无机化学涉及由100多种天然和合成元素形成的化合物的合成，结构和动力学，涉及非常广阔的研究领域。新化合物和新合成方法是无机化学研究的目标。这些化合物的范围从技术上重要的材料到工业化学过程的催化剂，外太空中存在的小分子，以及用作生物材料模型的金属配合物。无机化学中使用的方法包括各种光谱技术，动力学方法，阐明几何和电子结构的程序以及理论。从以下当前研究实例可以看出，石化学在无机化学的广度和深度上得到了很好的体现：热和光化学活化的动力学过程，特别是电子转移反应，金属酶活性位点类似物的合成和结构研究，例如调节基因
The Department of Chemistry, within the College of Arts and Sciences, offers courses of study leading to the degrees of Master of Arts in Teaching Chemistry, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy. Students in the M.A.T. program must register through the School of Professional Development. A student in the Ph.D. program may choose dissertation research in any one of the diverse areas of chemistry represented by the interests of the program faculty, or may choose an interdisciplinary topic under the guidance of a faculty member in another program. Coordinated activities exist with several programs, and include optional concentrations in chemical physics and chemical biology. <br><br>Inorganic chemistry, being concerned with the synthesis, structure, and dynamics of the compounds formed by the more than 100 natural and synthetic elements, covers an extremely vast research area. New compounds and new synthetic methods are among the goals of inorganic chemistry research. Such compounds range from materials important in technology to catalysts for industrial chemical processes, small molecules present in outer space, and metal complexes that serve as models for biological materials. The methodologies used in inorganic chemistry include a wide variety of spectroscopic techniques, kinetic methods, procedures for the elucidation of geometric and electronic structures, and theory. The breadth and depth of inorganic chemistry are well represented at Stony Brook, as seen by the following examples of current research: thermally and photochemically activated dynamic processes, in particular, electron transfer reactions, synthetic and structural studies of active site analogs of metalloenzymes such as the zinc proteins that regulate gene transcription and the high-potential iron-sulfur proteins, activation of small molecules by transition metal complexes and homogeneous catalysis, chemistry of unsaturated carbon-metal bonds in mononuclear compounds and in extended molecular assemblies, molecular orbital calculations and molecular mechanics methods applied to transition metal cluster compounds and related organometallic substances, NMR studies of zeolites and supported catalysts.