Chemical Revolution Research Articles

The Second Laser Revolution in Chemistry: Emerging Laser Technologies for Precise Fabrication of Multifunctional Nanomaterials and Nanostructures

The Second Laser Revolution in Chemistry: Emerging Laser Technologies for Precise Fabrication of Multifunctional Nanomaterials and Nanostructures

Good reasons, real questions and proper aims: Hasok Chang on the rationality of the chemical revolution

ABSTRACT In this article, we provide a detailed discussion of Hasok Chang’s analysis of the Chemical Revolution. Our focus lies on his use of the framework of systems of practice and his claim that the abandonment of the phlogiston theory was irrational. We argue that his framework runs into problems when applied to the chemical revolution because of its static view on the aims of the historical actors and we suggest using Nicholas Jardine’s concept of the reality of questions instead as a more flexible historiographical tool. We show how Chang’s claim regarding the irrational aspects of the chemical revolution follows from his strictly individualistic epistemology, leading him to see institutional and social aspects that impact the determination of aims as external to scientific rationality. We argue that a viable pragmatist and pluralist philosophy of science needs to embrace ‘academic politics’ as an explicit part of its view of rationality.

The Transition from Alchemical to Modern Chemical Symbolism: from Bergman and Guiton de Morveau to Hassenfratz and Adet, Higgins, Richter, Dalton, and Berzelius.

The alchemical concepts of chemical symbolism, nomenclature, and affinity underwent fundamental changes between the 1770s and the 1820s, roughly simultaneously with the Chemical Revolution (ca. 1772-89), i. e. the replacement of the phlogiston theory with Lavoisier's New Chemistry. Using the old, alchemical symbols, Bergman devised a system of formulas to describe virtually all known inorganic chemistry, and he influenced Guiton de Morveau's Mémoire sur les Dénominations Chimiques, and the subsequent Méthode de nomenclature. Hassenfratz and Adet devised a new artificial sign language which, however, was too complicated and unintuitive to gain widespread acceptance. Bergman refined the concept of affinity, but his belief in phlogiston rapidly made the system obsolete. Wenzel realized that the dissolution of metals in acids is not just a question of affinity but rather of concentration, and he and Berthollet separately formulated early versions of the Law of Mass Action thereby making attempts to quantify affinity redundant. Richter formulated a principle that became known as the Law of Equivalent Proportions, describing acid-base reactions and double decompositions of salts, but continuing to use Bergman-style alchemical formulas. Only John Dalton's atomic theory with little globules denoting atoms and their combination into molecules made a definite break with the alchemical symbols.

The AI revolution in chemistry is not that far away

The AI revolution in chemistry is not that far away

Revolutions in Chemistry: Assessment of Six 20th Century Candidates (The Instrumental Revolution; Hückel Molecular Orbital Theory; Hückel's 4n + 2 Rule; the Woodward-Hoffmann Rules; Quantum Chemistry; and Retrosynthetic Analysis).

Six 20th century candidates for revolutions in chemistry are examined, using a definitional scheme published recently by the author. Six groupings of 13 characteristics of revolutions in science are considered: causes and birthings of revolutions, relationships between the old and the new, conceptual qualities of the candidate revolutions, instrumental and methodological functions, social construction of knowledge and practical considerations, and testimonials. The Instrumental Revolution was judged to be a revolution in chemistry because of the enormous increase in community-wide knowledge provided by the new instruments and the intentionality in the identification of specific target instruments, in the mindfulness in their design, manufacture, testing, use, and ultimately commercialization. The Woodward-Hoffmann rules were judged to precipitate the Quantum Chemistry Revolution because of theoretical, practical, and social construction of knowledge characteristics. Neither Hückel molecular orbital theory nor Hückel's 4n + 2 rule was considered an initiator of a revolution in chemistry but rather participants in the Quantum Chemistry Revolution. Retrosynthetic analysis was not judged to initiate a revolution in chemistry.

