PREFACEThis book provides qualitative molecular orbital and valence-bond descriptions of the electronic structures for electron-rich molecules, with strong emphasis given to the valence-bond approach. Electron-rich molecules form an extremely large class of molecules, and the results of quantum mechanical studies from different laboratories indicate that qualitative valence-bond descriptions for many of these molecules are incomplete in so far as they usually omit "long-bond" Lewis structures
_.0 ••-are equivalent to resonance between standard and "long-bond" Lewis structures, and usually involve Pauling "3-electron bonds" as diatomic components. Because they include both the "long-bond" and the standard Lewis structures, the "increasedvalence" structures must always provide a lower-energy representation of electronic structure than do the more familiar qualitative descriptions that utilize only the standard Lewis structures.To provide the necessary background for readers who are familiar only with the elements of qualitative valence-bond and molecular orbital theory, extensive use is made of an elementary, even pedagogical., approach. Some relevant valence-bond and molecular orbital concepts are reViewed briefly in the first chapter. After a IV discussion of the need for an "increased-valence" theory in Chapter 2, Chapters 3 to 9 are concerned primarily with qualitative descriptions of the electronic structures for numerous paramagnetic molecules that. may have Pauling "3-electron bonds" as components in their valence-bond structures. The bonding and magnetic behaviour for the dimers of some of these molecules are also discussed in Chapters 7 and 8, usingboth Lewis valence-bond and molecular orbital theory. It is shown that if the monomer has a Pauling "3-electron bond" then the dimer may require "long-bond" as well as standard Lewis structures to contribute significantly to the ground-stateresonance. An "increased-valence" description of the bonding for one of these dimers, namely N 2 0 4 , is developed in Chapter 10; this provides a convenient connection between the pauling "3-electron bond" theory for paramagnetic molecules, and the "increased-valence" theory of the remaining Chapters for (mostly) diamagnetic molecules.The "increased-valence" theory represents a natural extension of the more familiar LewiS-Langmuir-pauling valence-bond theory, and therefore an understanding of it may be useful for all chemists who have an interest in simple descriptions of electronic structure. For more than a decade, I have published various papers on this subject, and the present volume includes a considerable number of examples from them, together with numerous new applications.For readers who wish to give primary consideration to the "increased-valence" theory, Sections 3-6, 3-9, 4-1 to 4-7, 6-1, 7-1 and 7-2 are the main components of the earlier chapters that are required as background for Chapters 10 to 24. A reading of Chapter 2 might also be appropriate in order to obtain a rationalization of the need for an "increas...