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Topology in chemistry – can it be explained in simple terms?

In the last decades, the applications of the highly abstract mathematical discipline topology have grown in importance for understanding chemical structures. One of the best known examples is the emergence of the term topological chirality, used to describe a strong notion of chirality – an object is topologically chiral if it retains chirality even under continuous deformations. Because of the complexity of the subject matter, such topics are almost completely evaded during chemistry education. The authors wish to present a choice of applications of topology (topological chirality, knot theory, chemical graph theory, topologically interesting molecules) suitable to be used in secondary or tertiary chemistry education, with explanations that are both mathematically and chemically sound and appropriate for the described education levels.

topological chirality; knot theory in chemistry; chemical graph theory; topologically interesting molecules

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