Chemical Applications of Group Theory

The book is usually being sold for about 160 but this seller was able to sell it for 90. Just a great price for this book.

Professor Cotton's book is a well written introduction to the theory of group representations for chemists. It is appropriate for chemical experimentalists and beginners with a more thoeretical bent. It was NOT INTENDED to be a book of algebra for mathematicians or physicists interested in Lie groups. The pure rotation group is not covered, representations of space groups are not mentioned, ray representations are not used, etc. Many of the reviewers below seem to think they will need one and only one book that deals with applications of group theory - not likely! For a beginner with a background typical of a 1st year grad student in physical or inorganic chemistry at an American university, the book is good. If the complainers below ever tried to teach a course to such students using the more rigorous books they are clamoring for, they would be hung in effigy (if they were lucky). However, even for the intended audience, there are things that could be improved. Most glaring in my opinion is the treatment of electronic states, as opposed to orbitals. Even "mathematically-challenged chemists" have to face up to Slater determinants as basis functions for multi-electron wavefunctions. The spectroscopy and ligand-field theory topics are obscure if you don't introduce this concept. Symmetry with respect to interchange of particle labels is not that difficult to teach, and is essential for understanding the symmetry requirements that must be placed on electronic and vibrational wave functions.

So if you are a mathematician or a physicist, don't whine if this book isn't for you. It's for chemists, specifically inorganic ones, who use group theory to analyze ligand chemistry and spectroscopic measurements. It is also useful for those who utilize computational chemistry programs like Gaussian and need to know the basics of orbital and molecular symmetry. This book contains only point group symmetry and none of the SO, SU, U, etc. groups used in physics. There is also no coverage of Lie algebras.

I used this text as a reference for a grad course in inorganic structure and reactivity. I found it most useful. The explanations were clear, yet not wordy. The exercises at the end of each chapter adequately cover the material. And the character table appendix is invaluable. With appropriate guidance, any student will master the subject.Professor Cotton's expertise in this field of study is well known. The texts he has authored along with the late Prof. Wilkinson have instructed a whole generation of chemists. This text continues that tradition. Any scientist will found this text useful.

This book provides a clear and direct link between "group theory" as a mathematic topic and "spectroscopy" as a physical chemical topic. It provides advanced methods for determining the symmetry of molecules, and how to predict the physical observable effect of the molecular symmetry, such as Raman or normal vibrational spectroscopy. Useful background for chemists who will use vibrational spectroscopic techniques in structural determinations.