Criteria of orbital symmetry conservation had a profound influence on mechanistic thinking in organic chemistry and are still commonly applied today. The author presents a coherent set of operational rules for the analysis of scope and reliability. It is written from the viewpoint of Orbital Correspondence Analysis in Maximum Symmetry (OCAMS). Its advantage lies in its provision of a coherent overview of the relation between symmetry and mechanism. For reasons of consistency, the book remains within the framework of molecular orbital theory.

I. Preliminary Survey

1. The Woodward-Hoffmann Rules in Perspective
II. Symmetry and Energy
2. Atoms and Atomic Orbitals
3. Diatomic Molecules and Their Molecular Orbitals
4. Formation and Deformation of Polyatomic Molecules
III. The Classical Thermal Reactions
5. Electrocyclic Reactions and Related Rearrangements
6. Cycloadditions and Cycloreversions: I. [2+2]-Cycloaddition
7. Cycloadditions and Cycloreversions: II. Beyond [2+2]
8. Degenerate Rearrangements
IV. Spin and Photochemistry
9. Electron Spin
10. Excited State Reactions
11. Into Inorganic Chemistry
A. Character Tables of the More Common Symmetry Point Groups
B. Kernels and Co-Kernels of Degenerate Irreducible Representations
C. Group Correlation Tables.