The First Edition of this book, which appeared in 2013, serves as a problem text for Part I (Fundamentals of Chemical Bonding) and Part II (Symmetry in Chemistry) of the book Advanced Structural Inorganic Chemistry published by Oxford University Press in 2008. A Chinese edition was published by Peking University Press in August in the same year. Since then the authors have received much feedback from users and reviewers, which prompted them to prepare a Second Edition for students ranging from freshmen to senior undergraduates who aspire to attend graduate school after finishing their first degree in Chemistry. Four new chapters are added to this expanded Second Edition, which now contains over 400 problems and their solutions. The topics covered in 13 chapters follow the sequence: electronic states and configurations of atoms and molecules, introductory quantum chemistry, atomic orbitals, hybrid orbitals, molecular symmetry, molecular geometry and bonding, crystal field theory, molecular orbital theory, vibrational spectroscopy, crystal structure, transition metal chemistry, metal clusters: bonding and reactivity, and bioinorganic chemistry. The problems collected in this volume originate from examination papers and take-home assignments that have been part of the teaching program conducted by senior authors at The Chinese University of Hong Kong over nearly a half-century. Whenever appropriate, source references in the chemical literature are given for readers who wish to delve deeper into the subject. Eight Appendices and a Bibliography listing 157 reference books are provided to students and teachers who wish to look up comprehensive presentations of specific topics.
The role of visuospatial thinking in students’ predictions of molecular geometry