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CORRESPONDENCE Automation Gives Sophistication Not Obsolescence In a recent editorial (October 1983) the effect of increasing automation on various experimental techniques such as X-ray cxrystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, and mass spectroscopy was held to lead to technical obsolescence for the expert practitioner of these techniques. The point of the editorial was that those who are solely 'technique-oriented" would do well to heed the warning that computer automation may take over most of the tasks they now do, and that the student of chemistry should be made aware of this problem. I assert these techniques are by no means obsolescent, but rather provide extremely powerful methods of studying the geometry and properties of molecules. The point is that automation provides relief from drudgery so that the questions that can be posed and answered become more sophisticated and penetrating. Formerly, it took years to solve a crystal structure. Nowadays, automation permits rapid acquisition of reliable data, and ready access to
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relatively inexpensive, powerful computation facilities generally enables rapid structure determination, although not yet in half a day. In this way, for example, a set of structures may be studied, and the results, together with those from other techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance, can be used to answer chemical questions, such as reaction mechanisms etc, So the message to the chemistry student in this computer age is that, in addition to acquiring a good command of fundamental principles and a broad understanding of chemical science, he or she should learn as much as possible about what these various techniques can do to answer chemical questions so that they can be used with wisdom and so that the most appropriate techniques are used to solve a given problem. Jenny P. Glusker
The Institute for Cancer Research Philadelphia, PA 191 11
0 1984 American Chemical Society
