What is MO Theory? Beginner learners of more advanced organic chemistry would certainly have encountered molecular orbital theory in some form, and may even have developed a certain aversion or fear of this powerful theory. No doubt, the intricacies of…
We learn the two mechanisms of nucleophilic substitution in school, namely SN1 and SN2. To recap, SN1 is a two-step mechanism involving first the leaving of the leaving group to form a carbocation intermediate, which is then attacked by the…
Autonomous materials are materials that can protect itself, heal damage and indicate if it is damaged throughout the course of its life cycle without any active intervention. These materials are at the forefront of materials science research, as they hold…
Resonance is a method in valence bond theory (VBT), most commonly used to explain delocalised bonding. In VBT, bonds are assumed to be formed from the overlap of the atomic orbitals of two atoms, and is localised in the region…
Chapter 1: Exposition When you hear a beautiful work of music, what makes it pleasing? How do the different frequencies of music combine to create the overall harmony? Musical notes, like all other sounds, are vibrations of molecules in the…
Time travel has always captured the popular imagination. In the bestselling book “A Brief History of Time” by the late Stephen Hawking, three means of time travel were proposed, firstly in a universe where space-time is sufficiently warped, secondly if…
Artificial intelligence (AI), also known as machine learning, has been a hot topic of discussion in recent years, with much excitement over the application of AI technology in big data analysis for the creation of “smart” homes and even “smart”…
Microscopic chemistry focuses on the behaviour of electrons in molecules and chemical structures, and the consequent effects on chemical behaviour. This article would go through a few factors affecting the distribution of electron density and consequently electrical charge in molecules,…
