The article assumes that full development of a new chemical weapon would require more development effort. With regards to military usage: storable at room temperature, relatively easy to manufacture from commonly available precursor chemicals, etc. [1]
How true is that? Are there components of this process that make things easier now? Where I have chemical structure X, and a system generates the process steps and chemicals needed to produce X. How much of the domain in chemistry / chemical engineering has been automated these days? What are the future prospects for this?
[1] I assume one of the design goals for a new chemical weapon for military use is that it breaks down in the environment, but not too quickly (like say in a week or a month). Though I suppose if you want to just destroy civilization you would design for longevity in the environment instead. And being able to seep through many kinds of plastic if possible.
> Where I have chemical structure X, and a system generates the process steps and chemicals needed to produce X.
Undergraduate chemistry students spend a fair amount of time learning how to look at a novel structure X and by disconnecting "backwards" it into simpler components, deduce a route by which it might be synthesed "forward" in the laboratory from readily available starting materials.
There's an excellent book on this, "Organic Synthesis: The Disconnection Approach", by Stuart Warren.
Any other major topics or readings you could recommend for someone wanting a general understanding of key concepts in modern chemistry? I'd suppose generally: materials, synthesis, o-chem, and chem-eng.
My own background: began a hard-science degree. One year undergrad uni chem.
The field is called "process chemistry". A very big thing in pharma:
> Process chemists take compounds that were discovered by research chemists and turn them into commercial products. They “scale up” reactions by making larger and larger quantities, first for testing, then for commercial production. The goal of a process chemist is to develop synthetic routes that are safe, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and efficient.
How true is that? Are there components of this process that make things easier now? Where I have chemical structure X, and a system generates the process steps and chemicals needed to produce X. How much of the domain in chemistry / chemical engineering has been automated these days? What are the future prospects for this?
[1] I assume one of the design goals for a new chemical weapon for military use is that it breaks down in the environment, but not too quickly (like say in a week or a month). Though I suppose if you want to just destroy civilization you would design for longevity in the environment instead. And being able to seep through many kinds of plastic if possible.