Radicals, Reactions, Realism

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science book series (BSPS, volume 306)

Abstract

Since Lavoisier, the notion of radical has been used – and is still being used – in chemistry. It first was assigned to the assumed “acidic” core of acids, later to certain assumed fragments of substances or molecules (some of which became “functional groups”), and today – after the introduction of electronic configurations and quantum chemistry – every chemical entity with unpaired electrons is called a radical. Most radicals (in the modern sense) are unstable and at best intermediate chemical species but no proper substances at all. However, in the historical archives of organic chemistry Moses Gomberg is described as the very first researcher who (in 1900) synthesized a stable radical, namely triphenylmethyl. Although (or just because) this in fact was not really true, the episode of that synthesis is an interesting target to investigate in order to draw lessons from it regarding the history and philosophy of chemistry, particularly the understanding of chemical substances. This study delivers an attempt to clarify the epistemological status of the radical concept during the “synthetic period” at the beginning of the twentieth century, the related existence claims, and the specific role of the applied experimentation.

Keywords

Chemical species Stuff Realism experimentation 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Parts of this study were presented at different international meetings on the history and philosophy of chemistry in Coburg, Berlin, Philadelphia, and Uppsala over the last few years. I gratefully acknowledge invitations to Berlin (Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science) and Philadelphia (Chemical Heritage Foundation) and all pertinent comments, particularly those of Carsten Reinhardt (Philadelphia) and Ursula Klein (Berlin). Special thanks go to Jaap van Brakel (Leuven) for his comments on an earlier version of the present text. I am very grateful to Barney Craven (Coburg) for amending grammar and style of the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Faculty of Science and Centre for Science and CultureCoburg University of Applied Sciences and ArtsCoburgGermany

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