The Origins
In the second half of 1965, the University of Brasília (UNB) Natural Products Chemistry research Group, coordinated by Prof. Otto Richard Gottlieb, found no conditions for academic democracy to left in that institution, after a year of fighting against the oppressive forces of the authoritarian system imposed on Brazil in April 1964.
Approximately two hundred and ten professors from several scientific areas were fired or resigned in protest against the destruction of the innovative university system implemented at UNB, which had been implemented by educators Anísio Teixeira and Darcy Ribeiro.
The vast majority of those who resigned made the historic decision to resign, even though they did not have a guaranteed position to continue carrying out university activities.
Thus, the Natural Products Chemistry team, consisting of four professors and ten graduate students, left Brasília in November 1965. Five members of this team took up the opportunity offered by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), and the others were welcomed, cordially and temporarily, by the Natural Products Research Center (CPPN) of the UFRJ School of Pharmacy, today the Natural Products Research Institute (IPPN) of UFRJ.
The Formation
From December 1965 to February 1966, the group that had gone to Rio de Janeiro remained at the CPPN, expecting to come to the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). Professors Otto Richard Gottlieb and Fausto Aita Gai (a professor at UFRRJ) maintained daily contact with the Dean, Professor Paulo Dacorso Filho (a professor at the Veterinary Institute).
With the help and solidarity of Professor Fausto and Dean Dacorso, a place was made avaliable, in March 1966, at the Chemistry Pavilion (PQ) for installations and to officially open the Postgraduate Program in Organic Chemistry, in the Chair of Technology (old name). In this chair, the expected receptiveness of professors Paulo Costa Pereira, Layette Estellita, Altanir J. Gava, Romeu Vianni and Carlos Alberto Bento da Silva was met. They could also count on the collaboration of professors and staff from other courses installed in the Chemistry Pavilion (Physics, Chemistry, Soils and Physiology).
Later, the Postgraduate Course in Organic Chemistry was administratively linked to the Chemistry Department (DEQUIM) of the Institute of Exact Sciences (ICE).
The Early Years
The Postgraduate Course had excellent laboratories, a stainless steel extractor, a small quantity of suitable glassware and a melting point apparatus (Kofler), provided by IPEACS (Institute of Agricultural Research of the Center-South) through Professor Layette Estellita.
Thus, research activities were initially developed in laboratories equipped with minimal infrastructure and had modest financial resources, obtained mainly through aid granted by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), which allowed the acquisition of consumables and small equipment, in addition to ultraviolet (UV-VIS), infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR at 60 MHz) spectrometers.
For this reason, mass and NMR spectra (1H: 100MHz; 13C: 25.2 MHz) were obtained from other national and foreign institutions, including the University of Sheffield, courtesy of Professor W. D. Ollis, England.
With the beginning of the operation of the Analytical Center of NPPN/UFRJ, through the kind attention of Professors P. Baker and Antônio Jorge R. da Silva, and the technician Ronoel da S. Godoy, these services could be performed at a national institution (NPPN), which fulfilled this arduous and difficult mission with efficiency and dedication.
The Postgraduate Course in Organic Chemistry at UFRRJ practically began with two professors: Professors Otto Richard Gottlieb (coordinator) and W. B. Eyton (from the University of Sheffield, England, who worked at UNB) and eight postgraduate students (Maria Auxiliadora Coelho Kaplan, Jamil Corrêa Mourão, Raimundo Braz Filho, Raimundo Guilherme Campos Corrêa, Maria Vittoria von Bullow, Afrânio Aragão Craveiro, Gouvan Cavalcante de Magalhães and Roberto Alves de Lima), all CNPq postgraduate scholarship holders.
