Inorganic chemistry

Inorganic chemistry as a branch of chemistry is essentially concerned with all elements and compounds that do not feature carbon-hydrogen-bonds. A further subdivision can be made into solid-state chemistry and molecular chemistry based on the cross-linking of the compounds, and into salts, metals, non-metals and complex compounds, among others, based on the substance classes.

In patent law, most of the patents that can be attributed to inorganic chemistry can be found in IPC classes C01 to C06, with class C01 being the main class.