A Laboratory Book of Computational Organic Chemistry
Authors:
W.J. Hehre, A.J. Shusterman, and W.W. Huang
Wavefunction, Inc., Irvine, CA, 1996
ISBN 0-9643495-5-8, $25.00
Note: This Lab Book replaces Experiments in Computational Organic Chemistry,
Warren J. Hehre, Lonnie D. Burke, Alan J. Shusterman, and William J. Pietro,
Wavefunction, Inc., Irvine, CA, 1993.
A Laboratory Book of Computational
Organic Chemistry comprises a collection of "experiments" touching on a broad
area of structural and mechanistic organic chemistry. Like its predecessor,
Experiments in Computational Organic Chemistry, this Laboratory Book is intended
to provide "hands-on" experience in chemistry. It consists of 16 essays on
different topics (listed below), each with between two and ten experiments.
In total, the Laboratory Book provides 81 experiments for both introductory
and upper-division organic chemistry courses.
The Laboratory Book provides experiments on several aspects of computational organic chemistry: Structure and Energetics; Conformation; Molecular Properties; Reactive Molecules; and Reactivity and Selectivity. Each experiment starts with a brief description of the chemical problem and then suggests a computational approach--with a list of questions about the results of these computations. Topics of the essays and lab exercises include:
The Laboratory Book provides experiments on several aspects of computational organic chemistry: Structure and Energetics; Conformation; Molecular Properties; Reactive Molecules; and Reactivity and Selectivity. Each experiment starts with a brief description of the chemical problem and then suggests a computational approach--with a list of questions about the results of these computations. Topics of the essays and lab exercises include:
- Computational Tools
- Finding Molecular Geometries
- Isodesmic Reactions
- The Role of Solvent
- Charges on Atoms in Molecules
- Interpreting Conformational Preferences
- Pi Interactions Involving Sigma Electrons
- Chemical Reactivity and Selectivity in Conformationally Mobile Molecules
- Graphical Models and Graphical Modeling
- Visualizing Molecular Orbitals
- Reactive Intermediates and The Hammond Postulate
- A Molecular Orbital Description of Substituent Effects
- Weakly Bonded and Not-So-Weakly Bonded Molecules
- Isotope Effects
- Finding Transition States
- Thermodynamic vs. Kinetic Control