Theoretical Chemistry en route to a Theory of Chemistry
Anton Amann, Werner Gans
Abstract Quantum mechanical and classical aspects are of equal importance in chemistry, and theoretical chemistry must be able to deal with this situation. Classical quantities with which a chemist has to deal include, for example, the temperature and the chemical potential of a substance, and chirality, knot‐type and tertiary structures of molecules. Classical concepts of this type are no more consequences of traditional quantum chemistry than is the theory of complex chemical processes (for example adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis) and macroscopic systems. Algebraic quantum mechanics affords a general framework for the discussion of classical quantities and large systems. There are other independent approaches for the theoretical treatment of chemical problems; these can be summarized by using the keywords “fractals”, “chaotic motion”, “quasicrystals” and “knot theory”. The relationships between these four research topics and their connection with algebraic quantum mechanics, as well as their importance for theoretical chemistry, were discussed at a NATO Workshop in 1987 (see Ref. [1]). In an extended theoretical chemistry, the notion of “molecules” will not play a role as central as it does in quantum chemistry. In the theory of large systems in particular, the introduction of complementary approaches appears to be appropriate; the term “molecule” as used by the chemist does not appear either in the description of disordered systems by means of fractals or in the thermodynamic limit of algebraic statistical mechanics.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English•Mar 1, 1989•20 citations