Page 6 - Strategies and Applications in Quantum Chemistry From Molecular Astrophysics to Molecular Engineer

Introduction to the Series

The Series ‘Topics in Molecular Organization and Engineering’ was initiated by
the Symposium ‘Molecules in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology’, which was held
in Paris in 1986. Appropriately dedicated to Professor Raymond Daudel, the
symposium was both broad in its scope and penetrating in its detail. The sections
of the symposium were: 1. The Concept of a Molecule; 2. Statics and Dynamics
of Isolated Molecules; 3. Molecular Interactions, Aggregates and Materials; 4.
Molecules in the Biological Sciences, and 5. Molecules in Neurobiology and So-
ciobiology. There were invited lectures, poster sessions and, at the end, a wide-
ranging general discussion, appropriate to Professor Daudel’s long and distin-
guished career in science and his interests in philosophy and the arts.
These proceedings have been arranged into eighteen chapters which make up
the first four volumes of this series: Volume I, ‘General Introduction to Molecular
Sciences’; Volume II, ‘Physical Aspects of Molecular Systems’; Volume III, ‘Elec-
tronic Structure and Chemical Reactivity’; and Volume IV, ‘Molecular Phenomena
in Biological Sciences’. The molecular concept includes the logical basis for geo-
metrical and electronic structures, thermodynamic and kinetic properties, states
of aggregation, physical and chemical transformations, specificity of biologically
important interactions, and experimental and theoretical methods for studies of
these properties. The scientific subjects range therefore through the fundamentals
of physics, solid-state properties, all branches of chemistry, biochemistry, and
molecular biology. In some of the essays, the authors consider relationships to
more philosophic or artistic matters.
In Science, every concept, question, conclusion, experimental result, method,
theory or relationship is always open to reexamination. Molecules do exist! Never-
theless, there are serious questions about precise definition. Some of these ques-
tions lie at the foundations of modern physics, and some involve states of aggre-
gation or extreme conditions such as intense radiation fields or the region of the
continuum. There are some molecular properties that are definable only within
limits, for example, the geometrical structure of non-rigid molecules, properties
consistent with the uncertainty principle, or those limited by the neglect of quan-
tum-field, relativistic or other effects. And there are properties which depend
specifically on a state of aggregation, such as superconductivity, ferroelectric (and
anti). ferromagnetic (and anti). superfluidity, excitons. polarons, etc. Thus, any
molecular definition may need to be extended in a more complex situation.
Chemistry, more than any other science, creates most of its new materials. At
least so far, synthesis of new molecules is not represented in this series, although
the principles of chemical reactivity and the statistical mechanical aspects are
included. Similarly, it is the more physico-chemical aspects of biochemistry, mol-
ecular biology and biology itself that are addressed by the examination of questions
related to molecular recognition, immunological specificity, molecular pathology,
photochemical effects, and molecular communication within the living organism.

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