The history of Vernadsky Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry began in 1918, when the first President of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (UAS) Academician V.I. Vernadsky set up in Kyiv the Chemical Laboratory as independent scientific institution and managed its work (1918-1919). In 1920 Member of the UAS V.O. Plotnikov took over the leadership of this Laboratory and joint it in 1922 with research department of chemistry of the People`s Commissariat of Education (PCE) at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. In 1929, these two divisions were established Research Institute of Chemistry of the PCE, which formed part of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences (AS) in 1931 as Institute of Chemistry. In 1945, it was named as Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry and in 1993 received the name of its founder V.I. Vernadsky.
Member of the Ukrainian SSR AS V.O. Plotnikov headed the Institute till 1941. In wartime, during the evacuation to Ufa, the Institute of Chemistry was headed by the Members of the Ukrainian SSR AS V.P. Yavorsky (1941-1942) and A.I. Kiprianov (1942-1945). In postwar years, the Institute was headed by the Members of the Ukrainian SSR AS A.V. Dumansky (1946-1960), Yu.K. Delimarsky (1960-1973), O.V. Gorodysky (1973-1992), S.V. Volkov (1992-2016). Since 2016, corresponding member of the Ukrainian NAS V.I.Pekhnyo has been elected the director of the Institute.
The Institute founded 5 chemical institutions: in 1939, the Institute of Organic Chemistry (on the basis of the sector of organic chemistry of the institute); in 1968, the Institute of Colloid and Water (the sectors of water chemistry and colloid chemistry); in 1977, the Physicochemical Institute in Odessa (the Institute laboratories and pilot plant); in 1991, the Institute of Sorption and Endoecology Problems (the Division of Sorption Processes); in 1994, the Interdepartmental Division of Electrochemical Power Engineering (the Division of the Chemistry of Ionic Melts).
Now V.I. Vernadsky Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is a state nonprofit institution, the main scientific center for fundamental and applied research in the field of inorganic chemistry; solid state chemistry; coordination chemistry; electrochemistry and physical chemistry of melts, water and non-aqueous solutions; processing of primary and secondary raw metal. Scientific Councils of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on problems of inorganic chemistry and electrochemistry, which coordinate all research in the country in these areas, work based on the Institute. Main scientific directions of activity: new knowledge-intensive functional inorganic substances, materials, coatings; electrochemistry of molten, liquid, solid electrolyte and electrode systems; heterogeneous coordination chemistry; ecological and economic cycle of metal-containing substances. Institute performs research in the field of solid-state chemistry, complex compounds, physico-inorganic chemistry, electrochemistry and photoelectro-chemistry of nonmetallic systems, electrochemistry of molten, liquid and solid electrolyte and electrode systems, electrocatalysis, electrochemistry and inorganic materials technology. It ensures the development and synthesis of new high-tech functional inorganic substances and materials, macrocyclic compounds, hybrid structures and complex compounds.
Institute actively cooperates with many domestic and foreign universities, academic institutions, other research centers and industrial associations. The prior directions of such cooperation, in particular, within the framework of international scientific cooperation under the programs of HORIZONT 2020, NATO "Science for Peace and Security", etc., are: creation of novel functional materials for elements and devices used in telecommunication and engineering systems, research of new coordination compounds and functional nanocomposites; development of resource-saving technologies for efficient processing of metal-containing natural and man-made substances; the development of methods for controlling electrophysical and photoelectrochemical parameters of composite inorganic and organometric systems, etc.
During the years of the activity of the Institute, it was published (till 2019) 174 monographs and more than 6,400 articles in Ukraine and abroad, about 1400 copyright certificates and patents for inventions were received, some patents were developed in the countries of the CIS, USA, Germany, Canada, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, Brazil, Japan, South Africa. Within the framework of problem councils of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine more than 140 scientific conferences, seminars, congresses, including 17 international ones with the participation of well-known foreign researchers, were held.
Today, the main practical purpose of the scientific activity of V.I. Vernadsky IGIC of the NAS of Ukraine is the creation of highly efficient, environmentally friendly, energy- and resource-saving technologies, including the inclusion of the secondary raw material in the production process, which will contribute to reducing the man-caused environmental impact.