The Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry (IEOC) at Nankai University was officially established under the support of National Committee of Science undefinedamp; Technology, and National Ministry of Education of China in 1962. It was the first organic chemistry-focused research institute hosted by university in China. Prof. Yang Shi-Xian was the first dean of IEOC until 1982. In1985, the State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry (SKLEOC) was established based on IEOC and the Organometallic Laboratory in Department of Chemistry, Nankai University. In 1995, the State Pesticide Project Research Center at Nankai University was established under the support of National Developing Planning Committee of China and has been closely associated with IEOC. Building upon her strong research foundation on phosphorus-related pesticide chemistry, the research interests of IEOC gradually expanded to investigate the basic and applied chemistry of a variety of key elements, including P, F, Si, B and others. In recent years, the research of IEOC has further evolved into exploring organometallic chemistry, chemical biology, organic analysis, organic material and other areas in addition to pesticide and elemento-organic chemistry.

At present, IEOC offers Ph.D. degrees specialized in organic chemistry and pesticide chemistry. It hosts 31 research groups, 80 faculty members, and about 480 graduate students. Among the faculty members, there are 2 academicians of Chinese Academy of Science, 3 leading talents of Ministry of Education, and 6 Distinguished Young Scholars named by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.