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II. Executive Summary
Pages 6-20

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From page 6... ... New Materials The next two decades will bring many changes in the materials we use, including the materials in which we are clothed, housed, and transported. Chemistry will play an increasingly vital role in this interdisciplinary field because advances will depend upon ability to tailor new substances, including polymers, to replace and outperform traditional or scarce materials. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... Biotechnologies Remarkable progress made in recent years by molecular biologists and biochemists in genetic engineering has been built upon basic chemical principles that determine the chemical structures and functional relationships between molecules and supermolecules (proteins, DNA) within biological systems. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... INTELLECTUAL FRONTIERS IN CHEMISTRY Fortunately, this is a time of intellectual ferment in chemistry deriving from our increasing ability to probe and understand the elemental steps of chemical change and, at the same time, to deal with molecular complexity. Powerful instrumental techniques are a crucial dimension. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... (See Sections III-C, V-B, V-D.) Synthesis Modern instrumental techniques greatly facilitate discovery and testing of new reaction pathways and synthetic strategies. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... Novel ionization methods extend mass spectrometry to biologic macromolecules and other nonvolatile solids. Surface analysis and electroanalytical methods are helping to clarify important aspects of catalysis. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Principal objectives are to sustain international leadership for the United States at the major fundamental frontier of chemistry control of the rates of chemical reactions and to provide the basis for U.S. competitive advantage in development of new processes, new substances, and new materials. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Principal objectives are to broaden our understanding of chemical change and to lead to new materials that will have application under extreme conditions of pressure, temperature, and exposure to specially challenging environments (e.g., fusion reactors, reentry vehicle heat shields, superconducting magnets) Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... industry has an interest in the health and direction of university-based fundamental research. Industrial progress and competitiveness also depend upon access to a reservoir of fundamental knowledge constantly replenished by university-based research and upon a stream of talented young scientists familiar with the latest chemical frontiers and instrumental techniques. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... (c) NSF should build into its shared instrumentation program a federal capital investment averaging at 80 percent of instrument cost together with maintenance and oner~t.in~ route far ~ ~ veer period after purchase. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Chemistry and the NIH Mission Progress in both medicine and chemistry now makes it possible to interpret complex biological events at the molecular level. Because of the ubiquitous role of chemistry in human health, NIH provides substantial support to chemists engaged in research at the broad interface of physiology/medicine/chemistry. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... In the longer view, our future national security, our international economic posture, and our technical manpower supply dictate DOD attention to fundamental chemical research, including that conducted at universities. Yet DOD support of fundamental research has grown very little over the last 5 years; its investment in university research does not fulfull DOD's desire to maintain our manpower pool while providing indirect influence on university research agendas toward promising chemistry areas key to our defense posture. Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... (b) Increased attention should be clirected toward special opportunities relevant to operations in space: �high energy propellants; �chemical behavior under extreme conditions; reaction kinetics and photochemistry under collision-free conditions. Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... (b) EPA should encourage fundamental chemical research to clarify reaction pathways open to molecules, atoms, and ions of environmental interest. Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... C: : : :H ,MISTRY is a central science that :responds to societal:needs. It is critical in Man's attempt to. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... When methanol and carbon monoxide meet in the gas phase, they won't even give each other the time of day. But~because of the special environment provided by that thin layer of surface atoms on the rhodium catalyst, methanol and carbon monoxide react so rapidly that 500,000 tons of commercial acetic acid are made every year this way! Read the entire page →

From page 6...

... New Materials The next two decades will bring many changes in the materials we use, including the materials in which we are clothed, housed, and transported. Chemistry will play an increasingly vital role in this interdisciplinary field because advances will depend upon ability to tailor new substances, including polymers, to replace and outperform traditional or scarce materials.

II. Executive Summary Pages 6-20

II. Executive Summary
Pages 6-20