"Imagination and shrewd guesswork are powerful instruments for acquiring scientific knowledge . . . " 1. H. van't Hoff The last decades have witnessed a rapid growth of quantum chemistry and a tremendous increase in the number of very accurate ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of molecules yielding results of admirable accuracy. This dramatic progress has opened a new stage in the quantum mechanical description of matter at the molecular level. In the first place, highly accurate results provide severe tests of the quantum mecha nics. Secondly, modern quantitative computational ab initio methods can be synergetically combined with various experimen tal techniques thus enabling precise numerical characterization of molecular properties better than ever anticipated earlier. However, the role of theory is not exhausted in disclosing the fundamental laws of Nature and production of ever increasing sets of data of high accuracy. It has to provide additionally a means of systematization, recognition of regularities, and ratio nalization of the myriads of established facts avoiding in this way complete chaos. Additional problems are represented by molecular wavefunctions provided by the modern high-level computational quantum chemistry methods. They involve, in principle, all the information on molecular system, but they are so immensely complex that can not be immediately understood in simple and physically meaningful terms. Both of these aspects, categorization and interpretation, call for conceptual models which should be preferably pictorial, transparent, intuitively appealing and well-founded, being sometimes useful for semi quantitative purposes."

The Sixth International Conference on Miniaturized Chemical and Biochemical Analysis Systems, known as /JTAS2002, will be fully dedicated to the latest scientific and technological developments in the field of miniaturized devices and systems for realizing not only chemical and biochemical analysis but also synthesis. The first /JTAS meeting was held in Enschede in 1994 with approximately 160 participants, bringing together the scientists with background in analytical and biochemistry with those with Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in one workshop. We are grateful to Piet Bergveld and Albert van den Berg of MESA Research Institute of the University of Twente for their great efforts to arrange this exciting first meeting. The policy of the meeting was succeeded by late Prof. Dr. Michael Widmer in the second meeting, /JTAS'96 held in Basel with 275 participants. The first two meetings were held as informal workshops. From the third workshop, /JTAS'98 (420 participants) held in Banff, the workshop had become a worldwide conference. Participants continued to increase in /JTAS2000 (about 500 participants) held in Enschede and /JTAS2001 (about 700 participants) held in Monterey. The number of submitted papers also dramatically increased in this period from 130 in 1998, 230 in 2000 to nearly 400 in 2001. From 2001, /JTAS became an annual symposium. The steering committee meeting held in Monterey, confrrmed the policy of former /JTAS that quality rather than quantity would be the key-point and that the parallel-session format throughout the 3.

Two Symposia on speciation in insects held at the Fourteenth International Congress of Entomology (Canberra, Australia, August 22-30, 1972) are included in this volume. The first, on the more general topic of Genetic Analysis of Speciation Mechanisms, includes four papers on speciation in various groups of Diptera and Orthopteroid insects. The second symposium was devoted to the topic of Evolution in the Hawaiian Drosophilidae; it deals with the explosive speciation of a group of flies with specialized ecological requirements in the complex ecolOgical habitats provided by a recent tropical volcanic archipelago. The Hawaiian Symposium, organized by Professor D. Elmo Hardy, is the latest outcome of a major collaborative research project involving over 20 scientists and about 125 technical assistants over a period of ten years. Some recent books on evolution have taken the standpoint that the funda mental genetic mechanism of speciation is relatively uniform and stereotyped and, in particular, that the 'allopatric' model of its geographic component is universally valid. Certainly, this has been a rather generally accepted viewpoint on the part of students of vertebrate speciation. Workers on speciation in insects have tended, in general, to be less dogmatic and more willing to consider a variety of alternative models of speciation. Thus, in the present volume, several contributions adopt viewpoints which are unorthodox or novel. Only time will tell whether their conclusions will turn out to have been soundly based."

A New-Generation Density Functional: Towards Chemical Accuracy for Chemistry of Main Group Elements covers the most recent progress in the development of a new generation of density functional theory (DFT) for accurate descriptions of thermochemistry, thermochemical kinetics, and nonbonded interactions of main group molecules. In this book, the authors present the doubly hybrid density functionals (DHDFs), which dramatically improve the accuracy for predictions of critical properties by including the role of the virtual (unoccupied) orbitals. The authors not only discuss the theoretical bases of three classes of DHDFs but also demonstrate their performance using some well-established benchmarking data sets.

