This book gives an overview of recent integrated and inter-disciplinary approaches between chemical experiment and theory in a variety of fields, from polymer science to materials chemistry and ranging from the design of tailored properties to catalysis and reactivity, building on the well-established success of Density Functional Theory as the foremost quantum chemical method to provide qualitative and quantitative interpretation of results from the chemical laboratory. The combination of several characterization techniques with an understanding at the molecular level of chemical and physical phenomena are the main focal point of the subject matter.

In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of the production, structure and applications of glycerol. Topics discussed include the use of glycerol from biodiesel to production of environmental technologies; thermochemical conversion of glycerol to hydrogen; the application of glycerol in pharmaceutical formulation; valorisation of glycerol in propanediols production by catalytic processes; hydrogen production from glycerol via membrane reactor technology; ruthenium-catalysed nitrile hydration reactions using glycerol as solvent; and natural activation of commercial glycerol.

Originally published in Portuguese, this book is divided into three sections: the chemistry of aldehydes, ketones, nitriles, imines and derivatives; the chemistry of carboxylic and carbonic acids and derivatives; and the chemistry of alpha, beta-unsaturated carbonyls. The authors have merged aspects of valence bond and molecular orbital theories in order to discuss structural and physico-chemical properties and reactivity and stereochemical outcomes of the most relevant reactions for these functional groups. The book provides representative experimental procedures for key reactions; highlights to contextualize the concepts; properties (industrial applications, biochemical significance and catalytic developments in order to cope with the major tenets of the green chemistry approach) and includes some biographical notes for the scientists who contributed to this field. It will help advanced level undergraduate and graduate students to understand and become well acquainted with the reactions of carbonyl compounds and derivatives. The integrated approach is considered an attractive feature of this book since students receive relatively little exposure to molecular orbital theory at the undergraduate level. The juxtaposition of conventional valence bond theory with molecular orbital theory fills a largely unmet pedagogical niche.