The Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INEOS) was founded in 1954. The credit of its creation is largely due to a prominent scientist the President of Academy of Sciences academician A.N.Nesmeyanov (1899-1980), who has founded the modern chemistry of organoelement compounds. He headed the Institute for 26 years. His successors as the Director of the Institute were academician A.V.Fokin, who was leading INEOS in 1980-1988, and academician M.E.Vol'pin, who was leading INEOS in 1989-1996. From 1996 Prof. Yu.N.Bubnov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences took charge of the Institute.

At present INEOS is a research center with 804 employees including 617 researchers, among them 80 Professors (D.Sc.) and 286 Ph.D. researchers

At the very beginning of the INEOS activity it was implied that synthetic work in organoelement and macromolecular chemistry must be combined with the necessity of relevant theoretical and physical investigations, and therefore many laboratories at INEOS are carrying out their research at the junction of several branches in chemistry and physics. This determines "the points of growth" which lead to a progress in modern science and technology as A.N.Nesmeyanov used to say figuratively. Apart of traditional, already proved by time, scientific disciplines (where the organoelement chemistry itself belongs to), valuable experience accumulated during these years has given rise to a series of new scientific fields which are characterized by a unique combination of the organic, organoelement, coordination, physical chemistry and chemistry of the macromolecular and natural biologically active substances.

Thus at the junction of the organic, organometallic and the coordination chemistry a new branch in chemistry has been appeared, namely the chemistry of the organic derivatives of the transition metals, p-complexes and clusters. The unique properties of these new compounds made it possible to develop new metal complex catalysts, including those for activation of molecular nitrogen, carbon dioxide, alkanes etc. Combination of organic and organoelement chemistry with the experimental and theoretical methods of physical chemistry created relevant studies in reactivity, structural chemistry and molecular dynamics of organoelement compounds.

The natural link between organophosphorus chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology made it possible to unlock the secrets of the mechanisms responsible for the action of organophosphorus compounds upon biological structures and living organisms. Significant progress has been also made in the field of new tumor-selective anticancer preparations and physiologically active organofluorine compounds.

The works at the junction of the organic and inorganic chemistry, studies of the processes of the polymer formation as well as structure-property relations, brought about the chemistry of polymers with organoelement and inorganic molecular chains and opened the ways to novel classes of linear and network polymers. On the base of these polymers the materials with valuable thermal, catalytic, sorptional and electrophysical properties, engineering plastics, thermostable composites and adhesives, membranes and polymers for electronics and medicine have been elaborated.

At present, INEOS includes 38 laboratories and 25 research teams. The results of scientific research carried out at the Institute since 1995 are summarized in about 2000 scientific papers and 12 monographs. For the past five years, mutually beneficial contacts have been established with more than 150 Universities, Institutes and Industrial Centers in the Russia and abroad.

• A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, USSR Academy of Sciences