Topological Aspects in Chemistry

Abstract

Since the time of Van’t Hoff, chemists are used to thinking about molecules as geometric objects in which atoms have a certain spatial arrangement. The geometric parameters of molecules (interatomic distances, bond angles, dihedral angles, etc.) can be measured with a rather high degree of accuracy and are indeed known in a considerable number of cases.

In constitutional formulas the atoms are represented by letters and the bonds by lines. They describe the topology of the molecule.

V. Prelog, Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1975 [165]