Academic literature on the topic 'Polyacetylenes. Organic compounds'

There are many challenging intellectual opportunities for the research community to create new knowledge in molecular structure–property relations, and to enlarge the toolbox of product engineering, that promise to inspire and accelerate new product innovations. There is a suspicion that there are inexhaustible families of material structures waiting to be discovered and to be used. Periodically, this suspicion is confirmed by the announcement of yet another family of interesting materials. In the 1970s, the synthetic zeolites were heralded as a new class of compounds with a microstructure of pores with molecular sizes. These became very useful in making adsorbents and catalysts. This discovery also led to the invention of many other families of microporous materials. Then came the broader concept of self-assembly of material, namely of organic and inorganic compounds that organize themselves into intricate patterns, now counted within the umbrella of nanotechnology. Two of the recent Nobel Prizes in chemistry offer proof that this field of new synthesis is full of possibilities and honor. We once thought that carbon existed only in the graphite, diamond, and amorphous forms. Now we know that not only can it exist in the buckminsterfullerene form of C60, but also in many other related forms that are spherical and cylindrical tubules. The notion of an electrically conducting polymer was not seriously considered until the invention of the electrically conducting polyacetylenes by Heeger, McDiarmid, and Shirakawa. The synthesis of new material can also be divided into the twin paths of incremental synthesis of the derivatives of known structures and the wildcat synthesis of totally unrelated structures. The incremental approach is used when a material with interesting properties is discovered, and research chemists will swarm around it to make every conceivable derivative to see whether they can enlarge the menu to choose from, and to ensure that the new province is well explored. The opposite wildcat approach seeks new and exciting families of material that would not be found by adhering exclusively to known provinces. The discovery of interesting natural materials not recognized before is a continuing theme of romance.