Resources thermodynamic considerations

The most stable end products of reactions involving the resource under consideration are chosen as reference chemical species rs in the environment (air, ocean, or earth cmst). These reference species are not in thermodynamic equilibrium, as the biosphere is not a thermodynamic equilibrium system. Reference species are assigned a specific free energy (exergy) b s due to their molar fraction in the environment by means of the formula = —RT Inz s, where the reference species are assmned to form an ideal mixture or solution. 

Evans, R. B., "Thermodynamic Availability as a Resource and a Tool for System Optimization," (1958). Appendix II of the report by Tribus, M. et al., Thermodynamic and Economic Considerations in the Preparation of Fresh Water From the Sea, Revised September, 1960. University of Calif., Department of Engineering, Los Angeles, Report No. 59-34 (1960). 

Computational assessment of the likelihoods of occurrence and the relative stabilities of polymorphs is not necessarily more effective than the experimental approach. Whilst great advances have been made in the field of ab initio crystal structure prediction (CSP), as documented in five international blind tests spanning the years 1999-2010 [5], it is still not routinely possible to predict whether a molecule is likely to be polymorphic or to confirm whether the most thermodynamically stable structure has been found experimentally, especially for molecules of the complexity of a typical drug. It is possible to compute the polymorph landscape for a specific flexible molecule, but the calculations require considerable expertise, and the timescales and computing resources can render CSP impractical for application to even a limited portfolio of candidate APIs. 

The crisis predicted from application of the laws of thermodynamics to energy and material resources is made more urgent by the aspirations of the developing world to share in the West s levels of prosperity. It is possible that the crisis could be considerably postponed if the growth in consumption, and consequent increase in material standard of living, is to be confined to a smaU, perhaps to an ever-smaUer, proportion of mankind. 

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