Chemical Engineering News traditional

Production data are compiled annually by the American Chemical Society and published in Chemical and Engineering News. This table is based on the information about production in 2005 that was published in the July 10, 2006, issue. Water, sodium chloride, and steel traditionally are not included and would outrank the rest if they were. Hydrogen is heavily used but almost always on site as soon as it has been prepared. 

The first concerns mixtures with a composition not equal to 50 50. The term nonracemic appears particularly apt as it is short and does not require an explicit definition. In view of the availability of this self-explanatory term, it is hard to understand why the vocabulary of stereochemistry should be burdened with new terms such as aracemic or scalemic, these terms being the subject of an extensive discussion in letters to the editor of Chemical and Engineering News during the period September 1990 to August 1991. Although probably not necessary these days, it should be pointed out that the traditional term optically active is not appropriate here. 

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