Tutte polynomials of alternating polycyclic chains (Q2278819)

Part of the information in a structural formula of a chemical compound is contained in a graph with vertices and edges. Important properties of a graph \(G\) can be derived from its Tutte polynomial \(T(G; x, y)\). The present work is devoted to the calculation of explicit (naturally complicated) formulae for the Tutte polynomials of alternating polycyclic chains, a remarkable class of graphs occurring particularly in organic chemistry. Such a polycyclic chain is made of polygons, where any two have at most one edge in common, but several polygons may have a common vertex. If all polygons have the same number of edges, the polygon is called uniform, otherwise non-uniform; if the number of edges of the polygons alternate in the chain, then the chain is called alternating. The formulae derived refer to three special classes of alternating polycyclic chains, with applications to the graphs of phenylene derivatives and the numbers of spanning trees, spanning forests, and spanning connected subgraphs. The introduction compiles useful hints at references concerning graph invariants coming up in chemistry.