A conversation on the quartic equation of the secular determinant of methylenecyclopropene
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Ponnadurai Ramasami
Abstract
The Hückel method (HM) is based on quantum mechanics and it is used for calculating the energies of molecular orbitals of π electrons in conjugated systems. The HM involves the setting up of the secular determinant which is expanded to obtain a polynomial which is to be solved. In general, the polynomial is one which may be factorized. However, in May 2020, students brought to my attention that the secular determinant of methylenecyclopropene could not be factorized completely. As a result of this, we used a combination of online tools, technology and visualization to calculate the roots of the secular determinant. This write-up, in a playwriting format, describes the conversation between the facilitator and the students.
Acknowledgments
The 2017 batch final year BSc (Hons) Chemistry students enrolled at the University of Mauritius. Miss Mary-Joyce Natacha Lourde (S1) for raising the issue and Mr Manishrao Moteeram (S2) for pointing the mistake while inputting one of the coefficients.
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Author contribution: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Conflict of interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
References
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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