The journal created the model for publishing rapid communications in organic chemistry, rose to a position of pre-eminence among its readers, and has long attracted the thought leaders in the field. Also, from the start, it has been highly international in its authorship, and this has been reinforced by the successive development of regional Editorial Offices.

  Have there been specific developments in the field of chemistry that may have contributed?

The evolution of interdisciplinary fields such as bioorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and chemical biology have broadened the journal's readership, and enhanced its appeal to a widening circle of chemistry professionals.

A recent development, well illustrated in Tetrahedron Letters in recent years, is the rapid merger of organic chemistry with nanoscience, with the development, based on high level organic chemistry, of molecular motors, of special optical materials, of biomolecule mimics, etc.

  How do you envision the state of our knowledge in this particular field 10 years from now?

In organic synthesis generally, it seems obvious that more and more attention will be paid to highly selective reactions, to extremely mild, safe, and specific reactions, to molecules displaying special physical or biological properties ("intelligent" molecules), etc.

With regard to aryl halide chemistry specifically, their key features are their use in metal-catalyzed processes (particularly palladium), now enabling carbon-carbon, and more recently carbon-nitrogen and carbon-oxygen bond-making directly to aromatic systems not previously possible, and hugely increasing the facility with which complex aromatic-containing molecules can be constructed. In terms of the future for publications in the field, then with the advent of electronic publishing and the exponential increase in available scientific information, paper journals may give way to electronic subscriptions and, even more dramatically, customized (i.e. individualized) information providing and retrieval services.

  What would you like to convey to the general public about the work of Tetrahedron Letters?

Unlike some other widely read journals, Tetrahedron Letters has always tried to respond to the needs of the scientific community with a "can-do" attitude. The journal has always been innovative, for example its use of graphical abstracts has now been adopted by many other journals, and continues to evolve as the field has grown. With modern technology changing the very nature of the meaning of "publication," Tetrahedron Letters (and its companion journals within Tetrahedron Publications) is reinventing the entire process of submission, publication, and retrieval of scientific findings. We welcome both suggestions and feedback from the public, from our authors, and from our readership!

Tetrahedron Letters
Elsevier Science, Ltd., Publishers