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chemistry 4
C H E M I S T R Y
troducing special funding programmes to 4.2 Inorganic chemistry
encourage and promote research at these
institutions. The programme has met with
some success, and there has been a con-
try research had been practised at a
siderable improvement in the research
A
lthough classical inorganic chemis-
number of South African universities
outputs at some of the new universities of
for some time, the birth of so-called mod-
technology. ern inorganic chemistry in South Africa ef-
fectively took place in the early-1960s with
The Department of Science and Technol- the influx of several young postdoctoral
ogy (DST) has taken on a direct role in pro- fellows who had been trained at establish-
moting and shaping South Africa’s research ments abroad, either returning to South Af-
future by providing the funding for the In-
rica or emigrating to it. This trend continued
novation Programme, for research chairs
through the mid- to late-1960s although
at universities, and for the establishment
the numbers remained small. Because the
of centres of excellence (see Chapter 1).
global focus of inorganic chemistry at that
Chemistry has been one of the main ben-
time was on organometallic chemistry, it is
eficiaries of this source of funding.
not surprising that the expertise that these
returning postdoctoral fellows brought
Chemistry is taught and undoubtedly will
with them was in this particular area. In
continue to be taught, particularly in the
fact, organometallic chemistry would dom-
earlier undergraduate years, through the
inate the local inorganic chemistry scene
for the next 25 to 30 years. The main focus
traditional sub-disciplines of inorganic, or-
of the studies initially was on the synthesis
ganic and physical and, in many cases, ana-
of novel organometallic complexes with
lytical chemistry. Furthermore, although
characterisation being achieved by means
research in chemistry is becoming increas-
of infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance
ingly interdisciplinary, chemists still oper-
(NMR) spectroscopy; the utilisation of X-ray
ate essentially within their sub-disciplines.
crystallography for structural characterisa-
As a consequence, the state of South Afri-
tion was still in its infancy and very time-
can chemistry research is reported below
consuming.
by sub-discipline but with industry and the
statutory bodies being treated separately. It
The next generation of inorganic chemists
needs to be emphasised that this overview
likewise focused on synthetic organome-
focuses on highlights and is not intended
tallic chemistry, with many also having re-
to be comprehensive. ceived their training abroad. They played a
leading role in the development of inorga-
nic chemistry in the country. Other areas of
107
TWAS book_Chap1-6.indd 107 2009/10/06 12:03:51 PM
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