The academic staff of the Organisch-Chemisches Institut currently comprises nine tenured professors (Universitätsprofessoren), two "Habilitanden" (assistant professors), three emeriti and seven scientists in service and administrative positions. The staff of permanent employees numbers approx. 40, including secretaries, lab technicians, electronic experts, the personnel of the mechanic workshops, the general service facilities and glassblowers. There are ca. 110 graduate students (Diplom and doctoral degree) working in the laboratories of the institute. Some of them are teaching assistants, supported from institutional funds on time-limited contracts, whilst most research assistants are supported by fellowships or from research foundations. At any time five to ten postdoctoral fellows are working in the institute, and there are highly awarded scientific guests visiting the institute from abroad.

Each year a total of ca. 2,500 students participate in chemistry lectures and laboratory courses, of which ca. 1,500 are chemistry majors and 1,000 non-majors, including Medicine, Dentistry, Biology, and Pharmacy. Master (Diplom) and doctoral (Dr. rer. nat.) degrees are offered in all disciplines of chemistry. The Diplom degree can be obtained after 9 semesters (incl. the Diplom thesis). The average duration required in order to obtain a master degree in chemistry (Dipl.-Chem.) is 10.1 semesters and for the doctoral degree 17.1 semesters.

These include mechanical, electronic, glassblower and glassware shops, mass spectrometry, X-ray analysis and NMR spectroscopy facilities. The institute is well equipped for modern research and teaching activities having available a variety of up-to-date instrumentation (300, 400 and 600 MHz NMR, several X-ray diffractometers, FT-IR, UV-VIS, PE spectrometers, DSC, autoclave systems up to 12 kbar, high resolution coupled GLC-mass spectrometry, laser-desorption mass spectrometry, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, electroanalytical techniques etc.).

In April 1993 the graduate college was founded at the Fachbereich Chemie. This institution is established at the Organisch- and Anorganisch-Chemisches Institut under the responsibility of Professors Aumann, Erker, Hahn, Haufe, Hoppe, Klessinger, Krebs, Mattes, Redlich, Schäfer, and Würthwein. The specific features of this college are based on a research programme which is devoted to the reactivity of chemical compounds containing highly reactive multiple bonds. Both the generation and properties of such systems are studied by means of chemical, physical and theoretical methods. Applications in organic synthesis and the design of new materials are under investigation as well.

The graduate college is designed to enable PhD students to work on their theses within the framework of a systematic and highly interdisciplinary program of study and in cooperation with various research groups working on related topics. The role of the academic supervisors and the faculty will remain unchanged, but research orientated activities and the topic for this college should help prevent specialization becoming too narrow. Working in a team together with other graduates, experienced scientists and guests will broaden the vision of the individual graduate student and promote essential academic discussion. Young scientists in this graduate college will thus be able to work for their doctoral degree under very attractive conditions.

The graduate college will not only stimulate the reform of PhD studies but also give an incentive for reorganizing and streamlining basic research. This college at the chemistry department covers ca. 30 students who are each a member of one of the participating groups headed by one of the senior scientists mentioned above. It is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) with funds supplied by the Federal Government (50 %) and by the State Nordrhein-Westfalen (50 %). In 1998 the DFG decided to continue to support the college for another period of three years.

In spite of a certain similarity to graduate schools and PhD programmes in the US and in the UK the graduate college is different, being smaller and devoted to a specific subject with an interdisciplinary profile and not to a large research area comprizing various disciplines.

In January 1997, a new Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) was established by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 424) at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. 12 research groups from the Faculty of Natural Sciences started to coordinate their efforts directed towards the topic "Molecular Orientation and Its Functions in Chemical Systems" in close cooperations. Originally, research groups from the Organisch-Chemisches Institut (Prof. Erker, Prof. Hoppe, Prof. Redlich, Prof. Schäfer and Prof. Würthwein), the Anorganisch-Chemisches Institut (Prof. Hahn, Prof. Krebs, PD Dr. Krämer and Dr. Tamm), the Institut für Biochemie (Prof. Galla) and the Physikalisches Institut (Prof. Fuchs) take an active part in the scientific program.

In 1999 the DFG decided to increase the support for the SFB for another period of three years, including several new research groups from the Organisch-Chemisches Institut (Prof. Haufe, Dr. Göttlich, Dr. Waldvogel), the Institut für Biochemie (Dr. Steinem) and the Institut für Mineralogie (Prof. Putnis). Additionally, in 2000 Prof. Klaffke (Bioorganic Chemistry) and Prof. Grimme (Theoretical Organic Chemistry) from the Organisch-Chemische Institut joined the Sonderforschungsbereich as new members.

The aim of the Sonderforschungsbereich is to achieve a better understanding of the influence of the relative orientation of simpler molecules on their mutual interactions, subsequently utilizing the results for developing selective processes. These include stereoselective organic synthesis, design of catalysts, of enzyme-like compounds and, as well, of membranes and other two-dimensional systems.

The Sonderforschungsbereich is provided with a budget for supporting more than 25 PhD student positions and for maintaining a program of high quality, such as symposia or individual invitations of distinguished scientists.

The advancement and encouragement of highly qualified young talents is a particular concern of the Sonderforschungsbereich.