Abstract

In this work it is suggested to develop a theory for chemical products, that defines the bases and serves to guide and put in order the development of knowledge in the area. A nature representation of chemical products is carried out based on the simple observation that a chemical product is a system consisted of different chemical substances, and that it is manufactured for one or more purposes, in other words, it is formed by components, an organization and an environment. This representation is used to identify different kinds of chemical products design problems. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.