Division/Committee: [PHYS] Division of Physical Chemistry

Most fundamental concepts in chemistry originate from the early qualitative valence bond (VB) theory, including bond pairs, lone pairs, hybrid orbitals, and resonance. However, the computational complexity involving the non-orthogonality of the orbitals in VB theory hindered its further development and over the years MO theory (including DFT) has become synonymous with computational chemistry. During the past two to three decades, there has been a remarkable renaissance in modern ab initio VB or similar methods along with critical computer software developments and distributions. The broad applications of these VB methodologies have generated novel insights into the nature of chemical bonding and reaction mechanisms and enriched our understanding of chemistry. Thus, VB methods complement the popular MO/DFT methods in a multitude of ways. Considering the recent remarkable advances in VB theory and its applications, we have organized a symposium that will highlight the work of the major players in the VB field, as well as leading experts in electronic structure and chemical bonding theories, who will showcase their research findings, create consensus from different perspectives, and, finally, draw advancements in VB theories to the attention of the whole chemistry community. The organizers welcome other submissions that contribute to these themes.

Thom Dunning

University of Washington

Appearances