An attempt was made to describe essential features of the fields of chemistry that appear to be of immediate interest at the beginning of the 21st century. Attention was paid to preparation of new molecules and materials, particularly to ultrarapid processes, extensive systems, molecular machines, catalysis, asymmetric syntheses, and combinatorial chemistry. Moreover, the following subjects were briefly outlined: expansion to higher periods of the periodic system of elements, experiments with individual molecules, symmetry and the CPT theorem, experimental techniques for structure elucidation, molecular quantum mechanics and other methods of computational chemistry.