The chemist's approach to the understanding of matter and its chemical transformations is to take a microscopic view, connecting experimental observation with the properties of the consitutent molecules. Atoms and subatomic particles do not obey the classical laws of mechanics but conform rather to the laws of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is thus of central importance in chemistry. In order to understand the behaviour of molecules and their constituent particles it is necessary to have a thorough grounding in the principles and applications of quantum mechanics.

To understand matter and its chemical transformations it is necessary to take a microscopic view, however, at this microscopic level atoms and sub-atomic particles do not obey the classical laws of mechanics that pertain to the everyday macroscopic world. They obey the laws of quantum mechanics.

The aim of this book is to explain the fundamentals of quantum mechanics from the point of view of chemistry; to describe areas of chemistry where quantum mechanics is most important; and to show how quantum mechanics is applied to chemical problems. To this end, the book is divided into two parts: the first deals with the foundations of quantum mechanics, and the second is a tool kit for applying quantum mechanics to chemical problems.

Although advanced mathematics has been kept to a minimum, the nature of the subject means a certain amount of mathematics is necessary and it is assumed readers will be familiar with a typical first year mathematics course.