This is a list of unsolved problems in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. Problems in chemistry are considered unsolved when an expert in the field considers it unsolved or when several experts in the field disagree about a solution to a problem.

Physical chemistry problems

* Can the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors be brought up to room temperature? * How do the spin–orbit coupling, other relativistic corrections, and inter-electron effects modify the chemistry of the trans-actinides? * Is it possible to create a practically-useful lithium–air battery?

Organic chemistry problems

* What is the origin of homochirality in biomolecules? * Why are accelerated kinetics observed for some organic reactions at the water-organic interface? * Do replacement reactions of aryl diazonium salts (dediazotizations) predominantly undergo S_N1 or a radical mechanism? * Can an

electrochemical cell An electrochemical cell is a device that either generates electrical energy from chemical reactions in a so called galvanic cell, galvanic or voltaic cell, or induces chemical reactions (electrolysis) by applying external electrical energy in an ...

reliably perform organic redox reactions? * Which "classic organic chemistry" reactions admit chiral catalysts? ** Is it possible to construct a quaternary carbon atom with arbitrary (distinguishable) substituents and stereochemistry? * Can artificial enzymes replace the need for protecting groups when modifying sensitive compounds?

Inorganic chemistry problems

* Are there any molecules that certainly contain a phi bond? * Is there a less labor- or energy-intensive technique for titanium refinement than the Kroll process? * Does

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

admit metastable allotropes under standard conditions? * Can new solvents or other techniques make direct carbon capture economical? ** Can artificial photosynthesis make any common

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work (physics), work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chem ...

s? * What is a reliable synthesis and stabilization method for catenary allotropes of

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

and

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...

Biochemistry problems

* Enzyme kinetics: Why do some

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s exhibit faster-than-diffusion kinetics? *

Protein folding Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein, after Protein biosynthesis, synthesis by a ribosome as a linear chain of Amino acid, amino acids, changes from an unstable random coil into a more ordered protein tertiary structure, t ...

problem: Is it possible to predict the secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of a polypeptide sequence based solely on the sequence and environmental information? Inverse protein-folding problem: Is it possible to design a polypeptide sequence which will adopt a given structure under certain environmental conditions? This has been achieved for several small globular proteins in recent years. In 2020, it was announced that Google's AlphaFold, a neural network based on DeepMind artificial intelligence, is capable of predicting a protein's final shape based solely on its amino-acid chain with an accuracy of around 90% on a test sample of proteins used by the team. *

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

folding problem: Is it possible to accurately predict the secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of a polyribonucleic acid sequence based on its sequence and environment? * Protein design: Is it possible to design highly active enzymes ''de novo'' for any desired reaction? *

Biosynthesis Biosynthesis, i.e., chemical synthesis occurring in biological contexts, is a term most often referring to multi-step, enzyme-Catalysis, catalyzed processes where chemical substances absorbed as nutrients (or previously converted through biosynthe ...

: Can desired molecules, natural products or otherwise, be produced in high yield through biosynthetic pathway manipulation?

References

External links

*
Unsolved Problems in Nanotechnology: Chemical Processing by Self-Assembly - Matthew Tirrell
- Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials, Materials Research Laboratory, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara o doc at link, 20 Aug 2016{{unsolved problems Unsolved problems

Scientific problems