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An overview of different aspects related to Materials and Nanomaterials Chemistry is presented and discussed. The insertion of this field in Brazil is evaluated on the basis of the communications presented on the 30th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ). The importance of the Materials Chemistry Division of SBQ for the growth and consolidation of Materials Chemistry in Brazil is also discussed.

Communications on Chemistry of Materials topics were already presented in the first annual meetings of the Brazilian Chemical Society, dispersed throughout various meeting sections. The SBQ Materials Chemistry division was organized in 1993, attracting those members with an interest in the composition, structure and properties of materials, as related to their functions. This paper is an account of the development of Materials Chemistry research in Brazil, based on the SBQ annual meetings data.

The recent evolution of chemical research in Brazil is analyzed. Progress has been substantial according to principal indicators. The contributions of the Brazilian Chemical Society are pointed out.

An analysis of the different activities carried out during the first twenty annual meetings (1978-1997) of the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) is presented. The number of papers in the abstract book increased from around 300 in the biennium 78/79 to around 1230 in 96/97. The papers contained in the different sections of the abstract book in the 1st (1978), 10th (1987) and 19th (1996) annual meetings were grouped according to the regions of Brazil the authors' institutions were from, or abroad, and also considering whether the paper came from one institution or was a collaboration between two or more institutions. The relative contribution of the southeastern and northern regions decreased from 77% and 3.0% of the total in 1978 to 63% and 1.2% in 1996, respectively, while those of the northeastern, southern and midwestern regions increased from 12%, 4.8% and 0.6% to 15%, 13%, and 2.6%, respectively; the relative contribution of institutions from abroad also increased from 2.4% to 4.0%. Chemistry of Natural Products and Organic Chemistry decreased their relative contribution from around 55% in 1978 to around 28% in 1996, an evolution towards a more balanced development of the different areas of chemistry in Brazil.

A brief overview of the 20 years of Química Nova, a journal published by the Sociedade Brasileira de Química, is presented.

An overview of the achivements in the field of the total synthesis of natural products in Brazil in the last 40 years is presented. These contributions are described on different classes of natural products since the birth of Brazilian Chemical Society in 1977. It was intended to create a brief review showing the evolution and current state of the art of Organic Chemistry in Brazil, registering growth and maturity of this area among Brazilian researchers, as well as the contribution of Brazilian organic chemical community in the new fields of this science.

The role of the different actions headed by the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) for the development of the Graduate Programs in Chemistry in Brazil is highlighted herein. Specifically, the importance of the SBQ journals, such as the Quimica Nova (QN), Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (JBCS) and Revista Brasileira de Química (RVQ) as vehicles to disseminate the knowledge produced by the different graduate programs in chemistry is demonstrated.