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Is there a terse but rigorous introduction to molecular orbital theory (MOT)? I'm looking for the 'Rudin's Real Analysis' of MOT, if that analogy resonates with anyone. If not, I'm looking for a book that I can use as a reference rather than a gentle tutorial.

Galen
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  • What is your level in math, physical chemistry and group theory? I can explain e. g. crystallography one a note card if you are familiar with the 3D Fourier transform and the convolution theorem. – Karsten Feb 21 '21 at 03:50
  • If you want to throw Schrodinger's equation, symmetry groups, or Fourier analysis at me, I'm cool with that. What do you have in mind for a book? – Galen Feb 21 '21 at 04:34
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    A good answer would depend on how deep you want to go. Maybe Szabo and Ostlund would work? – orthocresol Jul 10 '21 at 21:47
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    In my opinion, it is impossible to be more terse than Szabo and Ostlund. I'm not too sure whether it covers MOT to a rigorous extend. I think it's more for the nitty gritty solving that thing part of it. – Martin - マーチン Jul 11 '21 at 15:56
  • Rigorous and terse are often mutually exclusive. The first few chapters of Albright, Burdet and Whangbo give a nice quick intro that's semi-quantitative, but hardly rigorous. Maybe that in combination with Szabo and Ostlund will give you a good start? – Andrew Jul 19 '21 at 16:03
  • Is there even a clear cut definition of what is considered "canonical" molecular orbital theory ? I mean, there exists qualitative Hückel MO theory and then quantitative Hartree Fock MO theory. Should the reference cover both or only quantitative methods ? And then there is stuff "in-between" like frontier mo theory, ligand field mo theory etc. I don't think there exists a book that covers all of those in a terse manner. – Hans Wurst Jul 19 '21 at 16:51
  • From commenters' interpretation of "rigorous but terse" it would appear that the current answer would be "no". Perhaps you want to edit your answer. Also, in case you've not seen it there is a guide to textbooks in the meta section: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/37303/resources-for-learning-chemistry – Buck Thorn Jul 20 '21 at 10:18

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