Presentation of the Chemistry Department

At present, the Chemistry Department of the Science School of the University of Porto is located in a building with excellent conditions for teaching and research.

Chemistry, apart from being intimately connected with life, is at the basis of technologic innovations and progress in multiple areas. The great problems of our time (environmental pollution, scarceness of resources, new diseases) stimulate growing research in Chemistry or in areas where Chemistry plays a determinant role (raw material and product quality control; production of new materials; discovery of new medicines; conservation and preservation of food; energy resources; science and environmental technologies; new technologies; etc.).

The research activity developed by the teachers and cooperators of the Chemistry Department and integrated mainly in excellence centers, covers a great diversity of themes from Chemistry areas and has led to a high and increasing number of scientific publications in international magazines, which constituted a very meaningful part of the whole of scientific publications in the country, in 2006:

• University of Porto: about 20% of the total of scientific publications in the country;
• Science School: around 25% of the publications in the UP;
• Chemistry Department: about 32 % of the total of scientific publications in the Science School of the University of Porto.

It is, at this international high-level research context that we find the teaching of several Degree and Masters courses, all these being adequate to the Bologna process (school year 2007/2008), in which the Department participates as responsible or co-responsible. It is also relevant to highlight the diversity of Chemistry Doctorate projects offered by the Department that has attracted a growing number of students, both national and foreign.