Chemical Revolution Research Articles

Acids and Rust: A New Perspective on the Chemical Revolution

AbstractThis paper uses scientific perspectivism as a lens for understanding acid experiments from the Chemical Revolution. I argue that this account has several advantages over several recent interpretations of this period, interpretations that do not neatly capture some of the historical experiments on acids. The perspectival view is distinctive in that it avoids discontinuity, allows for the rational resolution of disagreement, and is sensitive to the historical epistemic context.

Regenerate Nature, Our Best Hope to Reverse Climate Change

The focus of climate change research has been with the anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide and the impact of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide on the climate. But climate change is an equation, what goes into the atmosphere must be removed, unfortunately we have totally neglected NATURE and the biological mechanisms for regulating our environment. Humanity has been systematically destroying terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems for the last 70 years since the chemical revolution and the invention of plastic and toxic-for-ever chemicals such as DDT. The very essence of humanity and life support system for the planet is intrinsically connected to nature, and most especially with all life unseen, below the surface of our oceans. The science is now telling us that we are too late to prevent the cascade destabilization of the marine ecosystem by 2045, even if the world became carbon neutral tomorrow, we are still too late to prevent the loss of most marine life through ocean acidification. The oceans represent our greatest carbon bank with a potential to sequester most of the carbon generated from the burning of fossil fuels, but productivity and biodiversity in the oceans has dropped by 50% and is currently declining at a rate of 1% year on year. This is not sustainable, there is an end point, which we are fast approaching. This report details the sequence of events that are likely to occur and the actions that need to happen to prevent the collapse of the marine ecosystem and to avoid the worst of climate change.

Plastic and Toxic Chemical-Induced Ocean Acidification Is Causing a Plankton Crisis and Will Devastate Humanity in the Next 25 Years.

Marine plants and animals should be thriving in ocean waters because of the current high concentrations of carbon dioxide and nutrients along with slightly elevated temperatures - but they are not. We have lost 50% of all marine life over the last 70 years; this decline is continuing today at a rate of 1% year on year. The GOES team has used its collective professional and academic experience to undertake analysis of peer- reviewed and published data to explore the reasons for this decline and its implications for climate and humanity. In our view, this loss of marine life is directly related to the presence of toxic chemicals and plastic which started to appear with the ‘chemical revolution’ in the1950’s. There is no doubt that tiny ocean planktonic plants and animals are key to regulating our climate, but this keystone of the planet’s largest ecosystem seems to be ignored as one of the tools to address climate change. Every second breath we take comes from marine photosynthesis, a process which also uses 60-90% of our carbon dioxide. Now that we have lost 50% of a key climate regulator, surely it is time to stop, take a fresh look at ocean chemistry and biodiversity and ask ourselves some fundamental questions: Why have we lost this level of marine life? Why is the decline continuing? What does this mean for our climate and humanity? Of particular concern from a climate change perspective is the level of carbonic acid in the oceans. This carbonic acid is created when atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves into the oceans. In the 1940’s, ocean pH was 8.2, but in 2020, pH had dropped to 8.04, indicating that the oceans are becoming more acidic. If there are not enough plants to use up carbon, the unused carbonic acid moves the pH downwards. Reports from respected institutes around the globe flag an acceleration of the ocean acidification process. This decline will result in the loss of more marine plants and animals, especially those that have carbonate shells and body structures (aragonite) based. These same reports forecast that in 25 years (by 2045), pH will drop to 7.95, and estimate that with this, 80% to 90% of all remaining marine life will be lost. The GOES team’s opinion is that this is a tipping point: a planetary boundary which must not be exceeded if humanity is to survive. No ecosystem can survive a 90% loss; the result is a trophic cascade collapse. We will lose all the corals, whales, seals, birds, fish and food supply for 2 billion people – an outcome worse than climate change. Let’s be clear: If by some miracle the world achieves net zero by 2045, evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) BIOACID report [1] demonstrates that this reduction will not be enough to stop a drop in ocean pH to 7.95. If the level of marine life (both plant and animal) is reduced, then the oceans’ ability to lockout carbon into the abyss is depleted. It is clear to the GOES team that if we only pursue carbon mitigation strategies and don’t do more to regenerate plant and animal life in oceans, we will reach a tipping point: a planetary boundary from which there will be no return, because all life on Earth depends upon the largest ecosystem on the planet. Humanity will suffer terribly from global warming, but it must be understood that the oceans are already showing signs of instability today at pH 8.04, (the start of the tipping point) and in 25 years when the pH has dropped to pH 7.95 represents the end point, the point of no return.