Fuelling the Digital Chemistry Revolution with Language Models.

The RXN for Chemistry project, initiated by IBM Research Europe - Zurich in 2017, aimed to develop a series of digital assets using machine learning techniques to promote the use of data-driven methodologies in synthetic organic chemistry. This research adopts an innovative concept by treating chemical reaction data as language records, treating the prediction of a synthetic organic chemistry reaction as a translation task between precursor and product languages. Over the years, the IBM Research team has successfully developed language models for various applications including forward reaction prediction, retrosynthesis, reaction classification, atom-mapping, procedure extraction from text, inference of experimental protocols and its use in programming commercial automation hardware to implement an autonomous chemical laboratory. Furthermore, the project has recently incorporated biochemical data in training models for greener and more sustainable chemical reactions. The remarkable ease of constructing prediction models and continually enhancing them through data augmentation with minimal human intervention has led to the widespread adoption of language model technologies, facilitating the digitalization of chemistry in diverse industrial sectors such as pharmaceuticals and chemical manufacturing. This manuscript provides a concise overview of the scientific components that contributed to the prestigious Sandmeyer Award in 2022.

Peptide self‐assembly as a strategy for facile immobilization of redox enzymes on carbon electrodes

AbstractRedox–enzyme‐mediated electrochemical processes such as hydrogen production, nitrogen fixation, and CO2 reduction are at the forefront of the green chemistry revolution. To scale up, the inefficient two‐dimensional (2D) immobilization of redox enzymes on working electrodes must be replaced by an efficient dense 3D system. Fabrication of 3D electrodes was demonstrated by embedding enzymes in polymer matrices. However, several requirements, such as simple immobilization, prolonged stability, and resistance to enzyme leakage, still need to be addressed. The study presented here aims to overcome these gaps by immobilizing enzymes in a supramolecular hydrogel formed by the self‐assembly of the peptide hydrogelator fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl‐diphenylalanine. Harnessing the self‐assembly process avoids the need for tedious and potentially harmful chemistry, allowing the rapid loading of enzymes on a 3D electrode under mild conditions. Using the [FeFe] hydrogenase enzyme, high enzyme loads, prolonged resistance against electrophoresis, and highly efficient hydrogen production are demonstrated. Further, this enzyme retention is shown to arise from its interaction with the peptide nanofibrils. Finally, this method is successfully used to retain other redox enzymes, paving the way for a variety of enzyme‐mediated electrochemical applications.

The Alchemist, Metal-Divider and Transmuter Carl F. Wenzel and his 1776 Award from the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences through Professor C. G. Kratzenstein.

C. F. Wenzel was a chemist and an alchemist. He had deep knowledge of acids, bases and salts, and he was credited with the first formulation of the Law of Mass Action. Yet he was also an alchemist, who on the eve of the Chemical Revolution published his beliefs in transmutation and in the division of metals into their constituents, for which he was rewarded with the gold medal of the Royal Danish Academy of the Sciences. His promoter, Professor C. G. Kratzenstein, was himself a believer in transmutation, even if he voiced some reservations.

Direct Synthesis of Silicon Compounds—From the Beginning to Green Chemistry Revolution

This paper discusses the historical beginnings and the current state of knowledge of the synthesis of organosilicon compounds and chlorine derivatives of silicon. The key importance of these compounds for modern industry, including the semiconductor industry (photovoltaic cells, microprocessors, memory chips and many other electronic elements) is highlighted. Significant environmental threats related to the production of these compounds and the research challenges aimed at their elimination are discussed. The complexity of the catalytic mechanism of direct reaction of silicon with CH3Cl and alcohols is presented in an accessible way. In the last part of the work, the directions of the development of direct synthesis technology in line with the principles of green chemistry are indicated.

