Catalysis research is very strong in well industrialized countries, but rat
her poor in those underdeveloped. Although, catalysis history is as old as
more than a century, its activities in Latin America have been growing only
for the last three decades. Research areas concern petroleum, petrochemica
l and fine chemicals catalysts, environmental and theoretical catalysis. Th
e whole community might be of about 1200 people, from whom only around 200
might be occupying scientific leadership positions. Participation in the in
ternational forum has been growing through the years. This work tries to su
mmarize the status of the field in the Latin American countries, mainly in
those with representative research groups, namely Argentina, Brazil, Colomb
ia, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.