First-Principles-Based Multiscale, Multiparadigm Molecular Mechanics and Dynamics Methods for Describing Complex Chemical Processes, by A. Jaramillo-Botero, R. Nielsen, R. Abrol, J. Su, T. Pascal, J. Mueller and W. A. Goddard.- Dynamic QM/MM: A Hybrid Approach to Simulating Gas Liquid Interactions, by S. Yockel and G. C. Schatz.- Multiscale Modelling in Computational Heterogeneous Catalysis, by F. J. Keil.- Real-World Predictions from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations, by B. Kirchner, P. J. di Dio and J. Hutter.- Nanoscale Wetting Under Electric Field from Molecular Simulations, by C. D. Daub, D. Bratko and A. Luzar.- Molecular Simulations of Retention in Chromatographic Systems: Use of Biased Monte Carlo Techniques to Access Multiple Time and Length Scales, by J. L. Rafferty, J. I. Siepmann, M. R. Schure.- Thermodynamic Properties for Applications in Chemical Industry via Classical Force Fields, by G. Guevara-Carrion, H. Hasse and J. Vrabec.- Multiscale Approaches and Perspectives to Modeling Aqueous Electrolytes and Polyelectrolytes, by L. Delle Site, C. Holm and N. F. A. van der Vegt.- Coarse-Grained Modeling for Macromolecular Chemistry, by H. A. Karimi-Varzaneh and F. Muller-Plathe.-"

The liquid crystalline state may be identified as a distinct and unique state of matter which is characterised by properties which resemble those of both solids and liquids. It was first recognised in the middle of the last century through the study of nerve myelin and derivatives of cholesterol. The research in the area really gathered momentum, however, when as a result of the pioneering work of Gray in the early 1970's organic compounds exhibiting liquid crystalline properties were shown to be suitable to form the basis of display devices in the electronic products. The study of liquid crystals is truly multidisciplinary and has attached the attention of physicists, biologists, chemists, mathematicians and electronics engineers. It is therefore impossible to cover all these aspects fully in two small volumes and therefore it was decided in view of the overall title of the series to concentrate on the structural and bonding aspects of the subject. The Chapters presented in these two volumes have been organised to cover the following fundamental aspects of the subiect. The calculation of the structures of liquid crystals, an account of their dynamical properties and a discussion of computer simulations of liquid crystalline phases formed by Gay Berne mesogens. The relationships between molecular conformation and packing are analysed in some detail. The crystal structures of liquid crystal mesogens and the importance of their X ray scattering properties for characterisational purposes are discussed.

This book presents the most comprehensive analysis of bonding in polyoxometalates and related oxides based on classical bonding concepts and the bond valence model. Numerous tables and figures underline and illuminate the results, making it a valuable resource.

The French chemist Marcelin Berthelot put forward a classical and by now an often cited sentence revealing the quintessence of the chemical science: "La Chimie cree son objet." This is certainly true because the largest number of molecular compounds were and are continuously synthesized by chemists themselves. However, modern computational quantum chemistry has reached a state of maturity that one can safely say: "La Chimie Theorique cree son objet" as well. Indeed, modern theoretical chemistry is able today to provide reliable results on elusive systems such as short living species, reactive intermediates and molecules which will perhaps never be synthesized because of one or another type of instability. It is capable of yielding precious information on the nature of the transition states, reaction paths etc. Additionally, computational chemistry gives some details of the electronic and geometric structure of molecules which remain hidden in experimental examinations. Hence, it follows that powerful numerical techniques have substantially enlarged the domain of classical chemistry. On the other hand, interpretive quantum chemistry has provided a conceptual framework which enabled rationalization and understanding of the precise data offered either by experiment or theory. It is modelling which gives a penetrating insight into the chemical phenomena and provides order in raw experimental results which would otherwise represent just a large catalogue of unrelated facts.

Computational methods have become an indispensible tool for elucidating the mechanism of organometallic reactions. This snapshot of state-of-the-art computational studies provides an overview of the vast field of computational organometallic chemistry. Authors from Asia, Europe and the US have been selected to contribute a chapter on their specialist areas. Topics addressed include: DFT studies on zirconium-mediated reactions, force field methods in organometallic chemistry, hydrogenation of -systems, oxidative functionalization of unactivated C-H bonds and olefins, the osmylation reaction, and cobalt carbonyl clusters. The breadth and depth of the contributions demonstrate not only the crucial role that computational methods play in the study of a wide range of organometallic reactions, but also attest the robust health of the field, which continues to benefit from, as well as inspire novel experimental studies.

