The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is the international body that represents chemistry and related sciences and technologies. Its goal is to unite a fragmented, global chemistry community for the advancement of the chemical sciences via collaboration and the free exchange of scientific information.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), established in 1919, was formed by chemists from both industry and academia. These chemists recognized a need for international standardization of weights, measures, names, and symbols in chemistry. Its predecessor body, the International Association of Chemical Societies (IACS), had met in Paris in 1911 and established the foundation of the standardization objectives that IUPAC would later center its work around.