Goal Unambiguous and Unquestionable

From ancient times, mankind was enchanted by the marvelous colors arising from the treatment of cloth with the natural dyes extracted from various animals or plants. As early as the 13th century B.C., Phoenicians knew how to manufacture indigoid dyes (Tyrian purple) from the secretions of certain Mediterranean Sea mollusks. To produce 1 gram of the dye, 10000 animals were required for a lengthy and laborious procedure. Its price was up to 10-20 times its weight in gold. 

Shortly thereafter, an inexpensive procedure for the industrial production of 1 from readily available starting materials was elaborated (Bayer, 1878). In related efforts, chemists identified another compound, alizarine 3, which was isolated from a certain species of plants Rubia tinctoria). It was used for centuries as a natural dye. Originally very expensive, it soon became an inexpensive product owing to the ease of its synthesis from the aromatic hydrocarbon anthracene, present in coal tar (Grebe and Lieberman, 1868).  

These were truly triumphal achievements and they produced a deep impression, not only on chemists, but on the general public as well. It was convincing proof of the power and promise of this rapidly blossoming and daring newborn infant, organic synthesis. 

The fascinating success of transplantation surgery is among the most spectacular achievements of modern medicine. Undoubtedly the development of ingenious surgery skills and carefully refined techniques was a necessary 

It is easy to put together a long list summarizing the achievements of organic synthesis that supply virtually every field of science and touch all aspects of our everyday life. The complexity of these syntheses, their scale (from a fraction of a milligram to a million tons) and the methods used vary tremendously. They differ as well in their ultimate significance for mankind. Whatever the targets 

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