After discussing the statistical basis of the law of mass action, the lecture turns to developing a framework for understanding reaction rates. A potential energy surface that associates energy with polyatomic geometry can be realized physically for a linear, triatomic system, but it is more...

After discussing the classic determination of the heat of atomization of graphite by Chupka and Inghram, the values of bond dissociation energies, and the utility of average bond energies, the lecture focuses on understanding equilibrium and rate processes through statistical mechanics. The...

Professor Barry Sharpless of Scripps describes the Nobel-prizewinning development of titanium-based catalysts for stereoselective oxidation, the mechanism of their reactions, and their use in preparing esomeprazole. Conformational energy of cyclic alkanes illustrates the use of molecular mechanics.