Chemistry plays a central role both due to its place among the natural and cognitive sciences, and due to its economic importance and ubiquitous presence in our everyday life. Since it is everywhere and everywhere, it is often forgotten and, perhaps, will soon cease to be mentioned altogether. It does not aspire to the forefront, but without it many bright achievements would not be possible: feats in the field of therapy, brave steps of astronautics, miracles of technology ... It makes a decisive contribution to humanity's needs for food and medicine, clothing and shelter, energy and raw materials, transport and communications. It supplies material for physics and industry, samples and substrates for biology and pharmacology, properties and processes for science and technology. A world without chemistry would be a world without synthetic materials, that is, without a telephone, without a computer, without a movie and without synthetic fabrics. It would be a world without aspirin, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, cosmetics, contraceptives, without paper, that is, without books and newspapers, without glue, without paint ... Let's not forget that chemistry allows art historians to get into the secrets of making paintings and sculptures that we enjoy in museums, that it allows scientific police officers to analyze particle samples from the "crime scene" and quickly get on the trail of criminals, and that it reveals the molecular subtleties of dishes that envelop our taste buds. Along with physics, which reveals the laws of the universe, and biology, which deciphers the rules of all living things, chemistry is the science of matter and its transformations. Life is its highest expression. It plays a fundamental role in our understanding of material phenomena, in our ability to influence them, change them and control them. It's been two centuries since molecular chemistry built a wide range of molecules and more and more perfect matter. From the synthesis of urea produced in 1928 (which was a real revolution because it was proved that it was possible to obtain an "organic" molecule from a mineral) to the completion in the 1970s of the synthesis of vitamin B12, this scientific discipline constantly asserted its power over the structures and transformation of matter. A molecule like a Trojan horse Beyond molecular chemistry extends the field of so-called supramolecular chemistry, which is no longer interested in what happens in molecules, but in what happens between them. Its goal is to understand and control the process of interaction of molecules with each other, their mutual transformation, cohesion in a certain order. Emil Fischer, winner of the 1902 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, used the image of a key and a keyhole. Today we're talking about "molecular recognition." The role of these molecular interactions is most impressive in the field of biology: protein particles combine to form hemoglobin; white bodies recognize and destroy foreign bodies; the AIDS virus finds a place to infiltrate; the genetic code is transmitted in records and through the reading of the alphabet of the protein base... Take one illustrative example of the "self-organization" of the tobacco mosaic virus: at least 2,130 simple proteins combine to form a spiral tower. The efficiency and elegance of these natural phenomena are so fascinating to the chemist that he is trying to reproduce or invent a new process for the formation of molecules capable of creating new molecular constructions with multiple applications. Why not imagine molecules capable of transferring ADN fragments to the nucleus of a chosen target, for example, for the treatment of genetic diseases? These molecules could become a Trojan horse that would allow its rider to overcome such insurmountable obstacles as cell membranes. Many scientists around the world patiently and, I would say, "by standards" build supramolecular structures. They observe how molecules, seemingly mixed in disorder, find each other, recognize each other and then progressively bind to each other in order to eventually spontaneously, but at the same time exceptionally clearly, erect a supramolecular structure. Thus, chemists, inspired by the phenomena that nature itself demonstrates to us, had the idea to cause and then pilot the emergence of supramolecular compounds, in other words, to simulate "molecular programming". The chemist creates the main bricks (molecules endowed with certain structural properties and the ability to interact), then applies the "cement" (connection code), designed to bind them together. Thus, it obtains a super structure through self-organization. The synthesis of molecular bricks capable of self-organization is much simpler than the synthesis of the final structure. This path of research opens up broad prospects, in particular, in the field of nanotechnology: instead of creating nanostructures, it is necessary to allow nanostructures to form themselves through self-organization, that is, it is necessary to move from production to self-production. And more recently, the so-called adaptive chemistry has appeared, when the system itself selects among the free bricks for the purpose of construction and becomes able to adapt the connection of these objects depending on the requirements of the center. This chemistry, which I myself call "dynamic constitutional chemistry", is already taking on the color of Darwin's theory! From Matter to Life In the beginning there was the "Big Bang", and physics reigned. Then, at more favorable temperatures, chemistry came. The particles formed atoms that joined together into molecules that became more and more complex; they, in turn, combined into clusters and membranes, giving birth to the first cells, from which life was born on our planet 3.8 billion years ago. From divided matter to condensed, and then organized, living and thinking... The formation of the universe under the influence of information led the evolution of matter to an increase in the number of complex compounds through self-organization. The task of chemistry is to know the ways of this self-organization and to pave the ways of transition from inert matter through pre-life, purely chemical, evolution to the embryo of life and then to living and, finally, to thinking matter. It also provides the means to learn about the past, to study the present, and to build bridges leading to the future. With its subject matter (molecule and matter), chemistry expresses its creative power and its ability to produce new molecules and matter: new ones, since they did not exist before they were created by converting the structures of atoms into new combinations and previously non-existent, infinitely diverse structures. Due to the plasticity of the forms and functions of chemical objects, chemistry is similar to art. Like the artist, the chemist reflects in matter the fruits of his imagination. Stone, sounds, words become a work of art only under the influence of a sculptor, composer or writer. In the same way, the chemist creates original molecules, new materials and hitherto unknown properties from the elements that make up matter. The essence of chemistry is not only in discovery, but also in invention and especially in creation. The Book of Chemistry should not only be read, it should be written. The musical score of Chemistry should not only be performed, it should be composed.