Atomic number and isotopy before nuclear structure: multiple standards and evolving collaboration of chemistry and physics

We provide a detailed history of the concepts of atomic number and isotopy before the discovery of protons and neutrons that draws attention to the role of evolving interplays of multiple aims and criteria in chemical and physical research. Focusing on research by Frederick Soddy and Ernest Rutherford, we show that, in the context of differentiating disciplinary projects, the adoption of a complex and shifting concept of elemental identity and the ordering role of the periodic table led to a relatively coherent notion of atomic number. Subsequent attention to valency, still neglected in the secondary literature, and to nuclear charge led to a decoupling of the concepts of elemental identity and weight and allowed for a coherent concept of isotopy. This concept received motivation from empirical investigations on the decomposition series of radioelements and their unstable chemical identity. A new model of chemical order was the result of an ongoing collaboration between chemical and physical research projects with evolving aims and standards. After key concepts were considered resolved and their territories were clarified, chemistry and physics resumed autonomous projects, yet remained bound by newly accepted explanatory relations. It is an episode of scientific collaboration and partial integration without simple, wholesale gestalt switches or chemical revolutions.

Geochemistry and Sources Apportionment of Major Ions and Dissolved Heavy Metals in a Small Watershed on the Tibetan Plateau

Due to environmental sensibility and fragility, the water chemistry revolution and heavy metals accumulation influenced by natural and anthropogenic processes in the rivers on the Tibetan Plateau have recently become a global concern. However, targeted studies in small watersheds on the Tibetan Plateau are relatively limited. A study of surface waters in Duilong Qu (DLQ), a small watershed located on the Tibetan Plateau, have been conducted to assess the impact of natural and anthropogenic activities on the water environment of the DLQ by analyzing the major ions and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, and As) in the river waters. The results of the analysis of major ions showed that SO42− and HCO3− were the dominant anions and Ca2+ was the dominant cation, indicating that the water chemistry of the river waters was mainly of the HCO3-Ca type. The results of Piper diagram and Gibbs diagram analysis indicate that the water solute is mainly controlled by the weathering of carbonate rocks, followed by the influence of geothermal water confluence. Compared to the world river average, the concentrations of Cr, Pb, and As in the studied rivers were relatively high. The heavy metal concentrations satisfy the standards of WHO and GB (Chinese national standard) guidelines. The PCA-APCS-MLR model has been employed and evidenced as a reliable tool to identify the sources of the heavy metals in this study. The results revealed that the heavy metals in the DLQ are caused by natural sources, geothermal water, and mining operations. The primary sources of As (93.63%), Cr (93.07%), Mn (73.53%), Fe (59.54%), and Pb (58.28%) in the DLQ were geothermal water, while Zn (91.41%), Mn (20.67%), Fe (40.46%), and Pb (26.15%) originated mainly from natural sources. Additionally, Cu (91.41%) was primarily influenced by mining operations, and Ni originated from mining (53.61%) and geothermal water sources (46.39%), while Cd (97.88%) originated from unknown sources. In the high-flow season periods from 1992 to 2017, the As concentrations in the DLQ decreased significantly, which might result from increasing precipitation and runoff. Overall, the results of this study suggest that both natural and anthropogenic activities have jointly affected the solutes in small rivers on the Tibetan Plateau, and heavy metal pollution should be emphasized in the future.

The chemistry revolution will be automated

The chemistry revolution will be automated

Chemical affinities: photography, extraction, and industrial heritage in nineteenth-century northern England

ABSTRACT “Chemical Affinities” explores how chemistry and visual culture were entwined in the long nineteenth century, focusing here on the role of photography as both a material cause of pollution and the aesthetic means to visualize the pollution that it caused. Chemical layering was a common dimension of all nineteenth-century photography and photographic printing, making photography a by-product of the chemical revolution of the nineteenth century, no less than fertilizer and paper. Drawing on hundreds of visual representations (drawings, engravings, photographs, and graphs), most of them located in local, scientific, and business archives in northern England, my research approaches photography as a material, economic, and social process: an extractive resource that raises questions about the global future alongside recording the tangible present and arrested moments of the past. Here, I examine the nineteenth-century industry in Widnes, Cheshire, as a particularly representative and vexed site of photography’s chemical effects on land and people, as well as its instrumentation in documenting and recording – and in so doing promising to expose and moderate – those effects. The article concludes with some reflections on the value of photographic archives and critical industrial heritage studies for historical understanding of nineteenth-century chemical industry and its legacies.

