The Interplay and Synergism of Experiment and Quantum Chemistry in Research on Reactive Intermediates

Abstract

Three examples from the work of the author's research group on reactive intermediates are used to illustrate how fruitful interaction between experimental and computational chemistry may lead to the solution of problems that neither of the two methods could have solved without the other. It is shown that computational chemistry has indeed become an indispensable tool for the verification of spectroscopic assignments, the elucidation of reaction mechanisms, and the understanding of the factors that drive chemistry.