Inorganic Chemistry
Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry involving the reactions, structures, and properties of all noncarbon-based compounds. This includes all the chemical elements in their pure and semipure states (except carbon). Some simple carbon compounds, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen cyanide, are nevertheless considered to be in the realm of inorganic chemistry.
The lines of definition are becoming increasingly blurry between inorganic chemistry and such other major areas of the science as physical chemistry, biochemistry, and even organic chemistry, due to the fields' many common interests. However, inorganic chemistry is unique in that it is the only branch of chemistry that specifically excludes the element carbon.
The modern concept of inorganic chemistry is virtually unrelated to the original sense of the word, which was strictly taken to mean "not living." Until the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists believed that all living things (animals and plants) came within the confines of organic chemistry and that all nonliving, inanimate things (rocks, water, etc.) should be examined and analyzed using inorganic chemistry. In about 1910, researchers began to understand that all things, both living and inanimate, share the same basic chemistry, whether carbon or noncarbon based.
The distinction between organic and inorganic chemistry became highly relative, and it has continued to evolve in that direction. Take, for example, the protein hemoglobin. Hemoglobin falls within the discipline of inorganic chemistry for the sole reason that it contains an iron molecule at its center. The fact that the iron is surrounded by organic molecules makes no difference in hemoglobin's designation as an inorganic protein. This phenomenon works both ways--an organic chemist might find him- or herself studying a substance composed almost entirely of inorganic molecules, just because it contains one molecule of an organic element such as carbon.
The recognized subdisciplines within the area of inorganic chemistry include (1) coordination chemistry, which studies the bonds among the atoms of inorganic compounds; (2) inorganic technology, in which scientists manufacture and manipulate inorganic chemicals for industrial purposes; (3) bioinorganic chemistry, a science that specializes in the biological functions of metal complexes in living organisms; (4) geochemistry, which concentrates on the chemistry of all geological processes and which at the new millenium was especially pertinent in environment-related fields; (5) synthetic inorganic chemistry, which deals with creating, purifying, and studying inorganic materials; (6) reaction kinetics and mechanisms, which concerns the ways and rates at which chemicals react with each other; (7) solid-state chemistry, which involves the study of the crystals used in solid-state (vacuumless) electronics; and (8) nuclear science and energy, which concentrates on the chemistry of nuclear reactions.
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