The Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles ("Institute for the chemistry of natural substances") is part of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique

Centre national de la recherche scientifique

The National Center of Scientific Research is the largest governmental research organization in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe....

, France's most prominent public research organization. It is located at Gif-sur-Yvette

Gif-sur-Yvette

Gif-sur-Yvette is a commune in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:The town is crossed by and named after the Yvette river.The total area is and is green spaces and woods.-Place names:...

, near Paris.

The ICSN is France's largest state-run chemistry research institute. It was built in 1959, and it employs over 300 people. Research at the institute focuses on four areas:

1. Synthetic and methodological approaches in Organic Chemistry
   Organic synthesis
   Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely inorganic compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has...
   
   
2. Natural product
   Natural product
   A natural product is a chemical compound or substance produced by a living organism - found in nature that usually has a pharmacological or biological activity for use in pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug design...
   
   s and medicinal chemistry
   Medicinal chemistry
   Medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry are disciplines at the intersection of chemistry, especially synthetic organic chemistry, and pharmacology and various other biological specialties, where it is involved with design, chemical synthesis and development for market of pharmaceutical...
   
   
3. Structural chemistry and structural biology
   Structural biology
   Structural biology is a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function...
   
   
4. Chemistry
   Chemistry
   Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
   
    and biology
   Biology
   Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
   
    of therapeutic targets