When Topology Meets Chemistry: A Topological Look at Molecular Chirality [Hardcover]

This question is answered in a remarkable new book by Erica Flapan, knot theorist and professor of mathematics at Pomona College. Stereochemistry, the study of the three-dimensional structure of molecules, is a recurring theme in chemistry and related fields. Topology, the study of geometrical properties which are invariant under continuous transformations, is a similarly popular area for mathematicians. While it is not immediately obvious that the two fields have anything in common, both fields owe a debt to the other. Although she initiates her book with a historical perspective and detailed expository on basic aspects of low dimensional topology (e.g., stereoisomers, chirality, nonrigid symmetries, knot and link types, three-dimensional manifolds, and link polynomials) she does proceed into more advanced subject matter in later chapters including Möbius ladders, symmetries of embedded graphs, and hierarchies of automorphisms. Of particular interest to the molecular biologist, the final chapter is devoted entirely to the topology of DNA and includes topological considerations of supercoiling, toroidal winding, enzyme action, and tangle theory. The arguments are clearly presented within the framework of interesting and relevant molecular structures, yet there is enough mathematical rigor to satisfy dyed-in-the-wool mathematicians as well. Although there will likely be something of interest to the average working chemist, the supramolecular scientist, organic chemist, molecular biologist, and biophysicist, in particular, stand to gain the most by the contents of this book.