Event

Chemistry: A Bridge between the Molecular World and the Real World

Abstract: Molecular design does not necessarily produce the desired function. This happens all the time in chemistry, either in industry or in academia, as it originates from our lack of understanding about the size difference between molecules and things that we can pick up with our fingers. It reflects our lack of knowledge about the behavior of molecules and molecular ensembles at the boundary between the quantum mechanical and the classical mechanical worlds. Studying a single molecule is not enough to predict its function, because molecular function is the property of molecular ensembles rather than of a single molecule. This lecture will discuss the role of chemistry as it bridges the two worlds—the molecular and the real worlds.