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Chemical
Education International, Vol. 1, No. 1, 8-10, Published in August
31, 2000
What's the Future of Chemistry?
By John
W. Moore
Editor, Journal of Chemical
Education
Director, Institute for Chemical Education
W.
T. Lippincott Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Madison, WI 53706-1396, U.S.A
e-mail: [email protected]
Chemistry
is a mature field. A lot of chemistry is known, and a young person
considering science might well ask what the future of chemistry
is likely to be. Will there be exciting new developments? Or is
most of the chemistry already done? Will chemistry and chemists
have interesting, intellectually stimulating work to do? Or will
becoming a chemist be tantamount to becoming a drudge?
The
recent report that the initial sequencing of the human genome has
been completed represents a triumph of chemistry, genetics, and
several related disciplines. On Monday, June 26, 2000, U.S. President
Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (via video hookup)
celebrated the achievements of the many scientists whose work led
to this milestone in our progress in understanding genetics from
a molecular perspective. Present at the ceremony were J. Craig Venter,
president and chief scientific officer of Celera Genomics corporation,
Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research
Institute (sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health),
and James D. Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of the structure
of DNA.
More
than 1000 scientists from five countries (China, France, Japan,
the U.K., and the U.S.A.) participated in creating a genome map
that accounts for 85% of the genetic code. There remain gaps to
be filled, but the major work has been completed. When the two projects,
one government-sponsored and the other private, jointly publish
their results, the sequence of DNA base pairs that makes up the
human genome will appear in the scientific literature and on the
Internet.
A
signal achievement such as mapping the human genome is often viewed
as an end, leading one to consider whether there is anything more
to do. Chemists have participated in many such successes throughout
the 20th century, and we may well ask whether the heyday of chemistry
is past and the future belongs to other sciences. Is the mother
lode of chemical research and discovery played out? Should young
people avoid chemistry and choose other careers?
I
think not.
At
the end of the 19th century, many physicists thought (some of them
rather smugly) that they had discovered all of the basic laws of
nature and all that remained was a mopping-up operation--tying up
loose ends. Even before the turn of the century the discovery of
radioactivity boded ill for such opinions, and in 1900 Planck's
quantum theory started a revolution in thinking about the world
of atoms and subatomic particles that even today provides challenging
problems.
The
chemists, geneticists, and others working on the human genome project
have not assumed that they are at the end of their work--quite the
contrary. Once DNA sequences have been deciphered, it becomes productive
to ask about the structure and function of each of the proteins
coded by the DNA. A next step, then, is to clone the DNA sequences,
generate proteins, and set about the daunting task of crystallizing
the proteins and determining their structures. This involves tens
of thousands of protein structures every year. Doing this many structures
using current methods is impossible, so the success of the human
genome project is spurring efforts to develop new methods.
One
such innovation involves robotic systems that quickly and precisely
vary reagent concentrations, pH, and temperature in each of hundreds
of samples, thereby increasing the chances that a crystal will grow
in at least one sample (Chemical and Engineering News, July
3, 2000, p.27). In addition, extremely intense, highly focused x-rays
make it possible to structure information from tiny crystals as
small as 50 mm long. To achieve the savings in quantity of protein
that such small crystals make possible, a robotic system has to
be able to handle volumes on the order of 100 nL, and an important
parameter is controlling the size of droplets of solution over a
range of different viscosities. Robots are envisioned that can run
138,000 crystallization conditions per day, and a robot has already
succeeded in crystallizing 16 different proteins.
This
opens tremendous opportunities not only for those interested in
robotics and combinatorial chemistry, but also for those who will
study and analyze the relations between protein structure and function
based on the wealth of structural information that will soon become
available. The blossoming of knowledge that a collection of protein
structure/function data represents is truly mind-boggling. Studies
of protein structures and functions are becoming the basis for design
of many drugs and consequent alleviation of much human pain and
suffering, and much more remains to be done in the future.
There
are many other developments in which chemistry is important and
new chemical innovators will be needed. For example, chemical analysis
and chemical synthesis may be possible on microchips, and a number
of companies are designing microscopic, lab-on-a-chip technologies.
(See http://www.calipertech.com/tech/index.htm and http://www.hp.com/pressrel/sep99/15sep99b.htm.)
Atomic-scale circuitry, millions of times smaller than today's computer
microprocessors, may handle the computing tasks of tomorrow. Their
tiny size would minimize power consumption, maximize speed, and
permit nanoprocessors to be installed in a much broader range of
everyday objects. (See http://www.almaden.ibm.com/almaden/media/image_mirage.html
and http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/techforecast.html.)
Carbon nanotubes, an outgrowth of the discovery of the carbon allotrope
buckminsterfullerene, also show promise for incorporation into electronic
devices on a Lilliputian scale. (See http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/021798molecule.html.)
In the field of nanotechnology, there are many more discoveries
waiting for the right young scientist to make them. A worldwide
report on this area is available on the Internet at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/
NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Worldwide.Study/toc.html.
The
potential for new discoveries and for young scientists in chemistry
has never been greater. For more details on the current status of
chemistry research and what is in store for the future, I recommend
that you consult the Journal of Chemical Education's Viewpoints
series of articles. These appeared in the February, March, April,
June, September, and October issues in 1998, and in the February,
March and October issues in 1999. Each Viewpoints article was written
by an expert, or a team of experts, in a particular field. These
authors provide an overview of developments in the field during
the past 50 years, and a projection of where the field will go in
the next 25 years. In addition to Viewpoints, the Journal of
Chemical Education publishes a broad range of other articles
that delineate what modern chemistry is achieving, where it is going,
and what opportunities it offers for young scientists who enter
the field.
There
is a great deal of truth in a remark attributed to George Bernard
Shaw, "Science is always wrong. It never solves a problem without
creating ten more." That's the beauty of a career in science.
For anyone with creativity, intelligence, and persistence, science
will never fail to provide new and exciting challenges--and lots
of fun!
Last
updated
29.07.04
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