Inorganic chemistry deals with the synthesis, structure and properties of solid materials. The history of inorganic chemistry goes back thousands of years to our ancestors, who mastered the art of pottery and knew how to produce iron and copper using processes that link solid-state chemistry to the origins of civilization. Our ancestors knew how to synthesize/extract metals, manufacture new pigments via simple reactions carried out in the right order, either via the power of fire or in solution, and using grinding, filtration and decantation techniques that are very familiar to us, all without any knowledge of chemical reactions. These trial-and-error approaches enabled them over the years (with no notion of time) to establish numerous reliable recipes from which they could, on the basis of observations, initiate a deductive approach whose creativity and ingenuity still leave us in awe.
In this first lecture, we show how reasoned inorganic synthesis - deductive and inductive - governed by scientific laws and based on a variety of techniques, rapidly led to the discovery of numerous materials with sought-after properties, enabling the development of today's and tomorrow's technologies. First of all, we describe how materials are created using the ceramic method. This method, governed by the transport of matter in the solid state, requires high temperatures and repeated sequences of grinding and heating, hence the name "shake and bake". Some thermodynamic aspects of solid-state reactions are presented, as well as the science behind the choice of precursors, heating vessels, reducing or oxidizing atmospheres (Ellingham-Richardson diagrams) and heating temperatures (Tamman's rule).
