Models of necessity

• Timothy Clark and
• Martin G. Hicks

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1649–1661, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.137

• chemists represent chemical structures as two-dimensional sketches made up of atoms and bonds, simplifying the complex three-dimensional molecules comprising nuclei and electrons of the quantum mechanical description, is the everyday language of chemistry. This language uses models, particularly of bonding

• are likely to be important in rationalizing, extending and standardizing chemical bonding models. This will not affect the everyday language of chemistry but may help to understand the unique basis of chemical language. Keywords: chemical bonding; chemical ontologies; chemical structure formats

• ; chemical structure representation; chemical structure models; language of chemistry; quantum chemistry; Introduction This article originally arose out of our discussions for the 2020 Beilstein Bozen Meeting “Models of Convenience” [1], which had to be postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic. It essentially