Origins
In the second half of 1965, the Chemistry of Natural Products group at the University of Brasília (UnB), coordinated by Prof. Otto Richard Gottlieb, noticed the disappearance of the minimum conditions of academic democracy to remain in this institution, after a year of struggle against the forces of oppression of the authoritarian system imposed on the country in April 1964.
About two hundred and ten teachers from different areas were dismissed or resigned in protest against the destruction of the innovative university system, implemented at UnB. This movement was implemented by educators Anísio Teixeira and Darcy Ribeiro.
The vast majority of resigns made this historic decision even though they did not have a guaranteed place to continue performing university activities.
Thus, the Chemistry of Natural Products team, made up of four professors and ten graduate students, left Brasília in November 1965. Five members of this team took the opportunity offered by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), and the the rest was received, cordially and temporarily, by the Natural Products Research Center (CPPN) of the UFRJ Faculty of Pharmacy, today the UFRJ Natural Products Research Institute (NPPN).
The formation
During the period from December 1965 to February 1966, this group that went to Rio de Janeiro, remained in the NPPN, with the expectation of returning to the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), when professors Otto Richard Gottlieb and Fausto Aita Gai (professor at UFRRJ) maintained daily contact with the Dean, professor Paulo Dacorso Filho (professor at the Veterinary Institute).
With the help and solidarity of Professor Fausto and Dean Dacorso, in March 1966, a place was made available in the Chemistry Pavilion (PQ) for installations of the Graduate Course in Organic Chemistry, in the Chair of Technology (old name). In this chair, the expected receptivity of Professors Paulo Costa Pereira, Layette Estellita, Altanir J. Gava, Romeu Vianni and Carlos Alberto Bento da Silva was found, willing to collaborate effectively in the process of implanting the new group. There was also the participation of teachers and servers from other courses installed in the Chemistry Pavilion (Physics, Chemistry, Soils and Physiology).
Subsequently, the Postgraduate Course in Organic Chemistry was linked administratively to the Department of Chemistry (DEQUIM) of the Institute of Exact Sciences (ICE), where it remained in full operation until the creation of the Institute of Chemistry, to which it is linked now.