Experiment and Quantification of Weight: Late-Renaissance and Early Modern Medical, Mineralogical and Chemical Discussions on the Weights of Metals

Abstract This paper explores how a set of observations on the weight of lead were interpreted and assessed between the 1540s and the 1630s across three different interconnecting disciplines: medicine, mineralogy and chemistry. The epistemic import of these discussions will be demonstrated by showing: 1) the changing role and articulation of experience and quantification in the investigation of metals; and 2) the notions associated with weight in different disciplinary frameworks. In medicine and mineralogy, weight was not considered as a specific subject of inquiry in itself, but as a “sign” indicating other relevant properties of metals. In contrast, the chemistry tradition was increasingly concerned with the specific investigation of weight as a property of matter, as seen in the debates that took place in the “chemical revolution.” In addition, this study will reveal the versatility, polysemy, and parallel purposes of the recourse to experiential knowledge in different contexts, where the same “facts” operate within different disciplines.

New Opportunities for Functional Materials from Metal Phosphonates

Hybrid functional materials and their derivatives are propelling a technological revolution in chemistry, materials science, and other disciplines. The performance of hybrid materials touches many ...

A REVIEW ARTICLE ON: GREEN CHEMISTRY

The GC i.e Green chemistry revolution is the revolution that delivers a huge number of complications and challenges to those that are practicing chemistry in industries also in education and research. The start of green chemistry is taken into account as a response to the necessity to scale back the damage of environment by man – made materials and therefore the process wont to produce them. Green chemistry could include anything from reducing waste to even removing waste in correct manner. All chemical waste should be disposed of within the absolute best manner without causing any damage to the environment and to the living beings. Green chemistry which is that the latest and one among the foremost researched topics now days has been in demand since 1990’s. Majority of research in green chemistry aims to scale back the energy consumption required for the assembly of desired product whether it's going to be any drug, dyes and other chemical compounds. It aims to scale back or maybe eliminates the assembly of any harmful bi-products and maximizing the specified product without compromising with the environment.
 Keywords: Enormous problems, disposing of waste, energy, Eliminates etc.

From Explanation to Understanding: Normativity Lost?

In recent years, scientific understanding has become a focus of attention in philosophy of science. Since understanding is typically associated with the pragmatic and psychological dimensions of explanation, shifting the focus from explanation to understanding may induce a shift from accounts that embody normative ideals to accounts that provide accurate descriptions of scientific practice. Not surprisingly, many ‘friends of understanding’ sympathize with a naturalistic approach to the philosophy of science. However, this raises the question of whether the proposed theories of understanding can still have normative power. In this paper I address this question by examining two theories of scientific understanding: Jan Faye’s pragmatic-rhetorical theory and my own contextual theory of scientific understanding. I argue that both theories leave room for normativity, despite their naturalistic tendencies. The normative power of my contextual theory is illustrated with a case study of the chemical revolution.

Elements and (first) principles in chemistry

The first principle of chemical composition is that elements are actually present in their compounds. It is a golden thread running through the history of compositional thinking in chemistry since before the chemical revolution. Opposed to this principle, which I call Actually Present Elements (APE), is the idea that elements are merely potentially present in their compounds: although not actually present, it is possible to recover them. In this paper I follow that golden thread, and then discuss the status of APE itself: is it true? What arguments were there for it, and when? I argue that APE is a metaphysical principle, albeit at a lower level of generality and abstraction than the term ‘metaphysical’ usually suggests. I critically examine a range of different views on how metaphysical principles might be involved in research programmes in empirical science, and conclude by endorsing Elie Zahar’s view that metaphysical principles such as APE are to be found at the very heart of science. Moreover, they can be recipients of empirical support just like other parts of scientific theory.

IUPAC Engagement in the Instrumental Revolution

Abstract In the second half of the Twentieth Century, the chemical and molecular sciences experienced a deep transformation with regard to the types of research instruments used, and the associated methods involved. Historians have coined this development the Instrumental Revolution, and even described it as the Second Chemical Revolution [1]. With the latter notion, they referred to the First Chemical Revolution of the late eighteenth century, when Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and his allies transformed chemistry’s theoretical framework along with its nomenclature, creating modern chemistry. The “second” chemical revolution of the twentieth century had an equally deep impact on chemistry’s theoretical base, linking chemistry to quantum physics, and expanding its range into the life sciences and technologies, the material sciences, and engineering. However, the related changes in terminology and nomenclature have largely escaped the historian’s attention, and this might explain why IUPAC’s role in the Instrumental Revolution has not been investigated in any detail. In the following, I will first briefly describe the Instrumental Revolution, and its main impact on chemistry and related fields, before sketching IUPAC’s role in facilitating and enhancing it [2].

