This is a list of unsolved problems in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

. 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?

Organic chemistry problems

* What is the origin of homochirality in biomolecules? * Why are accelerated

kinetics Kinetics ( grc, κίνησις, , kinesis, ''movement'' or ''to move'') may refer to: Science and medicine * Kinetics (physics), the study of motion and its causes ** Rigid body kinetics, the study of the motion of rigid bodies * Chemical ki ...

observed for some organic reactions at the water-organic interface? * Do replacement reactions of aryl

diazonium salts Diazonium compounds or diazonium salts are a group of organic compounds sharing a common functional group where R can be any organic group, such as an alkyl or an aryl, and X is an inorganic or organic anion, such as a halide. General properti ...

(dediazotizations) predominantly undergo

SN1 The SN1 reaction is a substitution reaction in organic chemistry, the name of which refers to the Hughes-Ingold symbol of the mechanism. "SN" stands for "nucleophilic substitution", and the "1" says that the rate-determining step is unimolecular. ...

or a radical mechanism?

Inorganic chemistry problems

* Are there any molecules that certainly contain a

phi bond In chemistry, phi bonds (φ bonds) are covalent chemical bonds, where six lobes of one involved atomic orbital overlap six lobes of the other involved atomic orbital. This overlap leads to the formation of a bonding molecular orbital with three n ...

Biochemistry problems

* Enzyme kinetics: Why do some

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

s exhibit faster-than-diffusion kinetics? *

Protein folding Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein chain is translated to its native three-dimensional structure, typically a "folded" conformation by which the protein becomes biologically functional. Via an expeditious and reproduci ...

problem: Is it possible to predict the secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure of a

polypeptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

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 DeepMind Technologies is a British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and research laboratory founded in 2010. DeepMind was List of mergers and acquisitions by Google, acquired by Google in 2014 and became a wholly owned subsid ...

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 essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

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 is a multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed process where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. In biosynthesis, simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined to form macromolecules. ...

: 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 List of unsolved problems may refer to several notable conjectures or open problems in various academic fields: Natural sciences, engineering and medicine * Unsolved problems in astronomy * Unsolved problems in biology * Unsolved problems in c ...

Scientific problems