Driven by remarkable advances in the understanding of structure and reaction mechanisms, organic synthesis will be increasingly directed to producing bioinspired and newly designed molecules. Molecular evolution on Earth over the past 3.8 billion years has produced an extraordinary library of chemical structures, unsurpassed in number, diversity and function. Each structure is a treasure-trove of information and inspiration, a molecular textbook encoded in the language of chemistry. Collectively, these molecules comprise the chemical genome of our planet, and represent a universe ripe for exploration. With modern analytical tools, each of these structural tomes can now be read, enabling an understanding of how structure relates to function. More significantly, we can now use organic synthesis not only to make copies of these molecules, but also to prepare bioinspired or designed compounds, some with functions unheard of in the natural world -compounds that will influence, if not shape, every facet of our existence.Our emerging molecular literacy is creating a revolution that will transform our world. The ability to design, create and control molecules has opened a vast frontier of research and an age of unprecedented opportunity. Scientists from every background are being drawn to this molecular frontier, creating a melting pot of disciplinary fusions and the resultant ability to address problems that transcend the boundaries of individual fields. From molecular biology to molecular computing, molecular medicine, molecular (nano) technology and even molecular gastronomy, science is becoming increasingly integrated and 'molecularized'.Chemists have been laying the foundations for this molecular revolution for the past two centuries. Before that, nature's archive was the sole or primary source of chemicals used by humans. This has now changed. Through extraordinarily innovative advances in tools, theories and methods, synthesis has provided a reliable supply of many natural compounds as well as others created by design. Indeed the question of whether a molecule from nature could be made is increasingly giving way to whether it could be made in a way that impacts on supply and science. Of increasing importance now is the question of what molecules to make. Naturally occurring molecules are produced in their ecosystems for uses other than what we seek or need. Their activities in humans are thus serendipitous and unoptimized but provide a rich source of information and inspiration. We are now on the cusp of a period in which we can use this inspiration to design molecules with superior or new functions and make them in increasingly efficient, practical and environmentally friendly ways [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] .