Over the past 40 years, Rotational Isomeric State (RIS) models for hundreds of polymer structures have been developed. The RIS approach is now available in several software packages. The user is often faced with the time-consuming task of finding appropriate RIS parameters from the literature. This book aims at easing this step by providing a comprehensive overview of the models available. It reviews the literature from the first applications of RIS models to the end of 1994, comprises synthetic as well as naturally orccuring macromolecules, and tabulates all the pertinent features of published models. It will help readers, even when not very familiar with the method, to take advantage of this computationally efficient way of assessing the conformational properties of macromolecular systems.

1. R. Carlson, A. Nordahl: Exploring Organic Synthetic Experimental Procedures 2. S.J. Cyvin, B.N. Cyvin, J. Brunvoll: Enumeration of Benzenoid Chemical Isomers with a Study of Constant-Isomer Series 3. E.Hladka, J. Koca, M. Kratochvil, V. Kvasnicka, L. Matyska, J. Pospichal, V. Potucek: The Synthon Model and the Program PEGAS for Computer AssistedOrganic Synthesis 4. K. Bley, B. Gruber, M. Knauer, N. Stein, I. Ugi: New Elements in the Representation of the Logical Structure of Chemistry byQualitative Mathematical Models and Corresponding Data Structures

Printed Organic And Molecular Electronics was compiled to create a reference that included existing knowledge from the most renowned industry, academic, and government experts in the fields of organic semiconductor technology, graphic arts printing, micro-contact printing, and molecular electronics. It is divided into sections that consist of the most critical topics required for one to develop a strong understanding of the states of these technologies and the paths for taking them from R&D to the hands of consumers on a massive scale. As such, the book provides both theory as well as technology development results and trends.

When, forty years ago, as a student of Charles Coulson in Oxford I began work in theoretical chemistry, I was provided with a Brunsviga calculator-a small mechanical device with a handle for propulsion, metal levers for setting the numbers, and a bell that rang to indicate overflow. What has since come to be known as computational chemistry was just beginning. There followed a long period in which the fundamental theory of the "golden age" (1925-1935) was extended and refined and in which the dreams of the early practitioners were gradually turned into hard arithmetic reality. As a still-computing survivor from the early postwar days now enjoying the benefits of unbelievably improved hardware, I am glad to contribute a foreword to this series and to have the opportunity of providing a little historical perspective. After the Brunsviga came the electromechanical machines of the late 1940s and early 1950s, and a great reduction in the burden of calculating molecular wavefunctions. We were now happy. At least for systems con taining a few electrons it was possible to make fully ab initio calculations, even though semiempirical models remained indispensable for most molecules of everyday interest. The 1950 papers of Hall and of Roothaan represented an important milestone along the road to larger-scale non empirical calculations, extending the prewar work of Hartree and Fock from many-electron atoms to many-electron molecules-and thus into "real chemistry."

In this text the authors develop quantum dynamics of open systems for a wide class of irreversible processes starting from the concept of completely positive semigroups. This unified approach makes the material easily accessible to non-specialists and provides an easy access to practical applications. Written for graduate students, the book presents a wealth of useful examples; in particular, models of unstable and N-level systems are treated systematically and in considerable detail including new types of generated Bloch-equations. The general theory is extensively summarized from abstract dynamical maps to those obtained by a reduction of Hamiltonian dynamics under a Markovian approximation. Various methods of determining semigroup generators and the corresponding master equations are discussed including time-dependent and nonlinear generators. Further topics treated are a generalized H-theorem, quantum detailed balance and return to equilibrium, discrete quantum Boltzmann equation, nonlinear Schrodinger equation, spin relaxation by spin waves, entropy production and its generalization by a measure of irreversibiblity."

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the journal Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, leading researchers in theoretical chemistry present current and forward-looking perspectives on major developments in the field. Originally published in the journal, these outstanding contributions are now available in a hardcover print format. This collection will be of benefit in particular to those research groups and libraries that have chosen to have only electronic access to the journal.

With contributions from Christopher J. Cramer, Gino A. DiLabio, Filipp Furche, Sophya Garashchuk, Peter M.W. Gill, Hua Guo, So Hirata, Brian K. Kendrick, Hans Lischka, Wenjian Liu, Fernando R. Ornellas, Irina Paci, Kirk A. Peterson, Markus Reiher, Jeffrey R. Reimers, Manuel Smeu, Seiichiro Ten-no, Diego Troya, Donald G. Truhlar, Christoph van Wullen, Dong H. Zhang

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