Chemistry

It is not easy to precisely define the boundary of chemical sciences (or simply chemistry), because the discipline lies along the spectrum between physics on the one hand and biology on the other. It overlaps and permeates both of these sciences to such an extent that at the interface there is in fact, no clear distinction between them. An idea about the vastness of the subject can be had from the contents pages of the Chemical Abstracts (1907), the world’s most complete guide to chemical literature published by the American Chemical Society.

Its 80 sections are arranged in five broad groupings labelled as Biochemistry (Sections 1-20), Organic Chemistry (21-34), Macromolecular Chemistry (35-46), Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (47-64), Physical, Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry (65-80). Such hybrid names as medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, agricultural chemistry, environmental chemistry, geochemistry, fuel chemistry, petroleum chemistry attest to the wide spread usefulness of chemistry and its close links with other fields of sciences and applied technology. Nevertheless, chemistry may be defined as a subject which is concerned with synthesis, prosperities and reaction of molecules (i.e., the combination of atoms) and the chemistry is the most utilitarian of all sciences which has lent its name to a major segment of the manufacturing industry called chemical industry.

Of all the sciences, it has the closest link to the world of economics and business. It is only in recent times that electronics have found their way into this regime. The application of chemistry for productive purposes has given rise to an engineering discipline called Chemical Engineering. To begin with, it was described as a branch of applied chemistry, because it looked into the special needs of large scale manufacturing of chemical products. Later, it developed into a distinct and unified discipline drawing upon the principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics and mechanical and electrical engineering discipline with roots in chemistry.