Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
during the 1950s and 1960s just because it included relatively expensive
instruments such as chromatographs and spectrometers. One could make
a case for the resilience of the notion of 'chemistry as craft'; supporting
evidence would be, for instance, the recourse to thin-layer, paper, or col-
umn chromatography in complement with gas or high-pressure liquid
chromatographies. The former, low-tech tools required a measure of dex-
terity and care in their use and turned out to be as important to the daily
laboratory life as the latter, high-tech methods. Accordingly, before the
Golden Sixties
15
came to an end, chemists to some extent could see
themselves with a foot in each of the two worlds, that of traditional
chemistry, basically unchanged for two or three centuries, and that of
modern chemistry, with a plethora of new and powerful physical meth-
ods at their fingertips.
16
The tension between tradition and modernity expressed itself not only
in laboratory practice, but also in the conceptualization of chemical enti-
ties, such as key intermediates in chemical reactions. The 1960s saw the
flare-up of the 'classical-nonclassical ion' controversy within physical
organic chemistry (Bartlett 1965, Weininger 2000). Its acme came in
1967 when H.C. Brown published an article in
Chemical and Engineer-
ing News
, presenting his orthodox views and criticizing the unorthodox,
non-classical proposal, first formulated by S. Winstein, using the lan-
guage of molecular-orbital theory.
The controversy failed to be resolved decisively by the end of the
1960s. However, it led to the demise of physical organic chemistry,
17
previously at the top of the totem pole in prestige (and in funding). Syn-
thetic organic chemists took advantage of the very public and extremely
acrimonious discussions to grab the lead in the pecking order among sub-
15
A representative example is that of the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill
(Bursey & Crockford 1982).
16
Physical organic chemistry, as a sub-discipline, embodied such a duality. In the hands
of leaders such as J.D. Roberts or J.A. Berson, it synthesized the molecules it needed
for physical measurements. A contemporary survey of the mechanistic role of the
physical organic philosophy is available (Hine 1960).
17
The recollections of J.A. Berson, a leader of the field, make very interesting reading
for his historical consciousness (Gortler 2001).
