ABSTRACT
Modern chemistry can be traced back to the eighteenth century,
when Antoine Lavoisier, who is now recognized as the father of
modern chemistry, disproved phlogiston theory by establishing that
oxygen was the component of air that combines with substances as
they burn.1 Two centuries later, the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry,
among other fields, was awarded in 1901. Over the next 100 years,
the field of chemistry advanced to increase the understanding of
chemical processes and their contribution to modern technology. In
2005, the Nobel committee recognized metathesis, which enables
the development of synthesis reactions that are more efficient,
simpler to use, and environmentally friendlier, as a significant
achievement for the development of pharmaceuticals and lauded it
as a “great step forward for green chemistry.”2