The number of graduate students grew systematically in the following years until 1973. From 1973 to 1975, the course activities were significantly reduced due to the additional activities taken on by the coordinator, Professor Otto Richard Gottlieb, at the Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Products of the Chemistry Institute of the University of São Paulo. Invited by Prof. Paschoal Senise (IQ-USP), Prof. Gottlieb had set up this laboratory in July 1967, with support from FAPESP (São Paulo State Research Foundation), and Raimundo Braz Filho, one of the graduate students at UFRRJ, was invited to head it (July 1967 to March 1970, with a FAPESP chief researcher grant). The evolution and demands of this new role later required that Prof. Gottlieb take on the role of head of the laboratory. Gottlieb transferred entirely to the Chemistry Institute of USP, after being hired by this public higher education institution (free of charge) in the State of São Paulo.
This episode clearly demonstrates the important role that research support foundations and state governments can play in helping the development of scientific research.
Consolidation
Until this time, the course was exclusively dedicated to Natural Product Chemistry, as a Master’s degree specialty. However, we should highlight the special courses that were offered during the months of July from 1969 to 1973, with the participation of Brazilian and foreign professors, teaching and/or assisting subjects, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students (especially Scientific Initiation scholarship holders) from UFRRJ and other Brazilian and foreign universities. The range of subjects offered covered undergraduate, graduate and cutting-edge topics in Organic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry, in addition to research seminars and conferences, in an adjusted and efficient schedule, with time left over for evening gatherings.
The lack of constant support and administrative difficulties led to the discontinuation of initiatives like this.
The emergence of Micromolecular Chemical Systematics in Brazil dates back to the time of the Postgraduate Course in Organic Chemistry at UFRRJ, with the first dissertation (Master’s degree) by Ceres Maria Rezende Gomes in 1972, supervised by Prof. Gottlieb. This discipline and the research inherent to it became a major contributor to new scientific advances in the knowledge of Chemical Ecology and Chemical Evolution.
In 1975, again through the joint action of Professors Otto Richard Gottlieb and Fausto Aita Gai (during his first term as Dean), Dr. Raimundo Braz Filho, a former UFRRJ postgraduate student, could return to UFRRJ, develop professional activities in the Chemistry Department and promote the continuity and reactivation of research and postgraduate work. At that time, Dr. Braz was responsible for coordinating the course, which, with the collaboration of other undergraduate professors, Ceres Maria Rezende Gomes, Vitória, Elita, Sonildes, among others, created conditions to attract undergraduate students to enter the master’s program, in addition to welcoming students from outside UFRRJ.
In the early 1980s, with the return of several professors who had left to pursue doctorates and the entry of other PhDs into the course, the period of maturation and expansion of the Postgraduate Course in Organic Chemistry at UFRRJ began. Other areas of research, such as Organic Photochemistry, Synthesis, and Organic Physical Chemistry, began to be offered to students; laboratories and instrumental resources were expanded (thanks to the support of funding institutions, namely CNPq and CAPES, and to PADCT), such as: the Varian T-60 NMR spectrometer (1H: 60 MHz, acquired in 1973), UV Perquin-Elmer Mod. 402, IV Perkin Elmer 257, and the Bruker AC-200E spectrometer with superconducting magnet (1H: 200 MHz, 13C: 50.3 MHz, acquired in 1988). This was one of the first equipments with such resolution in operation in the country, meeting the needs of several national institutions.
In January 2008, CAPES, through LETTER/CAA/Nº 027-03/2008, approved the change in the name of the Program, which became the Graduate Program in Chemistry with three areas of concentration (Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Agricultural Chemistry) that reflect the lines and research projects, disciplines and profile of the faculty.
