IV and Later Studies.- J.H. Palmer: Transition Metal Corrole Coordination Chemistry. A Review Focusing on Electronic Structural Studies.- W.C. Trogler: Chemical Sensing with Semiconducting Metal Phthalocyanines.- K.M. Lancaster: Biological Outer-Sphere Coordination.- R.K. Hocking and E.I. Solomon: Ligand Field and Molecular Orbital Theories of Transition Metal X-ray Absorption Edge Transitions.- K.B. Møller and N.E. Henriksen: Time-resolved X-ray diffraction: The dynamics of the chemical bond.

T. Ziegler: A Chronicle About the Development of Electronic Structure Theories for Transition Metal Complexes.- J. Linderberg: Orbital Models and Electronic Structure Theory.- J.S. and J.E. Avery: Sturmians and Generalized Sturmians in Quantum Theory.- B.T Sutcliffe: Chemistry as a “Manifestation of Quantum Phenomena” and the Born–Oppenheimer Approximation?- A.J. McCaffery: From Ligand Field Theory to Molecular Collision Dynamics: A Common Thread of Angular Momentum.- M. Atanasov, D. Ganyushin, K. Sivalingam and F. Neese: A Modern First-Principles View on Ligand Field Theory Through the Eyes of Correlated Multireference Wavefunctions.- R.S. Berry and B.M. Smirnov: The Phase Rule: Beyond Myopia to Understanding.

J.P. Dahl: Carl Johan Ballhausen (1926–2010).-  J.R. Winkler and H.B. Gray: Electronic Structures of Oxo-Metal Ions.- C.D. Flint: Early Days in Kemisk Laboratorium IV and Later Studies.- J.H. Palmer: Transition Metal Corrole Coordination Chemistry. A Review Focusing on Electronic Structural Studies.- W.C. Trogler: Chemical Sensing with Semiconducting Metal Phthalocyanines.- K.M. Lancaster: Biological Outer-Sphere Coordination.- R.K. Hocking and E.I. Solomon: Ligand Field and Molecular Orbital Theories of Transition Metal X-ray Absorption Edge Transitions.- K.B. Møller and N.E. Henriksen: Time-resolved X-ray diffraction: The dynamics of the chemical bond.

T. Ziegler: A Chronicle About the Development of Electronic Structure Theories for Transition Metal Complexes.- J. Linderberg: Orbital Models and Electronic Structure Theory.- J.S. and J.E. Avery: Sturmians and Generalized Sturmians in Quantum Theory.- B.T Sutcliffe: Chemistry as a “Manifestation of Quantum Phenomena” and the Born–Oppenheimer Approximation?- A.J. McCaffery: From Ligand Field Theory to Molecular Collision Dynamics: A Common Thread of Angular Momentum.- M. Atanasov, D. Ganyushin, K. Sivalingam and F. Neese: A Modern First-Principles View on Ligand Field Theory Through the Eyes of Correlated Multireference Wavefunctions.- R.S. Berry and B.M. Smirnov: The Phase Rule: Beyond Myopia to Understanding.

"The Theory of Atomic Spectra", surrrrnanzlllg all that was then known about the quantum theory of free atoms; and in 1961, J.S. Griffith published "The Theory of Transition Metal Ions", in which he combined the ideas in Condon and Shortley's book with those of Bethe, Schlapp, Penney and Van Vleck. All this work, however, was done by physicists, and the results were reported in a way which was more accessable to physicists than to chemists. In the meantime, Carl J. Ballhausen had been studying quantum theory with W. Moffitt at Harvard; and in 1962 (almost simultaneously with Griffith) he published his extremely important book, "Introduction to Ligand Field Theory". This influential book was written from the standpoint of a chemist, and it became the standard work from which chemists learned the quantum theory of transition metal complexes. While it treated in detail the group theoretical aspects of crystal field theory, Carl J. Ballhausen's book also emphasized the limitations of the theory. As he pointed out, it is often not sufficient to treat the central metal ion as free (apart from the influence of the charges on the surrounding ligands): - In many cases hybridization of metal and ligand orbitals is significant. Thus, in general. a molecular orbital treatment is needed to describe transition metal complexes. However, much of the group theory developed In connection with crystal field theory can also be used in the molecular orbital treatment.

"The Theory of Atomic Spectra", surrrrnanzlllg all that was then known about the quantum theory of free atoms; and in 1961, J.S. Griffith published "The Theory of Transition Metal Ions", in which he combined the ideas in Condon and Shortley's book with those of Bethe, Schlapp, Penney and Van Vleck. All this work, however, was done by physicists, and the results were reported in a way which was more accessable to physicists than to chemists. In the meantime, Carl J. Ballhausen had been studying quantum theory with W. Moffitt at Harvard; and in 1962 (almost simultaneously with Griffith) he published his extremely important book, "Introduction to Ligand Field Theory". This influential book was written from the standpoint of a chemist, and it became the standard work from which chemists learned the quantum theory of transition metal complexes. While it treated in detail the group theoretical aspects of crystal field theory, Carl J. Ballhausen's book also emphasized the limitations of the theory. As he pointed out, it is often not sufficient to treat the central metal ion as free (apart from the influence of the charges on the surrounding ligands): - In many cases hybridization of metal and ligand orbitals is significant. Thus, in general. a molecular orbital treatment is needed to describe transition metal complexes. However, much of the group theory developed In connection with crystal field theory can also be used in the molecular orbital treatment.

This invaluable book provides a balanced and integrated introduction to the quantum world of atoms and molecules. The underlying basis of quantum mechanics is carefully developed, with respect for the historical tradition and from a molecular angle. The fundamental concepts in the theory of atomic and molecular structure are thoroughly discussed, as are the central techniques needed in quantum-chemical applications. Special attention is paid to exposing and clarifying the common ground of Hartree-Fock theory and density-functional theory. Throughout the text, the discussion is pedagogically obliging and aims at simplicity and mathematical clarity, while avoiding the use of advanced mathematics. End-of-chapter problems supplement the main text.