Chemical symbolism provides the linguistic representations for experimental research. It is based on an empirical set of formal (syntactic) rules that allows operations on formulas and reaction equations. The semantic interpretation of formulas and reaction equations links these operations to experimental analysis and synthesis. These syntactic and semantic aspects of chemical symbolism guide as well as limit chemical research. A better understanding of these aspects of chemical language allows chemists to rationalize novel approaches to chemical research (e.g. combinatorial chemistry) and (...) possibly exploit the vast area of 'surprise discoveries'. (shrink)