Inorganic Chemistry

If organic chemistry is defined as the chemistry of hydrocarbon compounds and their derivatives, inorganic chemistry can be described broadly as the chemistry of "every-thing else." This includes all the remaining elements in the periodic table, as well as carbon, which plays a major role in many inorganic compounds. Organometallic chemistry, a very large and rapidly growing field, bridges both areas by considering compounds containing direct metal-carbon bonds, and includes catalysis of many organic reactions. Bioinorganic chemistry bridges biochemistry and inorganic chemistry, and environmental chemistry include the study of both inorganic and organic compounds. As can be imagined, the inorganic chemistry is extremely broad, providing essentially limitless areas for investigation.