Historical background:

The Chemistry Department was one of the first departments constituting the Faculty of Science that was established in 1942. It started with teaching the chemistry courses for first year students and pre-medicine students. 
The department started with three academic staff members Doctors: Nazem Fachoury, Mostafa Hafez and Yousef Skander and two laboratory instructors: Abdelkader Faten and Seleman Ismael. 
Dr. Nazem Fachoury was the first head of the department. One of the graduates of the department is Prof. Dr. Ahmed Zowail, the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 
Chemistry department consists of three branches Organic, Inorganic and Analytical, and Physical Chemistry. The department contains 116 staff, 32 instructors, 20 lab technicians and 6 technical jobs.

Mission:

The mission of the department is to pursue academic and applied chemistry knowledge that leads to highly qualified graduates capable of competition in work markets and to enable young graduates to get the opportunity to work in many industrial and environmental fields. This can be achieved by:

1. Develop of innovative educational programs.
2. Use of modern educational technology in lecture and laboratory.
3. Development of the skills needed by students, such as critical thinking, logical reasoning, and the ability to learn and work independently.
4. Creating an environment that promotes interaction between the faculty members and students.
5. Provision of modern scientific equipment and infrastructure necessary to conduct basic and applied research.
6. Employment of scientific research to contribute to solving community problems and achieve progress.
7. Achievement of strategic partnership with other departments, academic institutions and industrial chemical companies.