Lecture

Symmetry and Group Theory

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In course

CH-250: Mathematical methods in chemistry

This course consists of two parts. The first part covers basic concepts of molecular symmetry and the application of group theory to describe it. The second part introduces Laplace transforms and Fourier series and their use for solving ordinary and partia ...

Description

This lecture covers topics related to symmetry and group theory, focusing on molecular orbitals, symmetry species, and character tables. Exercises include determining molecular orbital symmetry species, drawing MO diagrams, and identifying IR and Raman active modes. The lecture also explores distinguishing isomers spectroscopically and completing character tables.

Instructors (2)

Ulrich Lorenz

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Jakub Hruby Past EPFL PhD Students Pavel Olshin, Gabriele Bongiovanni, Chengcheng Yan, Oliver Florian Harder, Mowry Nathan Junior, Constantin Richard Krüger

Jiri Vanicek

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Liam Oliver Marsh, Yeha Lee, Davide Barbiero, Yannick Calvino Alonso, Manas Nagda Past EPFL PhD Students Cesare Mollica, Ray Marcel Marin Florez, Marius Wehrle, Aurélien Patoz, Konstantin Karandashev, Tomislav Begusic, Julien Roulet, Seonghoon Choi, Roya Moghaddasi Fereidani, Zhan Tong Zhang, Eriks Kletnieks, Alan Scheidegger, Fabian Kröninger Courses Mathematical methods in chemistry CH-250 This course consists of two parts. The first part covers basic concepts

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Molecular orbital theory

In chemistry, molecular orbital theory (MO theory or MOT) is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics. It was proposed early in the 20th century. In molecular orbital theory, electrons in a molecule are not assigned to individual chemical bonds between atoms, but are treated as moving under the influence of the atomic nuclei in the whole molecule. Quantum mechanics describes the spatial and energetic properties of electrons as molecular orbitals that surround two or more atoms in a molecule and contain valence electrons between atoms.

Point group

In geometry, a point group is a mathematical group of symmetry operations (isometries in a Euclidean space) that have a fixed point in common. The coordinate origin of the Euclidean space is conventionally taken to be a fixed point, and every point group in dimension d is then a subgroup of the orthogonal group O(d). Point groups are used to describe the symmetries of geometric figures and physical objects such as molecules. Each point group can be represented as sets of orthogonal matrices M that transform point x into point y according to y = Mx.

Antibonding molecular orbital

In theoretical chemistry, an antibonding orbital is a type of molecular orbital that weakens the chemical bond between two atoms and helps to raise the energy of the molecule relative to the separated atoms. Such an orbital has one or more nodes in the bonding region between the nuclei. The density of the electrons in the orbital is concentrated outside the bonding region and acts to pull one nucleus away from the other and tends to cause mutual repulsion between the two atoms.

Symmetry

Symmetry () in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations, such as translation, reflection, rotation, or scaling. Although these two meanings of the word can sometimes be told apart, they are intricately related, and hence are discussed together in this article.

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas. An FTIR spectrometer simultaneously collects high-resolution spectral data over a wide spectral range. This confers a significant advantage over a dispersive spectrometer, which measures intensity over a narrow range of wavelengths at a time. The term Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy originates from the fact that a Fourier transform (a mathematical process) is required to convert the raw data into the actual spectrum.

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