Considering the developments in Theoretical Chemistry, in 1980,  Professors Marco Antônio Chaer Nascimento and Diana Guenzburger promoted the first conference on Theoretical Chemistry at the Brazilian Center of Physical Research in Rio de Janeiro. Some 50 researchers from different parts of Brazil participated in this event. The great enthusiasm and striking receptivity of the participants resulted in the 1 st Brazilian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry (SBQT) in 1981. At this event, the participating scientific community considered the possibility of holding similar events biannually in different Brazilian cities. 

Since then, the Brazilian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry (SBQT) is held biannually and has been established as one of the most successful scientific events in Brazil. The term "theoretical chemistry" encompasses, in fact, a very broad range of research topics that includes electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and solids, determination of thermodynamic properties of gases, liquids, and solids, and development of models based on statistical mechanics/molecular quantum mechanics, classical simulation besides quantum chemical methods, QSAR, among others. 

Since its beginning, the interdisciplinary character of the Symposium, the high quality of the presented works and the presence of important national and international researchers have stimulated the growing participation of professionals, undergraduate, and graduate students from different segments of the national and international scientific communities. This multidisciplinary character has contributed significantly to the formation of human resources, mainly in the areas of both Theoretical Chemistry and Physics, with important developments in the areas of Mathematics and Computation. 

The overwhelming participation of researchers and students from the states where the Theoretical Chemistry is already consolidated (such as the Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Sul states, the Federal District and the Southeastern states of Brazil) and the growing participation of researchers from the other regions of Brazil demonstrate the positive repercussion of the symposium on consolidating and decentralizing Theoretical Chemistry research in Brazil. 

Another strong indication of the success of SBQT is the fact that it is the only national conference that has the publication of its Annals in an internationally indexed journal with rigorous peer review process. The publication of the Annals began at VI SBQT when complete works presented at the event were published in the Journal of Molecular Structure (THEOCHEM). This journal was used for the publication of the proceedings until X SBQT. From the 11 th to the 16 th edition of SBQT the complete works were published in the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry. The proceedings of XVII SBQT were published in the Journal of Molecular Modeling and currently, SBQT has been publishing its annals in the Journal of Molecular Simulation.