7. Molecular descriptors, structure-property relationships and formulation

The chemical engineer's task, in the most general case, is to produce a substance that optimally expresses a property of use, at the best cost price, in complete safety, and most often with a high added value in terms of innovation. He has degrees of freedom in the choice of chemical structures, on the one hand, and their association in "formulas", on the other. Whether the property of use is a color, a set of mechanical properties or a biological activity, we have seen that the most favorable case corresponds to the demonstration of a clear and quantitative physico-chemical determinism for a property of use. Viewed as an engineering technique, molecular modeling as a whole tends towards discoveries of this kind. Unfortunately, this determinism is often so complex that many years of research must be invested to achieve such a result. The economic stakes don't always justify it. Or, on the...