1.2 无机化学Whitesides-2015-Reinventing Chemistry ACIE无机化学.pdf

. . Angewandte Essays Future of Chemistry Special Issue 150 Years of BASF Reinventing Chemistry George M. Whitesides* The End of One Era and the Beginning of Another deal with complex systems that involve molecules, in any form—in materials science, biology, geology, city manage- Nothing goes on forever. The years following World War ment, whatever—“chemical” or not ? Any simple definition II were very kind to chemistry. The research universities and of the field of chemistry—or at least any definition as simple the chemical industry—one of the most beneficial partner- as “atoms, molecules, and reactions”—no longer seems to fit ships our technologically sophisticated society has seen— its potential, its obligations to society, or the complexity of the developed the forms that we know. Industrial chemistry challenges it faces. became a core part of the industrial world ; academic Throughout the productive postwar period, “chemistry” chemistry explained how atoms and molecules made reality always blended the practical and conceptual. This postwar era happen. simultaneously developed academic chemistry—to analyze How did it start ? World War II generated a flood of and understand complexity—and industrial chemistry—to technology relevant to chemistry. High-octane fuel and produce the chemicals used by society.[1] The two are some- synthetic rubb