Physical‐Organic Chemistry: A Swiss Army Knife

Abstract “Physical‐organic chemistry” is the name given to a subfield of chemistry that applies physical‐chemical techniques to problems in organic chemistry (especially problems involving reaction mechanisms). “Physical‐organic” is, however, also a short‐hand term that describes a strategy for exploratory experimental research in a wide range of fields (organic, organometallic, and biological chemistry; surface and materials science; catalysis; and others) in which the key element is the correlation of systematic changes in molecular structure with changes in properties and functions of interest (reactivity, mechanism, physical or biological characteristics). This perspective gives a personal view of the historical development, and of possible future applications, of the physical‐organic strategy.