Mechanism of Prebiotic Uracil Synthesis from Urea and HC3O+ in Space.

The potential energy surface for the formation of protonated uracil (UH+) from urea and HC3O+ was explored by performing quantum chemical complete basis set-QB3 calculations. A barrierless pathway was found for the formation of UH+, which was estimated to occur in the interstellar medium (ISM) much faster than the timescale of chemical revolution of typical dense interstellar clouds. Investigation of further reactions of UH+ formed through the obtained pathway led to the conclusion that uracil could be produced on icy grain surfaces but not in the gas phase of the ISM.

Scope of Green Chemistry

Green Chemisty is new and rapid emerging branch of Chemistry. The beginning of Green Chemistry is considered as a response to the need to reduce the damage of the environment by man-made materials and the processes used to produce them. Green Chemistry could include anything from reducing wastes to even disposing of waste in the correct manner. All chemical waste should be disposed off of in the best possible manner without causing any damage to the environment and living beings. The Green Chemistry revolution is providing an enormous number of challenges to those who practice Chemistry in industry. This article focuses sustainable development, solvent less reaction, oxidation reagent and catalyst.

Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II by David A. Taylor

Reviewed by: Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II by David A. Taylor Brian E. Crim (bio) Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II By David A. Taylor. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. Pp. 240. David Taylor's absorbing account of how a seemingly innocuous substance like cork became a critical strategic material during World War II hopefully represents a trend in historical scholarship. Cork Wars is a work of "narrative nonfiction," Taylor writes in an author's note, "combining the fact-finding of journalism with literary techniques to create a dramatic story that is also true." Focusing on individuals whose lives revolved around the cork industry, Taylor places ordinary people at the center of extraordinary events, while still producing significant scholarly work in the fields of science and technology, economic history, national security studies, immigration, and environmental history. History is filled with examples of humanity elevating the importance of a resource, exploiting it, altering its natural place in the world, and quickly moving on once it served a purpose. Cork is one such substance, but the most compelling part of Taylor's book is how families of outsiders—immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe—demonstrated unbelievable resilience and ingenuity in the face of hostility and deprivation at home and total war abroad. Cork Wars begins with the September 1940 industrial fire at the Crown Cork and Seal factory in Baltimore, a catastrophic event both for Charles McManus, a pioneer in the cork industry so crucial to the local economy, and for preparations for America's impending entry into World War II. With U-boats wreaking havoc on Allied shipping and the FBI hunting Nazi agents up and down the Eastern seaboard, thousands of Italian Americans working in vital industries like cork suddenly fell under suspicion. Like Japanese and German Americans, Italians eventually fell under the purview of the infamous Executive Order 9066, which allowed the government to imprison and seize the property of "enemy aliens" indefinitely. While the cause of the fire was never determined, the event underscored the importance of cork to national security. It also coincided with intelligence services on both sides of the Atlantic racing to secure access to the groves populating the Mediterranean basin, specifically the Iberian Peninsula and coastal North Africa. Why was cork so special? Initially used in construction and the beverage industry, cork became an indispensable sealant and insulator used in submarines, airplanes, tanks, and ammunition. Moreover, cork companies like Crown Cork and Seal and Armstrong Cork diversified during the war, helping build vital weapons like the B-26 Marauder. Cork Wars' complex transatlantic story is told through the eyes of three men and their families: Charles McManus Sr. and Jr., Irish immigrant [End Page 567] owners and operators of Crown Cork and Seal; Frank DiCara, a young Italian immigrant who worked for Crown and enlisted in the army when he came of age; and Melchor Marsa, a Catalonian immigrant who managed Crown's Mediterranean interests and was recruited by the newly created Office of Strategic Services to monitor Axis intentions in nominally neutral Spain and Portugal. Fearful the fragile cork trees could fall into the hands of the Axis powers and threaten war industries, the U.S. government invested in McManus Sr.'s "Cork Project," conceived with forester Wood-bridge Metcalf to transform California into a viable environment for cork. The project included enlisting thousands of Americans to lend their property for the experiment, importing and planting millions of acorns, extensive climate zone research, and a coordinated campaign between government and industry to transform the environment for strategic purposes. As the hot war concluded and a cold war took its place, cork remained an arena for competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, although the chemical revolution had the final say. Plastics and other synthetic materials ironically perfected and mass-produced by Nazi Germany diminished cork's relevance as a strategic material by the 1950s. For the McManus, DiCara, and Marsa families, cork featured prominently in their lives and defined their diverse and fascinating wartime experiences. Taylor's interviews with family members, access to personal collections, and impressive detective work in the...

