Catalysis research in Latin America

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.