ORGANIC CHEMISTRY — TODD 379 



development. On the academic side natural-product chemistry has 

 been slowly changing in emphasis in recent years. Methods of anal- 

 ysis and synthesis have been brought to a high stage of perfection 

 and, partly because of this, since the midthirties interest has been turn- 

 ing slowly from molecular structure as such to the study of structure 

 in relation to function and to the mechanism of biosynthesis of 

 natural products — an area of research which has received major stim- 

 ulus from the availability of radioactive isotopes with which bio- 

 synthetic intermediates can be "labeled" and their ultimate location 

 in the final products determined. A brilliant contribution in the field 

 of biosynthesis has been the elucidation of the method used by living 

 organisms to make steroids, terpenoids, and carotenoids, the raw 

 material in every case being acetic acid. Examples of work in which 

 structure and function are related are to be found in the study of 

 chemical reactions in living systems where transfer of energy and oxi- 

 dation are simultaneously effected using organic phosphates, and on 

 the joining together of complex molecules by oxidation. These trends 

 suggest that organic chemistry is likely to move deeper into the bio- 

 logical field and that academically its main growing points are likely 

 to be in the study of the course of biochemical processes and in the 

 investigation of the natural macromolecules and their functions in the 

 cell. It seems likely, too, that theoretical organic chemistry will turn 

 also in the direction of biological processes and so make a major con- 

 tribution in the same general fields of advance. This is likely to be 

 the case not only in the study of reaction mechanisms but also in the 

 further development of dynamic stereochemistry which has sprung 

 into prominence in many important fields of research — for example, 

 in the search for new drugs related to cortisone. 



All this does not mean that the broad field which I earlier described 

 as synthetic organic chemistry is likely to wither. On the contrary, 

 since it is an essential component of progress in organic chemical 

 industry, it is likely to continue in vigorous growth searching for new 

 and more economical methods of production, and for an ever-increasing 

 array of new products each with some special property or combination 

 of properties. On the industrial side the way ahead for the pharma- 

 ceutical industry is clear but it may find itself devoting more of its 

 synthetic effort to the macromolecular substances as virus diseases 

 become an increasing preoccupation. For the rest, plastics and poly- 

 mers are likely to continue as a major growing point. Here, as indeed 

 also in general synthetic chemistry, the trend to the study of com- 

 pounds containing, in addition to carbon, other elements such as flu- 

 orine, silicon, and boron is likely to become increasingly evident. 



Already polymers based on tetrafluoroethylene are being marketed 

 and silicon-containing polymers (silicones) are well known. The 