Materialistic Interfaces with Nucleic Acids: Principles and Their Impact

AbstractMendelian genetics spark the century‐old revolution in genetic engineering. DNA structural engineering may well spark a similar revolution in chemistry. The first few man‐made DNA structures are purely DNA but increased interest in hybrid DNA with other molecules is regaining popularity. Nucleic acids can interact with non‐nucleic acid‐based materials, showing their materialistic flexibility and potential and the prospect of forming new future materials. This review provides a deep materialistic background based on the interaction of nucleic acids with these non‐nucleic acid‐based materials covering comprehensive topics. The non‐nucleic acid materials are broadly divided into biological materials, for example, small‐biomolecules, peptides, proteins, and lipids, and non‐biological materials consisting of metal ions, chemical molecules, low‐dimensional nanomaterials, and micro‐scale polymers. Of significance, combining the unique properties of nucleic acids with these non‐genetic materials can bring about surprising synergistic characteristics and drive attractive applications in bio‐imaging, chem/bio‐sensing, disease therapies, antimicrobial works, and even information storage.

Paleozoic-Mesozoic turnover of marine biological pump and Mesozoic plankton revolution

<p indent="0mm">The evolution of deep-time marine biological pumps (BPs) is critical to our understanding of the processes and mechanisms of the present-day carbon cycle. The Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic was a key period for the formation of modern marine biological pumps. Two types of Phanerozoic biological pump have been recognized: Paleozoic (Paleozoic-Middle Triassic) and Modern (Late Triassic-Modern). The Paleozoic-type pump comprises benthic algae and acritarch, whereas the Modern-type pump consists mainly of pelagic plankton. Geological records show that the Permian-Triassic extinction event destroyed the Paleozoic BP. Then, a special BP composed of cyanobacteria and other autotrophic bacteria, briefly appeared during the Permian-Triassic extinction interval. The Modern-type BP consists primarily of pelagic nannoplankton that originated in the Late Triassic. Fossil records suggest that the origin and rapid radiation of nannoplankton (coccoliths and dinoflagellates) during the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic promoted the establishment of modern plankton ecosystem. The rise of pelagic plankton such as dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, and planktonic foraminifers in the Mesozoic is summed up as the Mesozoic plankton revolution. The Mesozoic plankton revolution changed the patterns of marine material cycling and energy flow. The proliferation of nannoplankton accelerated the transfer of material and energy from primary producers to larger consumers and higher trophic levels, increasing the resources available to mesotrophic levels of marine ecosystems. The increased availability of energy resulted in rapid changes in composition, spatial structure, and food chain structures of marine fauna. The resulting “biological arms race” is summarized as the Mesozoic marine animal revolution. The Mesozoic plankton revolution was also the key driver of the Mid-Mesozoic revolution in terms of the regulation of ocean chemistry. Before the Early Jurassic, fluctuations in sea level, ocean area, continental weathering rates, and oceanic calcium ion concentrations produced large perturbations in carbonate deposition and the oceanic carbon cycle, which were only weakly buffered by the ocean. After the Early Jurassic, seawater chemistry changed—With the decrease and stabilization of carbonate saturation due to the transfer of biogenic carbonate from the shallow to the deep marine deposits—Mainly as a result of the rise of nannoplankton and tectonic movement. Changes in seawater chemistry are also reflected in the increased oxygen concentration therein. The oxygen concentration was higher on the Jurassic shelf, likely due to pelagic planktonic algal blooms. The occurrence of phytoplankton increased the efficiency of pelagic biological and carbonate pumps, and the accumulation and dissolution of deep-sea carbonates began to emerge as an important link in the carbon cycle; this improved the buffering capacity of ocean against environmental disturbances. It also provided a stable environment for the creation of modern marine ecosystem, and several oceanic anoxic events that occurred in the Mesozoic did not directly lead to mass extinctions of marine animals, causing only small fluctuations in the diversity of some taxa. Therefore, the Mesozoic plankton revolution is a critical link between the animal and chemical revolutions, and these three processes make up the Mesozoic marine revolution. The origin and evolution of key marine producers and their controlling factors are important topics that need to be studied. However, there are few high-precision studies on the evolution of primary producers and biological pumps during the Late Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic. In addition, the timeline and mechanisms driving the origin of pelagic phytoplankton are key questions that need to be addressed. To solve these problems, the evolution of photosynthetic pigment lineages and the paleogeographic distribution of algae, along with the changes in the size of plankton during the early Mesozoic, require further research attention.

