The 125 years old Department of Chemistry has a glorious past. The Department, besides engaging in undergraduate teaching of Engineering students from its commencement and also Masters of Science in Chemistry from the beginning of this century has a heritage of conducting quality research in various fields. A well-known Physical Chemist, Professor Barodananada Chatterjee became the Head of the Department of Chemistry, Metallurgy and Geology in 1956 and the first Vice-Principal (Academic) of the College. Under his direct supervision and encouragement, faculty members and several research students made significant contributions in soil chemistry, corrosion and chemical exploration of medicinal plants and in coal and petroleum products.

At present, the faculty members are involved in research in frontier areas of Chemistry, materials and Chemical Physics, which include Coordination & Bioinorganic Chemistry, Carbohydrate Chemistry, Electrochemistry & Corrosion Science, Fuel Cell Technology, Molecular Recognition & Supramolecular Chemistry, Structural Chemistry, Catalysis, Synthetic Organic & Organometallic Chemistry, Thin Film Semiconductor materials, Solar Photovoltaic, Photoelectrochemical & Photoelectrolysis cells, Non-linear Optical Phenomena: Modeling & Computation, Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, Relativistic & non-relativistic Electronic Structure Theory, etc. The two year (four semesters) M. Sc. Course in Chemistry offered by the department has been designed to satisfy the needs of academia and industries. The department is endowed with a number of research projects sponsored by various central and state funding agencies. The department was also the recipient of MHRD special grant, UGC-SAP and DST-FIST funding. More than eighty research students are currently enrolled for Ph.D. programme and working in various fields of chemical sciences. On an average the department produces about 80 research publications in reputed international journals every year.