In 2009, the master’s and doctoral levels were expanded to the Inorganic Chemistry Concentration Area, and in 2011 the Agricultural Chemistry Concentration Area was renamed Biological Chemistry. In 2017, PPGQ adopted Chemistry as its sole area of concentration and created seven related research topics. This change, which focuses more on current applications than on the traditional division of Chemistry areas of concentration, has allowed for a greater diversity of options for students interested in pursuing postgraduate studies in Chemistry at UFRRJ. It has also allowed for greater integration and participation of different professors from the Chemistry Institute and other Institutes, as well as the inclusion of students from other related areas, such as Chemical Engineering, Food Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Materials Engineering, Biology and Pharmacy. The Research Topics in PPGQ are: Topic 1 – CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL PRODUCTS; Topic 2 – PHOTOCHEMISTRY; Topic 3 – AGROBIOCHEMISTRY; Topic 4 – MEDICINAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY; Topic 5 – THEORETICAL CHEMISTRY Topic 6 – CHEMISTRY OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC MATERIALS and Topic 7 – APPLIED ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY.
In addition to a greater focus on application, this change has allowed for a more interdisciplinary education for new Masters and Doctorates, with dissertations and theses in which concepts and techniques from different areas of Chemistry are combined to build knowledge. The projects, as was the trend before the reformulation of the area and lines of research of the PPGQ-UFRRJ, address topics that mostly have potential applications in society, with emphasis on uses in the areas of human and animal health, natural products isolated from plant and animal sources and also synthetic compounds, including organometallic compounds, but also in areas such as biofuels (analytical methods), fuel additives and corrosion inhibitors, nanomaterials and nanotechnology, among others.
The program’s current rating is 4, but efforts are being made by the PPGQ Coordination, faculty, and students to improve the PPGQ’s rating, with a view to returning to rating 5 (five). We understand that there is a need to continue stimulating the growth of the seven research topics. The Postgraduate Coordination, together with the Chemistry Institute and its Departments, has encouraged the hiring of new faculty members for the different subareas of Chemistry, with different expertise and qualifications, both for teaching and research, to fulfill the needs of both Chemistry Institute and the Postgraduate Program in Chemistry.
Earlier Advisors
Dr. Otto Richard Gottlieb (in memoriam)
Dr. Adolfo Henrique Müller
Dr. Ronoel Luiz de Oliveira Godoy
Dr. Euclides Lameiras Barreiros (in memorian)
Dra. Edna Cruz Fantini (in memorian)
Dr. Anselmo Alpande Morais
Dra. Maria Auxiliadora Coelho Kaplan
Dr. Alphonse G. Kelecon
Dr. Ângelo da Cunha Pinto
Dr. Silas Varella Fraiz Júnior
Dr. Eliezer Jesus Barreiro
Dra. Stella Regina Reis da Costa
Dr. Paulo Gustavo Pries de Oliveira
Dra. Leila Vilela Alegrio
Dr. Heber dos Santos Abreu
Earlier Coordinators
Dr. Otto Richard Gottlieb (in memoriam): 1966 – 1973
Dr. Raimundo Braz Filho: 1975 – 1983
Dr. Anselmo Alpande de Moraes: 1983 – 1985
Dr. Victor Marcos Rumjanek: 1986 – 1988
Dra Edna Cruz Fantini: 1989
Dra. Leila Vilela Alegrio: 1990
Dr. José Carlos Neto Ferreira: 1990 – 1993
Dr. Aurélio Baird Buarque Ferreira: 1993 – 1994
Dra. Áurea Echevarria Aznar Neves Lima: 1994 – 1998
Dr. Mário Geraldo de Carvalho: 1998 – 2002
Dr. João Batista Neves da Costa: 2002 – 2004
Dra. Rosane Nora Castro: 2004 – 2008
Dr. Carlos Mauricio Rabello de Sant’Anna: 2009 – 2010
Dr. Mario Geraldo de Carvalho: 2010 – 2011
Dr. Carlos Mauricio Rabello de Sant’Anna: 2011 – 2014
Dr. Marco Edilson Freire de Lima: 2014 – 2015
Dr. Marcelo Hawrylak Herbst: 2015 – 2018
Dr. Arthur Eugen Kummerle: 2018 – 2018
Dr. Carlos Mauricio Rabello de Sant’Anna: 2018 – 2023
Dr. Glauco Favilla Bauerfeldt: 2023 – 2025
