Chemistry · Curated list
Biochemistry, Organic chemistry, Inorganic chemistry and 27 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the branch's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Study of chemical processes of living organisms
Also called biological chemistry, the study of the chemical processes inside living organisms and connected with them. A sub-discipline of both biology and chemistry, it can be split into three fields: metabolism, enzymology and structural biology.
Wikidata · Photo: Wolfgang Schaefer, Public domain
2
Subdiscipline of chemistry, focusing on carbon compounds
The part of chemistry that scientifically studies organic compounds and organic materials: their structure, properties and reactions. It works out structural formulas from the structure of organic material, analyses chemical and physical properties, and assesses chemical reactivity in order to understand how organic compounds behave.
Wikidata · Photo: Maxim Bilovitskiy, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field of chemistry
The field of chemistry concerned with making inorganic and organometallic compounds and with how they behave. It covers the chemical compounds that are not based on carbon; those that are belong to organic chemistry.
4
Physics applied to chemical systems
The study of large-scale and small-scale phenomena in chemical systems through the concepts, principles and practices of physics, such as energy, force, motion and time, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, quantum chemistry, analytical dynamics and chemical equilibria.
Wikidata · Photo: Serge Lachinov (обработка для wiki), CC BY-SA 3.0
5
Study of the separation, identification, and quantification of matter
The branch of chemistry that develops and applies methods for identifying what materials are chemically made of and measuring how much of each component a mixture holds. It concentrates on ways to identify unknown compounds, perhaps in a solution or mixture, and to quantify a compound as an amount of substance, a concentration, a percentage by mass or a number of moles within a mixture of compounds.
Wikidata · Photo: Hey Paul from Sacramento, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
6
Study involving matter and electromagnetic radiation
The field that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra as they interact with matter. In a narrower sense it is the precise study of colour, extended from visible light to every band of the electromagnetic spectrum.
7
Scientific study of crystal structures
The science of the structure and properties of crystals and molecules. Its name comes from two Ancient Greek words, κρύσταλλος and γράφειν.
Wikidata · Photo: Biochemlife, CC BY-SA 4.0
Science that applies chemistry to analyze geological systems
The science that draws on chemistry's tools and principles to explain how major geological systems work, among them the oceans and crust of the Earth. It reaches beyond the Earth to the whole Solar System, and has helped explain several processes, among them the formation of planets, mantle convection and where basalt and granite come from.
9
Branch of physical chemistry
The branch of physical chemistry dealing with how differences in electrical potential relate to identifiable chemical change. In these reactions electrons travel through an electronically conducting phase between electrodes, which are separated by an electrolyte that conducts ions but insulates against electrons.
Wikidata · Photo: Original JPEG by fr:User:Nécropotame , vectorised by User:GKFX, FAL
10
Chemistry based on quantum physics
Also called molecular quantum mechanics, a branch of physical chemistry that uses quantum mechanics on chemical systems to predict the chemical and physical properties of materials and molecules. It often means calculating electronic wave functions at the level of atoms.
Wikidata · Photo: The original uploader was FelixP at German Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0
Sub-discipline of chemistry
The branch of chemistry dealing with what light does chemically. The term usually refers to a chemical reaction triggered when ultraviolet, visible (400–750 nm) or infrared (750–2500 nm) radiation is absorbed.
Study of the rates of chemical reactions
Also called reaction kinetics, the branch of physical chemistry that seeks to understand how fast chemical reactions go. It differs from chemical thermodynamics, which deals with which way a reaction proceeds but says nothing by itself about its speed.
Branch of thermodynamics
The study of the heat energy that goes with chemical reactions and with phase changes such as boiling and melting. Reactions can give off or take in energy, and so can phase changes.
Branch of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, transmutation and other nuclear processes
The part of chemistry dealing with radioactivity, with nuclear processes and with changes in atomic nuclei, such as nuclear properties and nuclear transmutation.
15
Subdiscipline of chemistry
A subdiscipline of chemistry that studies how the atoms making up molecules are arranged in space, and how that arrangement can be manipulated. It centres on how stereoisomers relate to one another: molecules with the same molecular formula and the same sequence of bonded atoms (constitution), but with their atoms positioned differently in space.
