Facing the future challenges

- Yao Jiannian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chairman of the Chinese Chemical Society, talks

Editor's Note: Chemistry plays an irreplaceable role in supporting the advancement of human science and technology and a better life. Whether it is past, present, or future, this is not the case. What kind of contribution has magic chemistry made in human daily life and social development? Chemical story tells you. What is the role of chemical energy in the face of major challenges such as energy, resources, and the environment that humans face together? Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences gave readers detailed explanations. This issue of the "International Year of Chemistry" theme: face the challenges of the future

Chemistry has made important contributions to human civilization and social development. In the 21st century, population growth, shortage of resources, and destruction of the ecological environment have become three common challenges faced by mankind. It is very certain that, in the face of challenges, chemistry will still play an irreplaceable role. Accurate synthesis is one of the coping styles that we need to explore further.

Improve the quality of life

In today's society, people's clothing, food, housing, life, health, and environment are all closely related to chemistry. The role of chemistry is reflected in all areas of human life, and it is unimaginable in a world without chemistry.

The United Nations Population Division recently released a report that the Earth’s population will reach 7 billion in the second half of this year. By 2050, the total number of Earth will reach 8 billion to 10.5 billion.

To feed more and more people, we must produce enough food. The current supply of food and vegetables is 1/3 of the contribution of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. According to the statistics of the FAO, fertilizers account for 40% to 60% of crop yield increase.

It is undeniable that the long-term heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers has caused adverse effects on the environment, bio-security and human health. How to eliminate the negative effects of chemistry to the greatest extent has become a problem that chemists cannot avoid. But this is both a chemical challenge and an opportunity for chemistry. Chemists have done a lot of research work in this area. Pesticides have been controlled by the past, high toxicity, broad spectrum, low toxicity, selective development, slow-release fertilizers, controlled release fertilizers and other new fertilizers are being applied.

If pesticides and fertilizers only help human beings to solve the problem of “fat food,” chemical synthesis drugs are to make human life healthier and longer. In the 20th century, the invention and application of a series of synthetic drugs such as penicillin, streptomycin, and sulfonamide saved the lives of countless people and announced the advent of synthetic drugs. At present, chemistry and life sciences are closely integrated and mutually promoted. With the rapid development of information technology, the chemical synthesis of drugs is more targeted and effective. This is also the general trend of drug synthesis in the future.

Leading sustainable development

The problem of energy shortage cannot be avoided. Fossil energy and biomass resources are the biggest gift from nature to human beings. However, fossil energy is ultimately a limited resource, and humanity is also facing the exhaustion of resources. This will inevitably conflict with human pursuit of advanced civilization, and the resulting global conflicts are also becoming more and more frequent.

The sustainable development of society requires people to change from relying on limited mineral reserves to finding and using sustainable and alternative resources. This is also the mission of chemical and chemists. Nowadays, many chemists around the world are working on new sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies in order to make full use of new sustainable energy sources such as solar energy, biomass energy, wind energy, and hydrogen energy.

Environmental pollution has become a global common problem. Since the 1990s, the concepts of green chemistry and sustainable chemistry have been proposed and widely accepted by chemists. The core idea is to increase the efficiency and selectivity of the reaction in the synthesis process, including the atomic economy of the reaction. Step economy and reaction accuracy requirements. Green Chemistry aims to control the generation of waste from the source of material production, reduce pollution to the environment, and meet human needs for energy, materials and water in a harmless and sustainable manner.

Accurately create a perfect future

How can chemistry take on the responsibility of social sustainable development? What long-term and effective methods are needed to solve these problems fundamentally? These issues are worth pondering. Chemistry creates and builds a whole new material world through the tailoring and reorganization of chemical bonds. But the side effects of the chemical "double-edged sword" cannot be ignored. With the development of society, people have put forward more stringent, even near-rigorous requirements on chemistry, and strive to achieve efficient, accurate, low-pollution and even zero-pollution synthesis. Today, the green concept of effective resource use, eco-friendly environment and sustainable social development has profoundly affected the development of chemistry. In the future, chemistry will only advance toward precision, and it will eventually solve the practical problems between the development of human society and the challenges it faces. The United Nations has designated 2011 as the "International Year of Chemistry," which fully demonstrates the international attention to chemical development and its determination to seek new channels for solving problems.

Accuracy requires chemical synthesis to be more precise in terms of selectivity control. The requirements of modern synthesis for chemists are no longer just to get the target molecule, but also to pay more attention to the efficiency of the reaction. American famous organic chemist Barry M. Trost proposed the concept of atomic economy in 1991, that is to make 100% of raw materials into products. This method of achieving targeted synthesis of the target compound through precise control can reduce the pollution generated by the chemical from the root.

Precision has become a trend. Since 2000, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to synthetic chemistry three times. The innovativeness of these three award-winning achievements has demonstrated efficient control and precise synthesis. In addition, the three Nobel Prize achievements have met the chemical processes originally thought impossible or difficult to occur, and these methods have played an irreplaceable role in different fields such as drugs and materials.

In addition, researchers are exploring the possibility of directly "splicing" single and single atoms into the desired product. To date, the chemical reactions achieved by this method have been limited to a few simple small molecule reactions, making it an effective tool for chemists to control chemical reactions. It still needs further development and breakthroughs.

In the future, precision chemistry will have a more extreme performance in promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature and improving the quality of life of the people.

The challenges of energy, environment, and resources have made electric vehicles, which are supported by chemical achievements, a hot spot in the development of the international automobile industry. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, the technical level of key components of China's fuel cells, power batteries, and drive motors reached the international advanced level. High-performance lithium-ion power batteries have been applied on a large scale, and the key performance of fuel cells has been significantly improved. The left picture shows the electric vehicles and charging stations on display during the “Eleventh Five-Year” National Science and Technology Achievement Exhibition held in Beijing on March 8-14.