New reactive intermediates in organic chemistry

Physical organic chemistry (POC) and reactive intermediate chemistry (RIC) belong to the core subjects of organic chemistry. During the 1990s and 2000s both had become increasingly less fashionable, and in many countries, the mass of active researchers working in POC and RIC was in danger of becoming subcritical. Consequently, in 2003, the WhitesidesReport on the status of chemistry in Great Britain pointed out shortcomings in POC. These shortcomings bore implications reaching beyond academia: in chemical industry, chemists with excellent skills in mechanistic organic chemistry are needed for many tasks, but an insufficient number were being educated. As a consequence of the Whitesides-Report, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK (EPSRC) funded two Centres for Physical Organic Chemistry, one in Cardiff, and one in Glasgow, and launched two calls for research proposals in POC.