Math Department (Thesis/2007-08)

Topology and chemistry

Under the direction of: Brenda Johnson

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Topology is the branch of mathematics that studies properties of shapes that are unaffected by stretching or twisting, that is, properties that are less "rigid" than classical geometric properties such as length or area. A thesis in this area will focus on topological properties of molecular structures. A classic example of such a structure is chirality. Roughly speaking, a molecular structure is chiral if it is not equivalent to its mirror image. Identification of chiral molecules has long been important to the pharmaceutical industry since the mirror image of a drug can have vastly different effects than the original drug. Another standard example is the analysis of DNA recombination via knotting and linking of molecules. A thesis in this area will focus on one topological property.

This topic is best-suited for a one-term thesis.

Prerequisite: Some high school or introductory college chemistry.

Math Department web pages Created: 25 Apr 2007 Last modified: 25 Apr 2007 Comments to: math@union.edu

Thesis Topics - B. Johnson Thesis Topics for 2007-2008 Thesis Topics - P. Friedman