Chemical group theory : techniques and applications

In modern times, group-theoretical principles have been exploited in the study of atomic and molecular systems, electronic and vibrational spectra of all kinds, a wide variety of thermodynamic systems, chemical reactions, the enumeration of a host of differing chemical species, and the chemical combinatorial problems of many kinds. Chapter 1 of this volume sets out by addressing the meaning of the term 'group representation.' It explores the various theoretical frameworks that have evolved for the application of group theory in the physical sciences. Specific applications of combinatorial techniques, derived from or built around the Enumeration Theorem of Polya in the study of spectroscopy is the theme adopted in chapter 2. In chapter 3 the spotlight falls on methods that may be used to obtain the eigenvalue spectra of a wide variety of chemically significant molecular graphs, while the problem of treatment of molecular species that do not have a rigid molecular skeleton is addressed in chap