From molecular to supramolecular chemistry : Science, art and industry

In his wide ranging, interdisciplinary review, the author takes chemistry and fuses together its knowledge, its action and its art. Stressing the socio-economic centrality of chemical industry to modern life, he gives as examples olf the power acquired by chemistry, the classical organic chemical syntheses of urea and vitamin B12 and continues with the famous lock-and-key concept of the action of enzymes which is extended to the design of artificial chemical species. Turning from this concept to that of receptor and substrate, he describes the supermolecule and the chemistry of the intermolecular bond, leading to hollow molecules and their cavities, so significant in the strategy of molecular recognition. This allows for recognition of a sphere or a tetrahedron which is here illustrated, as well as transpod functions and catalysis in relation to supermolecules. Synthetic chemical systems, imitating biological systems, are described and their future importance underlined. The role of chemistry in the resolution of the great problem!. that face mankind, such as energy, raw materials, health and quality of life are stressed again, and the review ends with a dissertation on the aesthetics of chemistry, drawing relevant examples from modern art. © 1985 J W Arrowsmith Ltd.