Acid-base homeostasis: a historical inquiry of its origins and conceptual evolution.

To a great extent, the conceptual evolution of acid-base homeostasis has been shaped by progress in chemistry. It began with the theoretical consideration of matter by the natural philosophers of antiquity, progressed into an observational craft as chymistry during the Scientific Revolution, evolved into analytical chemistry in the Enlightenment when acid-alkali interactions began to be deciphered, then was clearly exposed in the organic chemistry of the 19th century and ultimately formulated in mathematical precision as the chemical equations of physical chemistry in the 20th century. Two principal transformational changes shaped their clinical application. The first, launched by the Chemical Revolution of Antoine Lavoisier, introduced quantitation, clarified the language and added experimental rigor to chemical studies, which Claude Bernard then introduced into physiology, formulated the concept of regulatory homeostasis, refined experimental medicine and explored the role of the kidney in acid-base balance. The second transformational change in their gradual clinical applicability began in electrochemical studies that revived the atomic composition of matter and introduced the notion of ions and electrolytes that were fundamental in formulating the concept of acid-base ionization by Svante Arrhenius in 1884 and their measurement from hydrogen ion concentration as pH by Søren Sørensen in 1909. Subsequent studies of Lawrence J. Henderson and Donald D. van Slyke introduced these laboratory-based conceptual advances to the bedside in the 20th century. Clinical studies of acidosis and alkalosis that followed over the past few decades have facilitated and refined the clinical recognition, interpretation and treatment of acid-base disorders.

Paradigm Shift: The Promise of Deep Learning in Molecular Systems Engineering and Design

The application of deep learning to a diverse array of research problems has accelerated progress across many fields, bringing conventional paradigms to a new intelligent era. Just as the roles of instrumentation in the old chemical revolutions, we reinforce the necessity for integrating deep learning in molecular systems engineering and design as a transformative catalyst towards the next chemical revolution. To meet such research needs, we summarize advances and progress across several key elements of molecular systems: molecular representation, property estimation, representation learning, and synthesis planning. We further spotlight recent advances and promising directions for several deep learning architectures, methods, and optimization platforms. Our perspective is of interest to both computational and experimental researchers as it aims to chart a path forward for cross-disciplinary collaborations on synthesizing knowledge from available chemical data and guiding experimental efforts.