[Basbousa]

Hello.

Firstoff, I see no General Chemistry board, so while this is not strictly organic chemistry, I placed this post here as this is the most populous of the fields of chemistry. Relocation to the correct board will be welcomed.

Ask any physicist who has accomplished anything noteworthy as to what the greatest unanswered questions are in physics, and you will get the same set of answers every time. Grand Unification, does the Higgs Boson exist? (recently answered, I know) etc. etc.

Thusfar, neither the chemists I know nor from my fellow chemical engineers have been able to furnish me with a coherent answer when asked a similar question concerning the field of chemistry.

So, to all the professional chemists, chemical engineers and all others with insight who populate this forum, what are the five greatest, unanswered questions in the field of chemistry?

[Rutherford]

Here are some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_chemistry.

[curiouscat]

Among synthetic challenges are there any molecules that people have been trying to make since long yet failed?

[Big-Daddy]

Hello.

Firstoff, I see no General Chemistry board, so while this is not strictly organic chemistry, I placed this post here as this is the most populous of the fields of chemistry. Relocation to the correct board will be welcomed.

Ask any physicist who has accomplished anything noteworthy as to what the greatest unanswered questions are in physics, and you will get the same set of answers every time. Grand Unification, does the Higgs Boson exist? (recently answered, I know) etc. etc.

Thusfar, neither the chemists I know nor from my fellow chemical engineers have been able to furnish me with a coherent answer when asked a similar question concerning the field of chemistry.

So, to all the professional chemists, chemical engineers and all others with insight who populate this forum, what are the five greatest, unanswered questions in the field of chemistry?

You say you're looking for professional chemists specifically ... so why then would you post in the undergraduate forum for first-years?

[Basbousa]

Hello.

Firstoff, I see no General Chemistry board, so while this is not strictly organic chemistry, I placed this post here as this is the most populous of the fields of chemistry. Relocation to the correct board will be welcomed.

Ask any physicist who has accomplished anything noteworthy as to what the greatest unanswered questions are in physics, and you will get the same set of answers every time. Grand Unification, does the Higgs Boson exist? (recently answered, I know) etc. etc.

Thusfar, neither the chemists I know nor from my fellow chemical engineers have been able to furnish me with a coherent answer when asked a similar question concerning the field of chemistry.

So, to all the professional chemists, chemical engineers and all others with insight who populate this forum, what are the five greatest, unanswered questions in the field of chemistry?

You say you're looking for professional chemists specifically ... so why then would you post in the undergraduate forum for first-years?

The friendly neigbourhood moderator moved it.

[Borek]

Yes, I have moved it. It was originally in the graduate organic chemistry, which has a lower number of readers than the general chemistry. Here it will get better exposition.

There is no such thing as "graduate" or "professional" general chemistry - above some level it gets too specialized to be still called "general", and it becomes physical, inorganic, organic, quantum and so on...

[Babcock_Hall]

Here are some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_chemistry.

The ones listed for biochemistry are quite reasonable.  I might be tempted to add one or more questions about the role of entropy vs. enthalpy in the rate acceleration brought about by enzymes.  When I was in graduate school, the prevailing opinion seemed to be that enzymatic acceleration was primarily brought about by the Circe effect, sometimes associated with the work of Page and Jencks (although many other workers made important contributions).  However, I have seen some papers since that time that suggested that enzymatic acceleration had more to do with enthalpic effects.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470122884.ch4/summary
http://web.chem.ucsb.edu/~tcb_group/tcb_pdf/497.pdf