The story of chemical control in the twentieth century boils down to a single paradox: the more “innovative” chemists have proven to be in manufacturing and manipulating matter, the more unpredictable their chemistries became. Standard histories of chemistry recount the evolution of tools—physical and conceptual—that allowed chemists (broadly speaking) to continue an uninterrupted progression in their abilities to control matter at the molecular level leading from early efforts to mix, combine, and purify the elements of nature and leading to the eventual synthesis of wholly new materials previously unknown or seemingly impossible.¹ Our world is now largely a