Wikidata · Photo: Original: Unknown Vector: -- πϵρ ήλιο, Public domain
16
Branch of chemistry
The branch of chemistry that develops the theoretical generalisations modern chemistry uses as tools: concepts such as chemical bonding and chemical reaction, valence, molecular orbitals and their interactions, the potential energy surface and the activation of molecules.
Study of molecules in the Universe and their reactions
The interdisciplinary science studying how abundant molecules are in space, how they react there and how they interact with radiation. It overlaps with both chemistry and astronomy.
Chemistry subdiscipline
A sub-discipline of chemistry concentrating on polymers and macromolecules: their structures, how they are synthesised chemically, and their physical and chemical properties. Its principles and methods also apply across many other branches of chemistry, among them physical, analytical and organic chemistry.
Scientific study
The scientific study of chemical and biochemical phenomena in natural places. It is not to be confused with green chemistry, which aims to cut possible pollution at its source.
Branch of chemistry
A branch of chemistry that solves chemical problems with the help of computer simulations. Computer programs built on the methods of theoretical chemistry calculate the structures and properties of molecules, of groups of molecules and of solids.
Scientific branch of chemistry
Also called pharmaceutical chemistry, a discipline where chemistry meets pharmacy, concerned with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. It identifies, synthesises and develops new chemical entities fit for therapeutic use, working from their structure.
22
Agricultural sub-discipline of applied chemistry
Chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry in particular, as applied to agriculture. It covers the structures and chemical reactions that matter for producing, protecting and using livestock and crops.
23
Study of organic compounds containing metal(s)
The study of organometallic compounds: chemical compounds with at least one chemical bond between a metal and a carbon atom of an organic molecule. The metals include alkali, alkaline earth and transition metals, and the definition is sometimes widened to metalloids such as selenium, silicon and boron. Bonds to 'inorganic' carbon, as in cyanide, carbide or carbon monoxide, are generally counted as organometallic too, alongside bonds to organyl fragments or molecules.
Wikidata · Photo: Limhes at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Determining heat transfer in a system by measuring its other properties
In thermodynamics and chemistry, the science or practice of measuring how a body's state variables change in order to work out the heat transfer that goes with changes of its state, caused for example by phase transitions, physical changes or chemical reactions under given constraints. It is done with an instrument called a calorimeter.
Research field in chemistry and chemical engineering
An area of chemical engineering and chemistry, akin to circular or sustainable chemistry, that designs products and processes to reduce or do away with making and using hazardous substances. Where environmental chemistry studies how polluting chemicals affect nature, green chemistry looks at chemistry's own impact on the environment, including using fewer nonrenewable resources and finding technical ways to prevent pollution.
26
Chemistry of radioactive materials
The chemistry of radioactive materials, in which radioactive isotopes of elements serve to study the chemical reactions and properties of isotopes that are not radioactive. Much of the field uses radioactivity to study ordinary chemical reactions.
Wikidata · Photo: Idaho National Laboratory, CC BY 2.0
Branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the atmosphere is studied
A branch of atmospheric science studying the chemistry of the atmosphere, both the Earth's and other planets'. Drawing on many disciplines, among them physics, environmental chemistry, meteorology, oceanography, climatology, computer modelling, geology and volcanology, it seeks to understand changes in the atmosphere's composition, both natural and caused by humans.
Branch of chemistry
The branch of chemistry dealing with chemical systems made of a discrete number of molecules. The forces that organise such a system in space vary in strength, from weak intermolecular forces, hydrogen bonding or electrostatic charge up to strong covalent bonding, as long as the electronic coupling stays small compared with the component's energy parameters.
Study of chemical cycles of the earth related to biological activity
The science studying the physical, chemical, biological and geological processes and reactions that govern what the natural environment is made of. Above all it studies biogeochemical cycles, through which chemical elements such as nitrogen and carbon circulate, and how those elements interact with living things and are taken up into them, carried through biological systems of earth scale across space and time.
Study of solid materials' properties and composition
Also called materials chemistry, the study of solid phase materials: how they are synthesised, how they are structured and what properties they have. It overlaps strongly with solid-state physics, crystallography, mineralogy, metallurgy, ceramics, thermodynamics, electronics and materials science, with an emphasis on synthesising new materials and characterising them.
Every Wikidata item that is a branch of chemistry, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 30 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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