The Molecular Chemistry laboratory (LCM) is part of the Chemistry Department of the Ecole polytechnique and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The lab is led by Cédric Tard (head), and is composed by 20 permanent people and about 15 students and postdoctoral fellows. The research lies within three research themes (molecular structure, molecular reactivity and sustainable chemistry) with the help of advanced instrumentation such as mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and glove boxes.

The fundamental and applied research activities are covering a wide range of molecular chemistry topics, from organometallic chemistry to physical and analytical chemistry.  The synthesis and characterization of organometallic and coordination compounds is widely developed to promote new catalytic reaction and bond formation methodologies. The laboratory is also involved at the interface between theory and experiment to elucidate reaction mechanisms and understanding of electronic structures of metal complexes and heavy metals. Furthermore we expanding original experimental and simulation methodologies to detect and analyze the structure of organic, inorganic and biological molecules, mainly by mass spectrometry.