"Your Servant the Molecule" (Monsanto slogan, 1944). During the 1940s advances in organic chemistry, the study of carbon compounds, led to the development of synthetic chemicals and a tremendous growth in the American chemical industry. Advances in the understanding of the arrangement of atoms in molecules and the nature of chemical reactions paved the way for the development of synthetics, such as saccharin and plastic, that had a wide-ranging effect on consumer products, transforming everything from fabrics to food production to home appliances. Ten chemical corporations built on the new synthetic chemistry — including Celanese and Monsanto, as well as old-line, giant chemical companies such as Du Pont, Allied Chemical, and Union Carbide — accounted for nearly 9 percent of the total assets of the top one hundred industrials in 1948, signifying the "chemicalization" of American industry.

New Synthetics.

While chemistry remained a mystery to most Americans, its applications...