About Lewis’s heritage: chemical interpretations and quantum chemistry

Abstract

complementary because each of them partially addresses the question. However, other answers can be given. For instance, one can object that bottles being made to store liquid food (wine, beer), coloured glass is chosen mostly because it prevents sunlight to downgrade the antioxidants and therefore increases the storage life. 1 The answer given by the chemist explicitly invokes the chemical composition of the glass used to make bottles and for this reason it should be referred to as a chemical explanation. Chemical explanations are grounded on the knowledge of Chemistry. Chemical explanations of the structure of the matter rely on a picture in which elemental atoms are linked by bonds. Bonding interactions are moreover ruled by the location of the constituting elements in the periodic table. Chemical explanations often make use concepts proper to Chemistry, such as those of bond, lone pair, valence,..., which have been criticized as lacking of scientific content or have not enough precise or inconsistent definitions. (cf. R. Thom in Paraboles et Catastrophes [2]), We are often faced to a demarcation problem: to what extend chemical explanations are scientific explanations or in other words what are the requirements which must be fulfilled to make a chemical explanation a scientific explanation. Therefore, explanations have to be critically analysed from different epistemological viewpoints such as Duhemian conventionalism and methodological falsificationism. We must also be conscious that chemical explanations may have different structures: for example the occurrence of an event can be deduced from a set of true Abstract Some of the opinions I have on the description of the structure of the matter in chemistry. Keywords Representation of the matter • Lewis's model • VSEPR • Epistemology Published as part of the special collection of articles "First European Symposium on Chemical Bonding".

Mono‐ and Dicoordinate Germanium(0) as a Four‐Electron Donor

“…The three‐centre interaction is also identified in an ELF (electron localization function) analysis (Figure ), in which a trisynaptic basin at the centre of the GeFeFe triangular plane, albeit with relatively low electronic occupancy, is found along with disynaptic basins for both the Ge−Fe and Fe−Fe regions. The Fe−Fe bond exchange between pairs of Fe atoms is accompanied by the Fe−Fe bond elongating from 2.77 Å in 3 to 3.64 Å in the transition state (Figure ), with a computed free energy barrier of Δ G 298 =28.4 kcal mol −1 at the TPSSh/Def2‐TZVPP/SCRF=THF level, a value much higher than expected for a room temperature dynamic exchange process.…”

Revisiting the bonding evolution theory: a fresh perspective on the ammonia pyramidal inversion and bond dissociations in ethane and borazane

“…In 1916 Lewis 5 proposed that a chemical bond could be interpreted as an electron pair shared by two atoms, an idea that has since profoundly ingrained itself in the minds of chemists. [6][7][8] Fifteen years later, Pauling 9 translated Lewis sharing idea into the emerging quantum mechanics language, building on Heitler and London's work. 10 Bader and Henneker 11 used the electric field to explore a completely different interaction -the ionic bond.…”

Revisiting the Bonding Evolution Theory: A Fresh Perspective on the Ammonia Pyramidal Inversion and Bond Dissociations in Ethane and Borazane

“…In 1916 Lewis 5 proposed that a chemical bond could be interpreted as an electron pair shared by two atoms, an idea that has since profoundly ingrained itself in the minds of chemists. [6][7][8] Fifteen years later, Pauling 9 translated Lewis sharing idea into the emerging quantum mechanics language, building on Heitler and London's work. 10 Bader and Henneker 11 used the electric field to explore a completely different interaction -the ionic bond.…”