A growing industry that could use some chemistry

摘要

Chemists are often confused by the common usage of terms such as 'chemical free' and 'organic'. For example, when my shampoo bottle is labelled as 'chemical free', I often wonder if it is a miraculous bottle housing a perfect vacuum. Similarly, the adjective 'organic' in organic agriculture does not mean that a farmer can use any matter with carbon atoms as a chemist might presuppose. The term 'organic' is ironically used, among other things, to denote the absence of certain organic molecules such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The molecules that are not used in organic agriculture also happen to represent some of the greatest innovations in chemistry, including the Haber process for the production of ammonia, which allowed the development of modern fertilisers, Gerhard Schrader's invention of organophosphates as insecticides, John Franz's synthesis of glyphosate, and many others.