The Chemistry of a County

Chemistry is transformative science and creates things that change the landscape. There is a profound difference between the synthesis of something new with novel properties and the mixing of constituents to produce a blend of the constituents. Chemists seek to understand how things combine (rather than blend) under different conditions and what the consequences of these combining reactions are. Chemists have investigated natural products through an analysis/synthesis cycle in which the properties and structure of a given natural product are hypothesised and this hypothesis confirmed by synthesis. An isolated compound is fragmented into its constituent parts giving the structure later confirmed by synthesis. The biogenesis of the natural compound is determined and putative intermediates are shown to be precursors of the natural product in vivo. By understanding how chemistry creates the world, it is possible to consider molecules, pathways, organisms and whole societies. The world is created by the chemistry that operates at a molecular, pathway and living systems level. While examining a system on the scale of a whole country is one option, this is complex and, like a complete living system, it is difficult to determine what is important and what is a confounder. The chemistry that underpinned a county (Norfolk) and its development as a result of a series of interlinked technological can be studied. By reviewing the growth of technology and chemistry, it is possible to build both an understanding of the importance of particular advances, their social implications and how knowledge was created by chemistry.