Chemistry As A Game Of Molecular Construction: The Bond-Click Way

The proposed textbook takes the students into a fascinating journey that shows the universal aspect of chemistry: Chemistry is the window given to mankind to glimpse into his material-chemical essence and come to terms with its limitations. In the introductory chapter/lecture, the textbook discusses the connection between the “chemical matter” and love, sex, depression, addiction--all the properties we call “human”. As we are made of chemical matter, this chapter makes a point why knowledge of chemistry is so essential to mankind. This preamble is followed by about 14 short chapters/lectures, which introduce chemistry as molecule building process, like a game of Lego.

Sason S. Shaik, PhD, is a Professor and the Director of the Lise Meitner-Minerva Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has been a Fulbright Fellow (1974-1979) and became a Fellow of the AAAS in 2005. Among his awards are the Israel Chemical Society Medal for the Outstanding Young Chemist (1987), the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Award in 1996-1999, the 2001 Kolthoff Award, the 2001 Israel Chemical Society Prize, and the 2007 Schrodinger Medal of WATOC. His research interests are in the use of quantum chemistry to develop paradigms that can pattern data and lead to the generation and solution of new problems. From 1981-1992, the main focus of his research was on valence bond theory and its relationship to MO theory, and during that time, he developed a general model of reactivity based on a blend of VB and MO elements. In 1994, he entered the field of oxidation and bond activation by metal oxo catalysts and enzymes, an area where he has contributed several seminal ideas (e.g., two-state reactivity) that led to resolution of major controversies and new predictions.