Ionic liquids and protein folding-old tricks for new solvents.

One important aspect of the green chemistry revolution has been the use of ionic liquids as the solvent in liquid-phase enzymatic catalysis. An essential requirement for protein enzyme function is the correct folding of the polypeptide chain into its functional "native" state. Quantitative assessment of protein structure may be carried out either empirically, or by using model-based characterization procedures, in which the parameters are defined in terms of a standard reference state. In this short note, we briefly outline the nature of the parameters associated with different empirical and model-based characterization procedures and point out factors which affect their interpretation when using a base solvent different from water. This review principally describes arguments developed by Wakayama et al., Protein Solubility and Amorphous Aggregation: From Academic Research to Applications in Drug Discovery and Bioindustry, 2019, edited by Y. Kuroda and F. Arisaka; CMC Publishing House. Sections of that work are translated from the original Japanese and republished here with the full permission of CMC Publishing Corporation.

From Water to H2O: Using the Human Dimension of Science To Teach the Nature of Science

The long and complex history to define the composition of water as H2O is summarized. This case study could be useful not only to introduce the history of chemistry in the classroom but also to teach the basic tenets of the nature of science (NOS). Water has been present in several turning points in the history of chemistry such as the first steps of pneumatic chemistry, the chemical revolution, the beginning of the atomic theory, early electrochemistry, and the theory of ionic dissociation. The human dimension of science has been chosen as one of the numerous possibilities offered by the water case study to teach NOS. For this purpose, topics involved in the history of water such as Van Helmont’s “tree experiment”, the “water controversy”, the revival of Avogadro’s hypothesis by Cannizaro, some scientific highlights of Arrhenius and Laurent, and the identification of oxygen are analyzed.

A Dynamic Chemical Network for Cystinuria Diagnosis

AbstractThe study of molecular networks represents a conceptual revolution in chemistry. Building on previous knowledge and after understanding the rules of non‐covalent interactions, the design of stimulus‐responsive chemical systems is possible. Herein we report a new strategy, based on the reorganization of a dynamic chemical network that generates new fluorescent associations in the presence of cysteine or cystine. The binding and sensing units are encoded in the components that dynamically assemble and disassemble responding to external stimuli as a successful tool to detect both cysteine and cystine in aqueous media. Moreover, the dynamic sensing system works in human urine, as a prospective application for cystinuria diagnosis.

A Dynamic Chemical Network for Cystinuria Diagnosis.

The study of molecular networks represents a conceptual revolution in chemistry. Building on previous knowledge and after understanding the rules of non-covalent interactions, the design of stimulus-responsive chemical systems is possible. Herein we report a new strategy, based on the reorganization of a dynamic chemical network that generates new fluorescent associations in the presence of cysteine or cystine. The binding and sensing units are encoded in the components that dynamically assemble and disassemble responding to external stimuli as a successful tool to detect both cysteine and cystine in aqueous media. Moreover, the dynamic sensing system works in human urine, as a prospective application for cystinuria diagnosis.

About continuity and rupture in the history of chemistry: the fourth chemical revolution (1945–1966)

A layered interpretation of the history of chemistry is discussed through chemical revolutions. A chemical revolution (or rupture, discontinuity, transition) mainly by emplacement, instead of replacement, procedures were identified by: a radical reinterpretation of existing thought recognized by contemporaries themselves, which means the appearance of new concepts and the arrival of new theories; the use of new instruments changed the way in which its practitioners looked and worked in the world and through exemplars, new entities were discovered or incorporated; the opening of new subdisciplines, which produced, separated scientific communities. The fourth chemical revolution, fundamentally characterized by the incorporation of new instruments in chemical practices is discussed.

