Introduction

   From the period of Alchemy in the Medieval Age, mankind has made every effort to produce new chemical compounds by the chemical reaction between various elements. Ever since Chemistry was established as a branch of modern sciences during the 18 - 19th century, chemical industry became more and more important in the society to supply countless number of chemical substances, which are essential for the current human life.

   The fields of modern chemistry became too vast to be covered by one research group or by one research institution. The chemistry department of the National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya has four research laboratories as mentioned below.

   Analytical Chemistry Laboratory consists of two research groups; one is to study precise analytical and/or characterization technologies of the advanced materials, especially inorganic/composite materials, and the other is to study application of ion-chromatography to the acid rain monitoring which is one of the global environmental problems.
   At the Fluorine Chemistry Department, development of new organic chemicals which contains fluorine atoms by substituting hydrogen within ordinary organic compounds, has been carried out to obtain new functional materials.
   One of the activities in the Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory is the preparation of biologically active substances, particularly plant growth regulator (PRG), and its application to agriculture. And the other is the development of cultivation technique of mammalian cells and the utilization of the technology.
   The main research activities in the Excited Molecules Laboratory is to elucidate physicochemical phenomena of chemical substances by means of magnetic resonance techniques, and the preparation of new materials by utilizing the above results.

• Analytical Chemistry Laboratory

• Fluorine Chemistry Laboratory

• Bioorganic Chemistry Laboratory

• Excited-molecule Chemistry Laboratory