Physical Chemistry is distinguished from the rest of chemistry not by any limitation on the subject matter but by its methods and goals. We try to understand any and all phenomena and structures of chemistry by application of the tools of physics and matematics. Thus explanations for the bonding of atoms to molecules, the rates of chemical reactions, the properties of pure and mixed substances can be found in the fundamental laws of physics by calculation or experimentation. Today physical Chemistry often use numerical simulation which is an intermediate method between theory and experiment carried out with the help of fast computers. Despite its very fundamental character, physical chemistry is an extreemely practical subject with a very large impact in industryas well as academia.

Here at Göteborg University our group of physical chemists have wide ranging interests. We are interested in how chemical bonds form in molecules and how they break and rearrange in chemical reactions to form new molecules. We try to understand how molecular collisions activate molecules, before bond breaking occurs. The dynamics of atoms in such reactions are studied by new quantum mechanical methods allowing rate constants for elementary reaction steps to be determined. Efficient methods allowing quantum effects to be resolved for larger systems by retaining some features of classical mechanics have been developed and successfully applied.

We also work on liquids, electrolyte solutions and the solubility of drug molecules in water by both semianalytic theory and numerical simulation.

Our experimental activities are focused on the field of colloid and interface science where there is great industriel interest both static and dynamical properties of colloidal dispersions.