An eminently readable book on the symmetry of crystals and molecules, starting from first principles

Site Symmetry in Crystals is the first comprehensive account of the group-theoretical aspects of the site (local) symmetry approach to the study of crystalline solids. The efficiency of this approach, which is based on the concepts of simple induced and band representations of space groups, is demonstrated by considering newly developed applications to electron surface states, point defects, symmetry analysis in lattice dynamics, the theory of second-order phase transitions, and magnetically ordered and non-rigid crystals. Tables of simple induced respresentations are given for the 24 most common space groups, allowing the rapid analysis of electron and phonon states in complex crystals with many atoms in the unit cell.

Written in a clear and understandable manner, this book provides a comprehensive, yet non-mathematical, treatment of the topic, covering the basic principles of symmetry and the important spectroscopic techniques used to probe molecular structure. The chapters are extensively illustrated and deal with such topics as symmetry elements, operations and descriptors, symmetry guidelines, high-fidelity pseudosymmetry, crystallographic symmetry, molecular gears, and experimental techniques, including X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. As an additional feature, 3D animations of most of the structures and molecules covered are available online at wiley.com. As a result, chemists learn how to understand and predict molecular structures and reactivity. Authored by a renowned expert with numerous publications and an excellent track record in research and teaching, this is a useful source for graduate students and researchers working in the field of organic synthesis, physical chemistry, biochemistry, and crystallography, while equally serving as supplementary reading for courses on stereochemistry, organic synthesis, or crystallography.

This book is by far the most comprehensive treatment of point and space groups, and their meaning and applications. Its completeness makes it especially useful as a text, since it gives the instructor the flexibility to best fit the class and goals. The instructor, not the author, decides what is in the course. And it is the prime book for reference, as material is much more likely to be found in it than in any other book; it also provides detailed guides to other sources.Much of what is taught is folklore, things everyone knows are true, but (almost?) no one knows why, or has seen proofs, justifications, rationales or explanations. (Why are there 14 Bravais lattices, and why these? Are the reasons geometrical, conventional or both? What determines the Wigner-Seitz cells? How do they affect the number of Bravais lattices? Why are symmetry groups relevant to molecules whose vibrations make them unsymmetrical? And so on). Here these analyses are given, interrelated, and in-depth. The understanding so obtained gives a strong foundation for application and extension. Assumptions and restrictions are not merely made explicit, but also emphasized.In order to provide so much information, details and examples, and ways of helping readers learn and understand, the book contains many topics found nowhere else, or only in obscure articles from the distant past. The treatment is (often completely) different from those elsewhere. At least in the explanations, and usually in many other ways, the book is completely new and fresh. It is designed to inform, educate and make the reader think. It strongly emphasizes understanding.The book can be used at many levels, by many different classes of readers ? from those who merely want brief explanations (perhaps just of terminology), who just want to skim, to those who wish the most thorough understanding.

The history of physics furnishes many examples of how a simple semiem pirical method, essentially based on intuitive considerations, may prove to be much more successful than a rigorous theoretical approach. A pertinent example is the method of atom-atom potentials, which treats the intermolec ular interactions between polyatomic molecules in terms of pairwise inter actions between their constituent atoms. Despite a few conceptual short comings, the method provides a fairly reliable practical means of handling, on a microscopic level, a wide range of problems that arise in the solid-state physics and chemistry of organic compounds. This monograph is an attempt to generalize the experience gained in the past twenty years in interpreting the static and dynamic properties of organic molecular solids in terms of atom-atom potentials. It embraces nearly all aspects of the application of the method, including an evaluation of cohesive energies, equilibrium crystal structures, phonon spectra, ther modynamic functions, and crystal defects. Many related topics such as the effect of the crystal field on molecular conformation, the determination of crystal structures from raw diffraction data, and the problem of polymor phic transitions are also discussed. We believe that this book will be of use to researchers in solid-state physics, chemistry, crystallography, physical chemistry, and polymer chem istry. It also gives us an opportunity to acknowledge our indebtedness to those who sent us published as well as unpublished information and sugges tions, including A.T. Amos, E.L. Bokhenkov, H. Bonadeo, R.K. Boyd, C.P.

A long history -- Symmetry -- Crystal structures -- Diffraction -- Seeing atoms -- Sources of radiation

Crystals are sometimes called 'Flowers of the Mineral Kingdom'. In addition to their great beauty, crystals and other textured materials are enormously useful in electronics, optics, acoustics and many other engineering applications. This richly illustrated text describes the underlying principles of crystal physics and chemistry, covering a wide range of topics and illustrating numerous applications in many fields of engineering using the most important materials today. Tensors, matrices, symmetry and structure-property relationships form the main subjects of the book. While tensors and matrices provide the mathematical framework for understanding anisotropy, on which the physical and chemical properties of crystals and textured materials often depend, atomistic arguments are also needed to quantify the property coefficients in various directions. The atomistic arguments are partly based on symmetry and partly on the basic physics and chemistry of materials. After introducing the point groups appropriate for single crystals, textured materials and ordered magnetic structures, the directional properties of many different materials are described: linear and nonlinear elasticity, piezoelectricity and electrostriction, magnetic phenomena, diffusion and other transport properties, and both primary and secondary ferroic behavior. With crystal optics (its roots in classical mineralogy) having become an important component of the information age, nonlinear optics is described along with the piexo-optics, magneto-optics, and analogous linear and nonlinear acoustic wave phenomena. Enantiomorphism, optical activity, and chemical anisotropy are discussed in the final chapters of the book.