Introduction

Abstract

The analysis of one of the most important materials—from both the experimental and theoretical point of view—in the history of chemistry since Boyle’s times has allowed us to systematize and reduce it to four conceptual systems: composition doctrine (approximately since 1660), structural chemistry (approximately since 1800), chemical process doctrine (after 1880) and evolutionary chemistry (approximately since 1960). Once we start to consider the nature of the substance, the following hierarchy of its material carriers can be observed: (1) atoms of chemical elements; (2) molecules of chemical compounds; (3) systems of reacting substances, including using of catalysts and (4) highly-organized catalytic systems (enzymes) as a result of evolutionary development of living substances [1].