Informal, effective undergraduate-level text introduces vibrational and electronic spectroscopy, presenting applications of group theory to the interpretation of UV, visible, and infrared spectra without assuming a high level of background knowledge. 200 problems with solutions. Numerous illustrations.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 12 reviews)

simply put

Simply put, this book is MUST HAVE for anyone studying or working with spectroscopy. Whether you study Physical, Analytical, or Inorganic Chemistry, this book is essential. The information is distilled and relevant. Check out your professors' book collections, odds are you will find this classic on their shelves (and probably also see many course examples similar to exercises and examples from it, even if not officially required for your course). The pages will be worn, dog-eared, highlighted, and scribbled on, just like in my copy I have used over and over and over for last 15 years! From Group Theory to Raman to Crystal Field, this book has got it all! Awesome!
May 06, 2008

Another Dover Bargain in Physical Chemistry

This book has served as a companion text for courses I've taught in Symmetry and Group Theory and in Physical Methods in Inorganic Chemistry for the past two years. It provides a solid background for practicing chemists who will use electronic and vibrational spectroscopy in their everyday research, though it is only an introduction for serious spectroscopists. The book adopts an easy conversational tone that appeals to students but doesn't fail to provide an appropriate level rigor - with one notable exception to be mentioned below. For a students seeking to learn by self-study there is a good supply of problems, with solutions provided, to deepen understanding. The examples are most plentiful in the vibrational spectroscopic sections.

Both photoelectron and UV-Visible spectroscopy are presented, and Harris and Bertolucci do a better job at teaching what electron states are than Cotton does in his well-known "Chemical Applications of Group Theory". Unfortunately, however, electronic spectra of transition metal complexes are given short shrift and ligand-field-theoretic problems are not adequately fleshed out. Equally unfortunate is the fact that the one transition-metal example of vibronic coupling provided in the body of the text is the same example presented by Cotton: the polarized spectra of trans-[Co(en)2Cl2]+ - and the authors have transcribed exactly the same serious error: One of the vibrational modes is wrong and one of the electronic absorption peaks are misassigned as a result.

These problems notwithstanding, this is very good book - I recommend it to students and teachers as an affordable, instructive, and very readable text.
March 09, 2008

The best

I bought this book about half way through my postgraduate studies in Physical chemistry, then immediately kicked myself for not buying it earlier. If you're a bit rusty in QM, as I was, then the chapter on QM is worth the price of admission alone, the same could really be said for all of the 5 chapters (Group Theory, QM, Vibrations, MO Theory and Electronic Transitions) though as they are all clear, well constructed, with nice problems (and solutions for most). Great introduction for any aspiring Physical Chemist.
July 24, 2007

Excellent spectroscopy book

There was really no need for my short review to convince anyone interested or even marginally active in the field of molecular spectroscopy that the SYMMETRY AND SPECTROSCOPY-Introduction to Vibrational and Electronic Spectroscopy by D.C. Harris and M.D. Bertolucci is an excellent presentation of the underlying physical principles, the laws and parameters involved in the measurement and, above all and in accordance with the title, the involvement of symmetry on the appearance of virbrational and electronic spectra.
Recommended, in my opinion, to both students and tutors, and to those interested in the application or the theoretical part of the aforementioned spectroscopic fields.
May 17, 2007

loved this book

I used this book to supplement my molecular spec. course many years ago. As others have noted - very friendly in its tone.

For other classic books in this area look at:

1. Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy by Gordon M. Barrow, McGraw-Hill, 1962 (You should avoid his more commonly found book with a similar title: The Structure of Molecules: An Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy, published by W. A. Benjamin, 1964. This book is too basic.)

2. Introduction to Molecular Structure and Spectroscopy by William A. Guillory, Allyn and Bacon, 1977

Check out my other reviews for other chem books.

March 29, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Molecular Vibrations: The Theory of Infrared and Raman Vibrational Spectra
by Edgar Bright Wilson, J.C. Decius, Paul C. Cross

Group Theory and Chemistry
by David M. Bishop

Modern Quantum Chemistry: Introduction to Advanced Electronic Structure Theory
by Attila Szabo, Neil S. Ostlund

Chemical Applications of Group Theory, 3rd Edition
by F. Albert Cotton

Modern Spectroscopy
by J. Michael Hollas