This textbook is intended for first-year chemistry students. Itsscope, subject matter, and method of presentation of the materialassume that the student has already studied the main concepts ofchemistry, its most important laws, and the properties ofjthe elementsand their most important compounds at school.The text consists of two parts. Part One describes the main theoreticalconcepts on which chemical science is based, and surveys theperiodic law and structure of atoms, chemical bonds and the structureof matter, the thermodynamic and kinetic laws of processes,and types of chemical reactions.Part Two includes the factual data of inorganic chemistry wTithspecial emphasis on exposition of the main patterns and propertiesof elements and compounds stemming from the position of the elementsin the Mendeleev’s periodic system.The student can acquire comprehensive knowledge only providedhe or she has mastered the concrete concepts of the main substancesand interconversions studied, which depends, to a considerableextent, on independent hard work in the laboratory and solution ofproblems and exercises (see N. Akhmetov, M.' Azizova, and L. Badygina, Problems and Laboratory Experiments in Inorganic Chemistryy Mir Publishers, Moscow, 1982).Translated from the Russian by Alexder RosinkinTranslation edited by H. Campbell CreightonFirst published 1973Second edition 1983Revised from the 1981 Russian editionMany thanks to Guptaji for the scans.