Musical Chemistry and Spectroscopy: Analogies Bridging Two Worlds in Multiple Dimensions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Music and chemistry are seldom mentioned in the same breath, yet the physical and mathematical principles underpinning both disciplines are deeply intertwined. Here, we explore several points of contact between the two fields, centered on their shared language of frequency, time, and modulation. The analogy between vibrato and the time‐dependent frequency fluctuations experienced by molecules in condensed‐phase environments is not merely qualitative: both are governed by the same equations of motion for a frequency‐modulated oscillator, and their spectral consequences are quantitatively described by the Kubo lineshape model. The ensemble‐averaged free induction decay (FID) is the direct spectroscopic analogue of the combined sound of an instrumental section, and its Fourier transform yields the absorption lineshape. Two‐dimensional (2D) optical spectroscopies can be understood as tools for reading the molecular score , directly measuring the frequency fluctuation correlation function (FFCF) through the waiting‐time evolution of the 2D lineshape. Finally, we discuss how chemical structures have been mapped onto musical compositions, and how NMR FIDs have been used as musical material. These examples illustrate that the relationship between music and chemistry reflects a deeper unity in the way oscillatory phenomena are described and interpreted across both disciplines.