Transgenerational effects of polychlorinated biphenyls: 1. Development and physiology across 3 generations of rats

BackgroundPolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic environmental contaminants and known endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Previous studies demonstrated that developmental exposure to the weakly estrogenic PCB mixture Aroclor 1221 (A1221) in Sprague-Dawley rats altered sexual development, adult reproductive physiology and body weight. The current study tested the hypothesis that prenatal A1221 exposure not only disrupts these endpoints within an exposed individual’s (F1 generation) lifespan, but may also affect subsequent generations (F2-F3).MethodsWe treated pregnant female rats on embryonic days (E) 16 and E18 with A1221 (1 mg/kg), estradiol benzoate (50 μg/kg, positive estrogenic control), or vehicle (3% DMSO in sesame oil, negative control). Endpoints related to sexually dimorphic developmental trajectories of reproductive and developmental physiology were measured, and as adults, reproductive endocrine status was assessed, in the F1, F2, and F3 generations.ResultsSignificant effects of transgenerational EDCs were found for body weight and serum hormones. The A1221 descendants had significantly higher body weight in the F2-maternal lineage throughout postnatal development, and in F3-maternal lineage animals after weaning. In females, generation- and lineage-specific effects of exposure were found for serum progesterone and estradiol. Specifically, serum progesterone concentrations were lower in F2-A1221 females, and higher in F3-A1221 females, compared to their respective F2- and F3-vehicle counterparts. Serum estradiol concentrations were higher in F3-A1221 than F3-vehicle females. Reproductive and adrenal organ weights, birth outcomes, sex ratio, and estrous cycles, were unaffected. It is notable that effects of A1221 were only sometimes mirrored by the estrogenic control, EB, indicating that the mechanism of action of A1221 was likely via non-estrogenic pathways.ConclusionsPCBs caused body weight and hormonal effects in rats that were not observed in the directly exposed F1 offspring, but emerged in F2 and F3 generations. Furthermore, most effects were in the maternal lineage; this may relate to the timing of exposure of the F1 fetuses at E16 and 18, when germline (the future F2 generation) epigenetic changes diverge in the sexes. These results showing transgenerational effects of EDCs have implications for humans, as we are now in the 3rd generation since the Chemical Revolution of the mid-twentieth century, and even banned chemicals such as PCBs have a persistent imprint on the health of our descendants.

A Chemical Revolution as Seen from below: The ‘Discovery’ of Neuroleptics in 1950s Paris

A Chemical Revolution as Seen from below: The ‘Discovery’ of Neuroleptics in 1950s Paris

The Méthode de nomenclature chimique (1787): A Document of Transition

The Méthode de nomenclature chimique, published by the Académie Royale des Sciences in 1787, is rightly praised as a landmark in the history of early modern chemistry. It is also – though less rightly – considered to be a fruit of Lavoisier’s Chemical Revolution. In fact, main features of the Méthode’s nomenclatural and classificatory proposal rest on fundamental chemical conceptions that were shared by adherents of the phlogistic chemical system as well. After a short presentation of the Méthode’s four authors (Berthollet, Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau, and Lavoisier) and the circumstances of their collaboration, my paper will focus on those features of the Méthode that illuminate decisive achievements of the entire community of eighteenth-century chemists, as well as those features that reveal an unsettled state of many of its convictions.

Tracing the development of psychosocial rehabilitation from its origin to the current with emphasis on the Indian context.

Mental illness and mental health are concepts that have existed from time immemorial. In India, the Atharvaveda and Vedic texts and traditional medical systems such as Siddha, Unani, and Ayurveda have described mental health and disorders, in detail. The advent of the mental hospital brought in the ‘chemical revolution’ in psychiatric management. The early nineties witnessed the birth of psychiatric rehabilitation in India. These developments saw a shift from a biological to a biopsychosocial model. It embraced the individual, family, community and society into the treatment process. The present rehabilitation process is geared towards providing quality of life, community living, accessible and suitable care.

Nanotechnology and Nanoscience: A Blueprint for Chemistry Revolution

Nanotechnology and Nanoscience: A Blueprint for Chemistry Revolution

The fifth chemical revolution: 1973–1999

A new chronology is introduced to address the history of chemistry, with educational purposes, particularly for the end of the twentieth century and here identified as the fifth chemical revolution. Each revolution are considered in terms of the Kuhnian notion of ‘exemplar,’ rather than ‘paradigm.’ This approach enables the incorporation of instruments, as well as concepts and the rise of new subdisciplines into the revolutionary process and provides a more adequate representation of such periods of development and consolidation. The fifth revolution developed from 1973 to 1999 and is characterized by a deep transformation in the very heart of chemistry. That is to say, the size and type of objects (substances), the way in which they must be done and the time in which they are transformed. In one way or another, chemistry’ limits had been set out.