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How Should Chemists Think?

Chemists can create natural molecules by unnatural means. Or they can make beautiful structures never seen before. Which should be their grail?

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Roald Hoffmann is Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at Cornell University. He shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Kenichi Fukui. His many published works include the play Oxygen, co-written with Carl Djerassi, and several poetry collections, the most recent of which is Constants of the Motion (Dos Madres Press, 2020).

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 268 Issue 2This article was originally published with the title “How Should Chemists Think?” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 268 No. 2 (), p. 66
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0293-66