The manufacturing of chemical products is realized through the controlled conversion and transfer of mass and energy by chemical processes that have the characteristics of heterogeneity, nonlinearity, non equilibrium, multiple scale, and multiple temporal-spatial domains. The key to the development of intelligent manufacturing in the chemical industry is to achieve interconnected synergy and process efficiency under multi-scale conditions. On the one hand, the understanding and regulation of the multi-scale interconnection mechanism of chemical processes is important for the safe and reliable operation of chemical process systems. On the other hand, achieving the multi-scale interconnection, integration, and synergy of chemical processes allows green development of the chemical industry. However, through extensive research into the multi-scale chemical industry mechanisms, an integrated conceptual framework models for intelligent manufacturing have yet not been developed. On this basis, we propose a multi-scale and integrated intelligent manufacturing model for the chemical industry; that is, interconnected chemical engineering. This paper elaborates the concept, goals, characteristics, and architecture of interconnected chemical engineering and discusses key technologies relating to interconnected chemical engineering, including multi-level cyber-physical systems in the chemical industry, cloud manufacturing, full life-cycle security management technologies, dynamic security monitoring and decision-making models under a coupled interlocking mechanism, and blockchain-based interconnected chemical data security technologies. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved