from the editorpublications.iupac.org/ci/2004/2606/nov04.pdf · from the editor chemistry...

From the Editor

CHEMISTRY InternationalThe News Magazine of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)

www.iupac.org/publications/ci

Managing Editor: Fabienne MeyersProduction Editor: Chris BrouwerDesign: CB Communications

All correspondence to be addressed to:Fabienne MeyersIUPAC, c/o Department of ChemistryBoston UniversityMetcalf Center for Science and Engineering590 Commonwealth Ave.Boston, MA 02215, USA

E-mail: [email protected]: +1 617 358 0410Fax: +1 617 353 6466

Printed by:Cadmus Professional Communications, Easton, MD, USA

SubscriptionsSix issues of Chemistry International (ISSN 0193-6484) will be published bimonthly in 2004 (onevolume per annum) in January, March, May, July,September, and November. The 2004 subscriptionrate is USD 99.00 for organizations and USD 45.00for individuals. Subscription orders may be placeddirectly with the IUPAC Secretariat. AffiliateMembers receive CI as part of their Membershipsubscription, and Members of IUPAC bodies receiveCI free of charge.

Reproduction of ArticlesUnless there is a footnote to the contrary, repro-duction or translation of articles in this issue isencouraged, provided that it is accompanied by a reference to the original in CI.

Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27709-9990 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER:Send address changes to Chemistry International,IUPAC Secretariat, PO Box 13757, Research TrianglePark, NC 27709-3757, USA.

ISSN 0193-6484

Iam not sure why, but while proofing this issue, I got stuck on the words“function” and “functional.”

Read first the echoes of the 7th International Symposium onBiomolecular Chemistry (p. 31), where George Whitesides spoke of theneed to understand the fundamental nature of the cell as a system ofchemical reactions, and the shift in emphasis in biology from structure tofunction. The word “function” is not only a keyword in biology, but inchemistry as well. Nowadays, chemists not only design new moleculararchitectures, they also manage to understand their properties and opti-mize their functions. As chemists move from studying structure/property

relationships to analyzing struc-ture/property/function, it becomesobvious that chemistry will form thefoundation for growth in other sci-ences and technology. The recentMAM-04 and Fπ6 (p. 30) exemplifiedhow progress in chemistry is leadingto countless new technologies.

One can also view the idea of function in another context: the growingemphasis on “chemistry at the interfaces.” Functional properties have aprominent place in the interdisciplinary aspects of molecular science asreported in a recent double issue of the IUPAC journal Pure and AppliedChemistry that is devoted to a selection of papers presented at the 39thIUPAC Congress and 86th Conference (see p. 26). In the three symposiacombined for this publication, the emphasis on “function” is in each caseparticular, but obvious.

Perhaps the best example of the “functional” aspect of chemistry is ina feature story by Josh McIlvain, who reports on the Chemical HeritageFoundation’s recent exhibit “Her Lab in Your Life: Women in Chemistry”(see p. 8). The story and the exhibit itself feature a prescient quote fromEllen H. Richards, who in 1879 wrote: “We must show to the girls who arestudying science in our schools that it has a very close relation to oureveryday life.” While expressed in different words, the functional aspectsof science were as important then as they are today.

Fabienne [email protected]/publications/ci

Cover: Display of the exhibit “Her Lab in Your Life” at the recent meetingof the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia, PA, 22–26 August2004. Courtesy of Josh McIlvain of the Chemical Heritage Foundation.

President’s Column 2

FeaturesStrengthening International Science: An Overview of the

International Council for Science by Carthage Smith

and Thomas Rosswall 4Women in Chemistry: Her Lab in Your Life by Josh McIlvain 8

The Exhibit Online 10The Future of Chemistry Education by Lida Schoen 12

Tetrahedral Chemistry Education: Shaping What is to Come by Peter Mahaffy 14

IUPAC Wire 17Young Observers Going to BeijingMarian Góral Received the 2004 Franzosini AwardInternational Year of Physics, 2005

Up for DiscussionElectromotivity to Replace Electromotive Force?

by Vladimir Simeon 18Bonded by Stereobonds by Hubert Maehr 18

The Project PlaceReference Methods, Standards, and Applications of

Photoluminescence 20Glossary of Terms Used in Biomolecular Screening 20Practical Studies for Medicinal Chemistry Guidelines 20Internationally Agreed Terminology for Observations

in Scientific Communication 21Biophysico-Chemical Processes of Heavy Metal

and Metalloids in Soil Environments 21

Making an imPACtQuantities, Terminology, and Symbols in Photothermal

and Related Spectroscopies 22Electrochemical Detection in Liquid Flow Analytical

Techniques: Characterization and Classification 22Piezoelectric Chemical Sensors 23Guidelines for Callibration in Analytical Chemistry.

Part 2: Multicomponent Calibration 23Analysis of Light Elements in Thin Films Demonstrated

Using the Examples of SiOXNY and AIOXNY Films 24

Mechanisms of Immunosensitization to Metals 24

BookwormChemistry at the Interfaces 26Macromolecules and Materials Science 27Introdução à Química Orgânica 27

Conference CallPolymers in Medicine, Nanotechnology, Degredation,

and Stabilization by R.D. Sanderson 28Biodegredable Polymers and Plastics by In-Joo Chin 28Functional and Nano Systems by Courtney Young 30ππ-Electron Systems by George Malliaras and John Reynolds 30Biomolecular Chemistry by David StC. Black 31

Where 2B & Y 33

Mark Your Calendar 36

Index for 2004 38

CHEMISTRY International November-December 2004 Volume 26 No. 6

Contents

SymbolicMolecular

Human Element

Macroscopic

Enclosed with thisissue is the second

circular for the 40thIUPAC Congress in

Beijing.

2 CHEMISTRY International November-December 2004

President’s ColumnChemists in a VulnerableWorld

by Leiv K. Sydnes

In a recent issue of AngewandteChemie there was an essay byProfessor Carl Djerassi, entitled

“Chemical Safety in a VulnerableWorld—A Manifesto.”1 In this arti-cle, Djerassi argues that the“absence of adequate knowledgein many less-developed countriesof the extent and nature of theirexposure to dangerous chemicalsis their greatest vulnerability.” In

order to overcome this deleterious situation, he callsfor the formation of a steering committee to encour-age and facilitate North/South interaction on newapproaches to chemical safety. Based on his positiveexperiences with ICIPE (International Center forInsect Physiology and Ecology) in Nairobi in the1960s, and the USA-Brazil chemistry program of thelate 1960s and early 1970s, Djerassi then proposesthat a group of chemical societies in developed coun-tries (“the haves”) should take on this task in partner-ship with the chemical communities in less-developedcountries (“the have nots”).

I find the proposals and ideas outlined by Djerassicertainly commendable and absolutely worthy of thesupport of the chemical community. However, for sev-eral reasons I was surprised that he did not mention asingle word about IUPAC. First and foremost, IUPAChas been addressing challenging issues similar tothose mentioned in the article. In addition, it is impor-tant to acknowledge that IUPAC already has the com-mittee structure Djerassi proposes for collaborativeprojects. And finally, it is noteworthy that all thechemical societies mentioned specifically in his articlehave been and are still actively involved in a variety ofIUPAC activities.

In essence, IUPAC is based on the partnershipbetween volunteers that forms the basis for Djerassi’sproposals. Since IUPAC was founded in 1919 this part-nership spirit and the voluntary work performed bythousands of chemists around the world have enabledthe Union to make recommendations on chemicalnomenclature and terminology, provide and criticallyevaluate chemical data, set standards for chemicalanalyses, and promote global cooperation betweenchemists and with other international organizations.

The results of many of these activities have been pub-lished in Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC’s ownjournal. In addition, IUPAC has supported national andregional workshops and meetings to disseminateknowledge and skills related to specific problems andchallenges in troubled countries and regions. Theseactivities are not glamorous and do not usually gener-ate news headlines, but standardization of chemicalmeasurements, terminology, nomenclature, and ana-lytical methods are of crucial importance to com-merce and society also in the “have-not” countries.

Several of the projects in the current IUPAC port-folio are of the type Djerassi proposes in his essay (i.e.,projects specifically connected to problems in devel-oping countries). Let me illustrate the IUPACapproach to problem solving by describing brieflywhat is being done with the problem of arsenic con-tamination of the ground water in Bangladesh,2 one ofthe important issues mentioned in the article.

Last year, a task group of volunteers, chaired byDrs. Satinder Ahuja and John M. Malin,3 wasappointed. Based on ideas generated by interactionwith chemists and chemical engineers from aroundthe world and by working actively with local chemistsand authorities, potential solutions for this seriousproblem are being considered. Extensive discussions,involving a number of national and foreign volunteers,were held in Dhaka early this year, and a progressreport was presented at and discussed during theCHEMRAWN XV conference “Chemistry for Water”held in Paris in June.4 The issue will be further devel-oped and scrutinized by the task group, and aregional workshop with input from all parties involvedwill be held in Bangladesh next year. The purpose ofthis conference is 1) to promote collaboration between “researchers [..]

from the ‘industrial superpowers’”1 and “local coun-terparts in the host country,”1 who are activelyaddressing the problem, and

2) to evaluate how local government agencies canassist in implementation of the solutions proposed.

Another project—based almost completely on vol-untary work and performed in cooperation with theInternational Organization for Chemical Sciences inDevelopment (IOCD)5—addresses the “Standardiz-ation of Analytical Approaches and AnalyticalCapacity-Building in Africa.” The project, chaired byDr. Walter R. Benson, aims “to upgrade selected labo-ratories in Africa, thereby enabling them to producereliable and internationally accepted analytical results

3CHEMISTRY International November-December 2004

for farmers and enterprises in the private sector thatseek to export commodities to markets in the USA,EU, and Japan, where compliance with internationalstandards is required.”6 In order to reach this goal thefollowing working strategy has been adopted: maketeams of experienced chemists and local staff mem-bers, facilitate interaction, and organize working ses-sions with practical work both within and outsideAfrica. As pointed out by Djerassi, close cooperationwith instrumental people in the African countries isrequired for success. This aspect of the project istherefore taken very seriously.

Space does not allow me to present other exam-ples involving IUPAC projects in developing countries,such as those addressing contamination from miningin some African countries, improvement of chemistryeducation in many countries around the world, man-agement of biodiversity in several Asian countries, ordevelopment of sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the IUPAC experience is thesame: successful volunteer work requires an attitudeof mutual respect, willingness to work persistently,and strong coordination with the people in charge.Careful selection of the task group is therefore a cru-cial part of the planning of IUPAC projects, and that isnot easy if the volunteers of the right calibre are notavailable. I therefore appreciate very much thatProfessor Djerassi so wholeheartedly urges Ph.D. stu-dents or postdoctoral researchers (or even advancedgraduate students) from the industrial superpowers

to go out and work in collaboration with their youngerlocal counterparts in developing countries.1

More involvement by young chemists in voluntarywork is definitely needed, and involvement in anIUPAC project may be a place to start. Welcome as anIUPAC volunteer! IUPAC involvement and effort notonly provides personal satisfaction, but also con-tributes significantly to the application of chemistry inthe service of Mankind.

References

1 Carl Djerassi, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 2330–2332;

reprinted in Chemistry International 2004, 26 (5), 12–14.

2 The problem has been described in an article by Rebecca

L. Rawls in Chem. & Eng. News 2002, 80, 42–45.

3 A description of the project and information about the task

group members are available through the IUPAC Web site

at www.iupac.org/projects/2003/2003-050-1-021.html.

4 Mike Freemantle, Chem. & Eng. News 2004, 80, 42–45;

Alan Smith, Chemistry International 2004, 26 (5), 26–28.

5 IOCD was established in 1981 after an initiative of

Professor Pierre Crabbé. The organization and its activi-

ties are described in J.-M. Lehn, E.R. Blout and R.H.

Maybury, Chemistry International 2002, 24 (3), 3-5.

6 A description of the project and information about the

task group members are available on the IUPAC Web site

at www.iupac.org/projects/2004/2004-017-1-500.html.

Leiv K. Sydnes <[email protected]> is the current IUPAC president, a member

of the Norwegian Chemical Society, and professor at the University of Bergen.


Strengthening International ScienceAn Overview of theInternational Council forScience

by Carthage Smith and ThomasRosswall

Founded in 1931, the International Council forScience (ICSU) is a nongovernmental organiza-tion representing a global membership that

includes both national scientific bodies (101 mem-bers) and international scientific unions (27 mem-bers). Chemistry has played an important role in ICSUfrom the outset, with IUPAC being one of its originalmembers.

Through its international network, ICSU coordi-nates interdisciplinary research to address majorissues of relevance to both science and society. Inaddition, the Council actively advocates for freedomin the conduct of science, promotes equitable accessto scientific data and information, and facilitates sci-ence education and capacity building.

The Council acts as a forum for the exchange ofideas, the communication of scientific information,and the development of scientific standards. ICSU’smembers organize scientific conferences, congresses,and symposia all around the world—in excess of 600per year—and also produce a wide range of newslet-ters, handbooks, learned journals, and proceedings.

ICSU also helps create international and regionalnetworks of scientists with similar interests and main-tains close working relationships with a number ofintergovernmental and non-governmental organiza-tions, including UNESCO and the Third WorldAcademy of Sciences (TWAS). Because of its broadmembership, ICSU is frequently called upon to speakon behalf of the global scientific community and pro-vide advice on matters ranging from ethics to theenvironment.

A Brief History

One of the oldest non-governmental organizations inthe world, the Council is the result of the evolution andexpansion of two earlier bodies known as theInternational Association for Academies (IAA) and theInternational Research Council (IRC). Reflecting thegrowing importance of scientific collaboration acrossnational boundaries, the IAA was established in 1899with 10 members (nine European nations and theUSA). Around the same time, a number of scientificdisciplines also created international associations.Some 20 years later (1919), as the need for interdisci-plinary research to address the links between scienceand society became more evident, these bodies joinedforces to create the IRC. IUPAC became a member ofIRC in 1922.

In 1931, IRC members unanimously approved a pro-posal to reorganize the Council into a much largerorganization composed of 40 national scientific bod-ies and 8 international scientific unions. Memberswanted to highlight the principle that all parties wereequal partners, and thus chose to call themselves theInternational Council for Scientific Unions.

ICSU continued to grow and evolve, adding manynew members in both categories. The membershipcurrently comprises 101 national bodies and 27 scien-tific unions. Over the years, ICSU began to addressspecific global issues through the creation of interdis-ciplinary bodies and developed partnerships withother organizations. In 1998, members agreed that theCouncil’s current composition and activities would bebetter reflected by modifying the name to theInternational Council for Science, while retaining theexisting acronym.

Developing a Science Strategy

At the beginning of the 21st century, ICSU remainsunique in its international and multidisciplinary mem-bership. However, the growth of international science

ICSU Officers (L to R). Front: Roger Elliott (Treasurer, UK),Ana Maria Cetto (Secretary General, Mexico), JaneLubchenco (President, USA), Hiroyuki Yoshikawa (Past-President, Japan). Back: David Parry (Vice-President, NewZealand), Goverdhan Mehta (President-Elect, India), PeterTyson (Vice-President, South Africa).


initiatives has made it clear that the Council mustidentify its own niche and focus on areas where itsefforts will have the greatest impact. To this end, anew standing Committee on Scientific Planning andReview (CSPR) was estab-lished in 1998. CSPR and theExecutive Board have initi-ated a number of activities tohelp define future needs andstrategic priorities.

Identifying EmergingIssuesICSU is seeking to identifyareas in which scientificdevelopments could havesignificant impacts on tech-nology, the economy, andsociety. In 2002, the Councilpublished a meta-analysis ofnational and regional fore-sight studies, which had beencommissioned by Scienceand Technology PolicyResearch (SPRU) at theUniversity of Sussex. TheSPRU Report,1 provided the basis for a consultation in2003 with all ICSU members on potential future prior-ities for science and society at the international level.This has led to the identification of 10 broad themes;some are already being partially addressed by ICSU,others are completely new.

Assessments of Specific Areas of Science One of the biggest challenges facing any organizationwith a long history is determining whether its struc-ture and operations meet the demands of the day.Over the years, ICSU has established a range of inter-disciplinary bodies and policy/advisory committeesthat address international science issues. But one ofthe Council’s weaknesses has been failing to fully ana-lyze how these groups evolve over time and to prop-erly assess distinctions, complementarities, and areasof overlap in light of new needs and priorities.

Under the aegis of CSPR, ad hoc expert panelshave been established to assess three broad areas:environment and its relation to sustainable develop-ment, data and information, and capacity building.The report on the first of these areas2 was publishedearlier this year and includes recommendations on thestatus of existing ICSU bodies as well as proposals for

new interdisciplinary programs. The other two assess-ment reports will be published in late 2004 and earlyin 2005.

The Universality of Scienceand the Interface withSocietyOne of the founding princi-ples of ICSU, which is embed-ded in its statutes, is the“Universality of Science.” Theessential elements of thisprinciple are non-discrimina-tion and equity. In the past,particularly during the ColdWar, ICSU’s StandingCommittee on Freedom inthe Conduct of Scienceenabled many grateful scien-tists to obtain visas to attendinternational meetings. Visaproblems remain a majorobstacle in some countriesand for some nationalities.The changing internationalpolitical climate and concerns

about security have made it more difficult for scien-tists to travel freely and created new threats to uni-versality and to the free exchange of data,information, and materials.

The future role and responsibilities of ICSU withregard to universality is one area of focus for theongoing strategic review: “Science and Society: Rightsand Responsibilities.” The other major area is the inter-face between science and society, including topics ofpressing concern to all of science such as ethics, pub-lic communication, risk, and uncertainty. This impor-tant review, which will include recommendations fornew ICSU activities, will be published early in 2005.

Enhancing the ICSU Grants ProgramThe ICSU Grants Programme, which is co-funded byUNESCO, seeks to support international and interdisci-plinary issues that, because of their complex nature, aredifficult to address through national or disciplinary

ICSU's Mission

In order to strengthen international sciencefor the benefit of society, ICSU mobilizes theknowledge and resources of the internationalscience community to: • identify and address major issues of

importance to science and society• facilitate interaction among scientists

across all disciplines and from all countries• promote the participation of all scientists-

regardless of race, citizenship, language,political stance, or gender-in the interna-tional scientific endeavor

• provide independent, authoritative adviceto stimulate constructive dialoguebetween the scientific community andgovernments, civil society, and the privatesector

for the Benefit of Society

1 Identification of Emerging Issues in Science and Society:An International Perspective on National ForesightStudies. ICSU. 2002. ISBN 0-930357-54-X.

2 Environment and its Relation to SustainableDevelopment; report of the CSR Assessment Panel. ICSU.2004 ISBN 0-930357-59-0. Both reports are available online at <www.icsu.org>.


channels. The program promotes forward-looking proj-ects and, in many instances, awards are granted forareas of investigation that are not yet on the agenda ofgovernments or other organizations. Although theoverall budget is relatively small (USD 850000 for2004), ICSU support often helps recipients attract addi-tional funding from other sources. A minimum of threecooperating ICSU member organizations is required onany single grant project.

Over the past three years, ICSU has taken steps toimprove the program by initiating a competitive peer-review process and identifying five broad priorityareas: emerging science and technology, science andtechnology for sustainable development, capacitybuilding and science education, dissemination of infor-mation on science and technology, and thescience/policy interface.

Regional Offices will Strengthen Global and Local ScienceOne of the major challenges for ICSU is to truly incor-porate the needs and priorities of developing countriesinto its strategic planning and other activities. At the27th General Assembly (Rio de Janeiro, September

2002), national and union members adopted a recom-mendation that ICSU establish four regional offices fordeveloping countries, to be located in Africa, the ArabRegion, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.The goal of this fundamental change in the ICSU struc-ture is twofold. First, it should enhance participation ofdeveloping country scientists and regional scientificorganizations in ICSU programs and activities. Second,it will allow ICSU to play a more active role in strength-ening science within the context of regional prioritiesand building capacity.

Things have moved rapidly since the GeneralAssembly in 2002 and, after extensive regional con-sultations, ICSU has signed an agreement with theNational Research Foundation in South Africa to hostthe first ICSU regional office. Negotiations are beingconcluded with the Mexican Academy of Sciences tohost the second office and discussions are underwaywith potential hosts in the other regions.

One of the most important aims of this decentral-ization is to improve interaction among members ofthe ICSU family within a specific geographic area. Inthis way, ICSU hopes to both strengthen regional sci-entific networks and help strengthen the presence ofscienists from developing countries in the interna-tional arena.

Using Science to Help Shape the Future

In recent years, ICSU has taken a much more proactiverole in major international initiatives that are notexclusively focused on science, but where science hasan important contribution to make. With increasedemphasis on the links between science and society,the Council recognizes the need to strengthen itsexisting partnerships and expand its network toinclude links with social and medical sciences andengineering, as well as relevant players in the non-sci-entific community: government agencies, businessand industry, and civil society.

Sustainable DevelopmentAt the request of the United Nations, ICSU collabo-rated with the World Federation of EngineeringOrganizations, TWAS, the Inter Academy Panel onInternational Issues, and the International SocialScience Council to organize the global science andtechnology community’s contributions to the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development, held August2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Subsequently,

Priority Themes 2003–04

Following a broad consultation with all ICSU mem-bers in 2003, 10 broad themes were identified forpotential action by ICSU. For more details see “AForesight Analysis of Priorities for Future ICSUAction” at <www.icsu.org>.

1. nanotechnology 2. molecular biosciences3. natural and man-made hazards 4. complex systems science5. cognitive neurosciences 6. global change and earth system science7. sustainable development

i. water ii. energy iii. healthiv. agriculture, food, and nutritionv. biodiversity

8. data, information, and the digital divide 9. capacity building and investment in

basic science10. science, society, and ethics

An Overview of the International Council for Science


this partnership provided input to the U.N.Commission on Sustainable Development, which is anannual forum with political leaders and other keystakeholders. During the 2004-2005, the commissionwill work on issues of freshwater, sanitation, andhuman settlements—all topics in which science has acritical role to play.

The Information Society The first ever U.N. World Summit on the InformationSociety (WSIS) is taking place in two phases (Geneva,2003 and Tunis, 2005). It is a unique opportunity toaddress some of the critical issues that underpin the“digital divide” and are currently preventing universalaccess to scientific data and information.

In March 2003, ICSU and its Committee on Data forScience and Technology (CODATA) organized aninternational meeting of scientists that was hosted byUNESCO in Paris. The outcome was an agenda foraction, “Science in the Information Society,” which hassubsequently been formally endorsed by many ICSUmember organizations. Working in partnership withother international science organizations, principallyCERN and TWAS, this agenda was highlighted and

further developed in aseries of WSIS prepara-tory meetings and atkey events at theGeneva Summit. It wasincorporated, almost inits entirety, into theformal documents thatwere eventually agreedupon by heads of statein Geneva.

In Preparationfor the 28th GeneralAssemblyChina will host the nextGeneral Assembly atSuzhou in October2005. This will mark animportant milestone inICSU’s evolution, as theoverall strategy for 2006–2012 will be unveiled. Inaddition to the activities highlighted above, there arenumber of other exciting developments in the pipelinethat will be incorporated into this future roadmap. Forexample, planning is actively underway for a majornew multi-disciplinary research program, theInternational Polar Year 2007–2008; a working groupon energy and sustainable societies is preparing itsrecommendations; and, another ad hoc group is con-sidering basic sciences.

ICSU is going through an intense period of growthand change. It will continue to focus on what makes itunique: the ability to bring together scientists fromdifferent countries and disciplines to address scientificissues for which an international, interdisciplinaryapproach is essential. The General Assembly inSuzhou will be an opportunity for all the ICSU mem-bers to reaffirm their own commitment to workingtogether to strengthen international science for thebenefit of society.

Carthage Smith <[email protected]> and Thomas Rosswall

<[email protected]> are, respectively, deputy executive director and

executive director of ICSU, located in Paris, France.

For more information e-mail <[email protected]>.

www.icsu.org

ICSU Affiliates

National Members (101)ICSU’s national members provide input, from anational, multi-disciplinary perspective, on priorityareas for future ICSU activities. They also play animportant role in facilitating links with nationalgovernments and science agencies. The majorityof ICSU national members are scientific academies,although some are national funding agencies orother nationally representative science bodies.

Scientific Union Members (27)ICSU relies on its union members to provide scien-tific expertise and input, from an international, dis-ciplinary perspective, on scientific priority areasfor future ICSU activities. They play a crucial roleas representatives of the scientific community.

Scientific Associates (23)Whether international or regional scientific organ-izations, ICSU’s scientific associates bring theirown particular perspectives to relevant ICSU dis-cussions and activities. For example, the ThirdWorld Academy of Sciences is a key partner indefining ICSU’s strategy for developing countries.

This ICSU publication, Science in

the Information Society, was incor-porated into the formal documentsthat were agreed upon by heads ofstate at the 2003 U.N. WorldSummit on the Information Societyin Geneva.

Strengthening International Science


Her Lab in Your Life: Women in Chemistry is a newexhibition that takes a fresh look at everyday life,revealing how chemical science and engineering helpshape it. Designed by the Chemical HeritageFoundation (CHF)—a U.S.-based foundation—thisexhibition showcases women chemists who havehelped create our modern world and their historiccontributions to science and technology. From theaction of atoms to the substance of stars, thesewomen have given us new visions of the materialworld and our place in it. The exhibition—traveling oronline—was created especially for high school andcollege students but designed to engage generalaudiences.

Her Lab in Your Life*by Josh McIlvain

CHF’s newest traveling exhibit, Her Lab in YourLife: Women in Chemistry, focuses on the richhistory of women chemists by highlighting

some of their accomplishments from the Renaissanceto the present. The exhibit’s purpose is to interestteenage women in the history of women chemists sothat they will view a career in chemistry as a possi-bility.

Why was this audience chosen? The words ofStephanie Burns (president and chief operating offi-cer of Dow Corning) in Chemical and EngineeringNews answer that question: “We know that younggirls are interested in science during their early yearsin school, but by the time they get into high school,they lose interest. We have to put more emphasis intomaking science fun at the high-school level.” Thanksto the generous support of the Hach ScientificFoundation, Her Lab in Your Life was created to meetthis challenge.

The central message of Her Lab in Your Life is thatwomen’s important contributions to chemistry havehelped create the world we live in today. To promote

this message, the exhibit team concentrated on threerelated themes: women chemists have improved ourunderstanding of the physical world, they havehelped shape the material circumstances and popularculture of our everyday lives, and they have brokennew ground in the chemical professions and served asrole models for young women.

Choosing the Women and TheirStory

Faced with the difficult task of choosing which impor-tant and interesting women chemists to include, theexhibit team eventually selected 68 and createdresearch files for each one. Such a large number isclear proof that the achievements of women chemistsare not isolated blips on a professional map. Manywho did not make it into the panel of the travelingexhibit have been included on the exhibit’s compan-ion Web site.

Some of the women highlighted in Her Lab in YourLife are still alive and active chemists. Also includedare some famous women in the history of chemistry,such as Marie Curie, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, andEllen Richards; their inclusion helps “ground” the restof the experience, for theirs are among the few namesvisitors will likely recognize. The exhibit discussesmany professions, representing the prominence ofwomen chemists in several chemical fields and show-We must show to the girls who are

studying science in our schools thatit has a very close relation to oureveryday life.—Ellen H. Richards(1879)

*This article first appeared in Chemical Heritage, spring

2004 issue; reproduced with permission from the CHF.

Women in Chemistry


ing visitors the variety of careers to which chemistrycan lead. Her Lab in Your Life also points out thatwomen chemists from many backgrounds have madeimportant contributions to chemistry.

Creating an exhibit on the history of womenchemists that would engage a teenage audience pre-sented an exciting challenge. The exhibit would alsoneed to travel, be durable, and yet have enough pres-ence to intrigue visitors to stop and spend time withit. How would the exhibit present the stories ofShannon Lucid, the NASA biochemist who set theAmerican record (since broken) for most days inspace; Susan Solomon, who helped determine thechemistry behind the ozone hole; Allene RosalindJeanes, who helped develop intravenous fluids andinvent xanthan gum; and over 60 other chemists to atechnologically sophisticated, media-savvy, and noto-riously fickle audience used to high-speed Internetconnections, iPods, factoids, and MTV?

In an interview I conducted with Melissa Sherman,global new business manager at DuPont, sheexplained how a college internship at 3M was her firstexposure to “real world” applications of chemistry: “Ibecame aware that chemistry was involved in theplastic on your computer keyboard, the fibers in yourcarpet, the fibers in your clothing, the cosmetics youwear on your face, the perfumes you use, the hair careproducts you use, as well as the plastic on automo-biles or the rubber on your tires.” The ubiquity ofchemistry and how it has shaped and continues toshape our everyday lives is what makes its history sointeresting. The exhibit team uses this ubiquity as thesetting for the stories of women chemists.

Shaping and Designing the Exhibit

First came the physical form of the exhibit. Displayswould be captured on all four sides of freestanding, L-shaped structures, six-and-a-half-feet tall. These Ls, ofwhich there are four, can be configured in a variety ofways to fit a variety of rooms. Since visitors couldapproach the exhibit from any direction, the designhad to avoid making viewers follow a mandatory pathto grasp the exhibit’s ideas. Twelve different thematicstations were created to frame the stories of thewomen chemists: Life (biochemistry), Medicine (phar-maceuticals), Stuff (materials), Environment,Discovery, Style (Cosmetics and fashion), Food,Sanitation, Work (variety of careers), Knowledge(education), Challenges, and Chips (semiconductors).

The exhibit’s design took cues from today’s youthculture—the genres teenage women favor and theplaces they find familiar. Borrowing from graphic nov-els, the Medicine station uses comic-book art to tellthe stories of Gertrude Elion creating drugs forleukemia, herpes, and meningitis; Dorothy Hodgkindetermining penicillin structure; and Chen Zhao help-ing develop protease inhibitors to fight AIDS. TheStyle station features a mock cover of a fashion mag-azine showing a model wearing fashion accessoriesand clothing that are then deconstructed to relatethem to various women chemists who created them—such as Hazel Bishop and her no-smear lipstick, andEdith M. Flanigen and the synthetic emeralds shemade (originally for masers). The Sanitation station isset in a restroom (the sinks side) and features EllenSwallow Richards’ survey of Massachusetts’s waterquality in the 1870s—work that led to the water-qual-ity standards we take for granted today.

In the Challenges station, set in a dorm room, HerLab in Your Life addresses the barriers that womenfaced in education and the chemical professions, par-ticularly throughout the 20th century. These chal-lenges—from outright discrimination to subtler formsof cultural discouragement—and the strides made inbreaking them down are placed in the context of thebroader story of the women’s rights movement. Thatcontext is relevant because despite all the prioraccomplishments of women chemists, they did nothave a legal basis for fighting discrimination until theCivil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The most tellingartifacts of cultural sexism are two chemistry setsfrom the early 1960s. “Chemistry Set for Boys,”


The Exhibit Online

The companion Web site to HerLab in Your Life allows virtualvisitors from across the globe

to “visit” the exhibition and to learnmore about the ways womenchemists have helped change themodern world. The site will eventu-ally include teaching materials,expanded biographies, and links toadditional Web resources.

Online, the 12 themes are pre-sented independently, and fromeach of these sections, one can meetwomen who pioneered the disci-pline:

Body Life is a chemical process,and the human body a fascinatingand complex chemical system. Here,you can take a breath of fresh airwith Ruth Erica Benesch, walk in thepark with Judith P. Klinman, or feelthe electricity with JacquelineBarton.

Medicines Chemistry is used totrack down new treatments andmanufacture cures. Meet herewomen chemists who helpeddevelop and mass-produce life-sav-ing drugs from penicillin to proteaseinhibitors.

Health & Safety Sanitation Cleanwater, wholesome groceries, andsafe workplaces are often taken forgranted nowadays, but womenchemists established many of the

standards in sanitation and publichealth. Go from here to test thewaters with Kathryn Hach-Darrow.

Environment Protecting theenvironment requires knowledge-especially knowledge of chemistry.While certain chemicals can damagethe environment, chemistry isrequired to identify the problems,detect the pollutants, clean up themess, and prevent future problems.Go clean up the air with Kathleen C.Taylor, and see how Diane Gates-Anderson found chemical solutionsto chemical problems in managingsafe disposal of harmful pollutants.

Food From the chemical analysisneeded to structure nutritional dietsfor low-income families to the inven-tion of xanthan gum, womenchemists have continually put foodon the table.

Style Women chemists have puttheir skills to work in today’s fashionindustry, using chemical processesto create new materials andimproved fabrics.

Computer Chips help you driveyour car, cook your food, play yourmusic, power your cellular phone,and more. Chips are made of semi-conductor materials and in thatindustry, every step is a chemical

step. Here Elsa Reichmanis andJennie Hwang will show you thatsmall is powerful. Women chemistslike them have helped develop andadvance the world of semiconduc-tors.

Stuff Creating and/or improvingeveryday products is another thingthat chemists do well. Check out thework of these women chemists whomade high-tech fibers, wrinkle-free,stain- or flame-resistant fabrics, oreven synthetic bones.

Finally there is more in UniverseHere, discovery is portrayed as athrill that drives many womenchemists in pursuit of their science;in Challenges where you can meetthe first women chemists who faceddaunting professional and socialchallenges, but whose desire anddetermination gave them thestrength to overcome these obsta-cles; Knowledge presents whathard work it took for chemists, asteachers, writers, and advocates, toensure girls’ inclusion in the chem-istry classroom; and finally Careerillustrates the many places thatchemistry as a career can take you.

www.chemheritage.org/women_chemistry

Her Lab in Your Life


encased in metal, proudly displays on the front twoboys playing with chemistry; the “Lab Technicians Setfor Girls,” which lacks a picture but comes in a pinkzippered briefcase with light blue trim,risks being mistaken for a make-up kit.Balancing this history of oppressionand discrimination are the stories of“firsts” for women chemists, whichinclude Gerty Cori, the first Americanwoman to win a Nobel Prize in the sci-ences (1947); Marie Daly, the firstAfrican-American woman to earn aPh.D. in chemistry (1947); and Anna Harrison, the firstwoman elected president of the American ChemicalSociety (1978).

The Knowledge station reveals the power of edu-cation and the danger of being kept out of the class-room. Is chemistry class a pain? Her Lab in Your Lifeasks, well, what if you weren’t allowed to go? In the19th century most young women would have neededJane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry to learn thesubject. Most universities and colleges sim-ply did not let women into chemistry classes.It took a dedicated effort from women’s col-leges like Mount Holyoke, Vassar, and BrynMawr to ensure that young women could notonly learn chemistry but also be good inves-tigative chemists. Nowadays your chemistryteacher may be a woman (Linda Ford wasthe ACS High School Chemistry Teacher ofthe Year in 2003) and your textbook may bewritten by a woman. The series of populartextbooks that Mary Fieser wrote with herhusband Louis were innovative in their useof real applications for chemistry in medicineand industry. Prominent in the exhibit is a large pho-tograph of a modern high-school chemistry class;viewed from one angle, the girls disappear from thephotograph, serving as a reminder for visitors not totake their access to education for granted.

It is important, however, not to tell the story ofwomen chemists simply as a story of struggle andperseverance. Emphasizing the story of struggle mayconceal the story of scientific accomplishment.Further, the exhibit should not give its target audience

the over-arching impression that if a young womangoes into chemistry, the rest of her life will be one bigmigraine. The aim instead is to show her how chem-

istry leads to diverse professions thatmake significant impacts on people’slives.

In an interview with CHF, MargaretTolbert, a senior spokesperson for theNational Science Foundation and for-mer director of the New BrunswickLaboratory, a government researchfacility for nuclear chemistry, made

this point: “Young women ... should make efforts tofind out the diversity of careers that one can have asa result of having a degree in chemistry.” When askedabout her own experience in the world of chemistry,Tolbert responded, “My experience as a woman inchemistry and management has been most positive.Although I have encountered some challenges, therewere none that I could not overcome.”

Whether learning about the chemistry of food andhow Cecile Hoover Edwards devised pro-tein-rich vegetarian diets based on herchemical investigations and well-balanced,nutritious, and affordable diets for low-income families, or about how RosalindFranklin’s X-ray crystallography deter-mined the double helix structure of DNA,visitors can wake up to the chemistry allaround them—and take that interest intothe future.

Josh McIlvain <[email protected]> is staff researcher/fel-

lowship coordinator for the Beckman Center for the History of

Chemistry at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, USA. To learn about hosting the exhibit, contact Josh by e-mail or by

phone at +1 215 925 2178, ext 238.

www.chemheritage.org

Women in Chemistry

The most tellingartifacts of cultural

sexism are twochemistry sets from

the early 1960s.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation is anAssociated Organization of IUPAC. It serves thecommunity of the chemical and molecular sciences,and the wider public, by treasuring the past, edu-cating the present, and inspiring the future.


Istanbul is a 2600-year old city, former capital of theByzantine and Ottoman empires, and a melting pot forcivilizations and cultures. Today, Istanbul is a worldleader in scientific and cultural activities. It shouldtherefore be no surprise that the 18th InternationalConference on Chemical Education, held in Istanbulfrom 3–8 August 2004, was extremely successful andoffered a vision of what the future of chemistry edu-cation ought to be.

by Lida Schoen

Delegates from 60 countries attended the con-ference, which was organized by the TurkishChemical Society. The 353 delegates, includ-

ing a large local contingent, could choose among 9plenary lectures, 10 keynote lectures, 179 talks/pre-sentations, and 153 posters in the well-equippedHilton Convention Centre.

The Challenges of Today andTomorrow

After, an impressive formal opening in Istanbul’sMilitary Museum by the traditional brass band and wel-coming remarks in which IUPAC was called the UnitedNations of Chemistry, John Bradley introduced the firsttwo plenary lecturers: Peter Atkins, chairman of theIUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE) andPeter Mahaffy, chairman of the CCE subcommittee onPublic Understanding of Chemistry.

Peter Atkins (University of Oxford, UK) describedthe importance of chemistry in Turkey and pointedout that on the Turkish flag the moon in its last quar-ter resembles the “C” of Chemistry and emphasizesthe theme of the conference: “CommunicatingChemistry: the Challenge.” One of the best

approaches to chemistryeducation, Atkins stated,is for teachers and com-municators to demon-strate that the underlyingideas of chemistry arevery simple—doing so willhelp bridge the concept-context gap for studentsand the general public. Hesaid that the general pub-lic will lose interest if toomany technical details areprovided.

Atkins said that abstraction is the root of the pub-lic’s fear of chemistry. And although sophisticatedcomputer graphics can help the public better under-stand chemistry, Atkins doesn’t regard the computeras the key to solving the problem. He also pointed outthat an intensive focus on mathematics when teachingchemistry tends to put off students. Integrating math-ematics in chemistry on a need-to-know basis canreduce this burden. Atkins also discussed how chem-istry classes often become overly complex due to theinterplay of influences, multiplicity of concepts, andavalanche of facts. On the positive side, and usingsuperimposed triangles to make his point, he pointedout that there are many multi-media teaching aids andnew techniques such as computation, or even electro-chemistry (clean energy) that can drive motivate stu-dents and chemistry forward.

In his lecture called “Shaping What is to Come,”Peter Mahaffy (King’s University College, Alberta,Canada) introduced a fourth element to the more tradi-tional trilogy of symbolic, macroscopic, and molecularlevels of thinking about chemistry: the human element.As proposed by Mahaffy, Tetrahedral ChemistryEducation is a new conceptual metaphor for workingwith students and the public (see page 14). In his pres-entation Mahaffy recognized Can Etik’s entry in lastyear’s poster competition “It's a Chemical World!” Etik, ateenager from Istanbul, was presented with a certificatein recognition of his winning poster Chemistry isEverywhere (see page 16).

Chemistry Education forDevelopment

Although we live in an age of globalization, the gapbetween richer and poorer countries continues towiden. Not surprisingly, studies have shown thatcountries with higher gross national products havepopulations with higher science literacy. Developingcountries, which view science and technology asessential components of their economic development,are at a distinct disadvantage. “How Can We Close theGap?” was the question JJoohhnn BBrraaddlleeyy (University ofthe Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)posed in his lecture.

As Bradley pointed out, chemistry educators, how-ever inventive, need resources. In some countries atextbook is all they can expect. But teachers needmore: reliable sources of chemistry information, picto-rial matter (posters, transparencies, videos), andresources for practical activities. Over the past few

The Future of Chemistry Education

Peter Mahaffy and Hale Bayram(18th ICCE Secretary General).


years, said Bradley, joint programs of IUPAC andUNESCO have focused attention on these needs. TheDIDAC teaching resources—a set of (lan-guage-free) transparencies, supported bytext (available in six languages), for teach-ers—have been made widely available onCD, and were recently posted online<www.iupac.org/didac>. Another exampleis the microchemistry concept, which has been pro-moted in developing countries. Some 15 countrieshave adopted the system as national policy and haveacquired kits and chemicals using their own nationalbudgets and donor funds.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Robert Bucat (University of Western Australia)argued that we now know that formal learning oftenconstitutes little more than the ability to reproducesymbols and words, and to apply algorithms.Therefore, the question is no longer “What should betaught?,” but “What is learned?”

According to Bucat, despite extensive knowledgeabout conditions necessary for effective learning,teachers have been provided with little guidanceabout the best methods for teaching particular chem-istry topics. This may be partly because much of thechemical education research has used chemistry sub-ject matter just as a vehicle to develop ideas and the-ories of pedagogy, such as constructivist approachesto learning, co-operative learning, learning styles andon-line learning, all of which can be considered inde-pendently of subject matter.

Bucat did not deny the importance of generic ped-agogical issues, but he wants to know, “What hap-pened to the content?” He stated that there is a needfor pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), whichrefers to knowledge about the teaching and learningof particular subject matter. A vast difference existsbetween knowing about a topic and knowing aboutthe teaching and learning of that topic. As Bucatpointed out, the drives of competent teachers are sel-dom recorded, their PCK retires with them, and sonew teachers need to develop their abilities fromscratch. The chemical education enterprise is cryingout for topic-specific PCK according to Bucat.

Misconceptions About ChemicalConcepts

Mei-Hung Chiu (National Taiwan Normal University)reported on a study that examined students’ under-

standing of a selected set of concepts. Although manystudies have been conducted in the area of miscon-

ceptions, few studies have systematicallycollected students’ conceptions of theirunderstanding of chemical concepts. In thisfour-year study sponsored by the NationalScience Council in Taiwan, students’ inTaiwan were systematically surveyed

about their understanding of selected concepts. Thepotential causes for student misconceptions wereexamined in detail, and included sources such asexperiments, reference books, language, textbooks,and after-school programs. All of these influence howstudents learn chemistry.

About 14 000 students—from grades 6 (elemen-tary), 8 and 9 (junior high), and 11 (senior high)—wereselected as the target samples. The studentsanswered questions in a multiple-choice test and thenhad to explain why they gave their answers.Compared to other national surveys, results showedatypical misconceptions.

Norita Mohamed (Universiti Sains Malaysia inPenang) discussed how first-year chemistry studentsin Malaysia struggle with basic chemistry concepts.She suggested that knowledge and understanding oflearning styles or preferences is the key to getting stu-dents actively involved in the learning process. AsMohamed noted, research suggests that the more stu-dents are actively engaged, the more they achieve.According to Mohamed, a survey is being conducted inMalaysia that will identify students’ preferred learningstyle (Felder’s Learning Style Inventory) and determinethe correlation, if any, with their performance in chem-istry (overall grade at the end of the semester).

Ram Lamba (University of Puerto Rico, Cayev, PR)asked not only what and how the students learn, butmore exactly how they filter what is taught. Althoughlectures are a way to present information quickly, theydo not always lead to effective learning. Students areoften lost due to the lack of interchange and interac-tion of ideas with their fellow students and theteacher. Lamba also demonstrated that there is a limitto the amount of information the students—or in thiscase the audience—can process in a given time.During his presentation, Ram instructed the audienceto remember numbers in a special way, but the audi-ence gave up after it was asked to remember toomany things at a time. Ram believes that teachersoften ask students to store too much information atone time in their long-term memories.

Ram reported that the University of Puerto Ricohas developed an introductory laboratory course that


uses experiments to provide studentswith experiences similar to those inthe real world. The students work ingroups and take advantage of eachother’s experimental conditions anddata. Research showed that studentswho participated in the guided dis-covery approach received higher finalgrades and had different attitudes

toward chemistry than students intypical chemistry courses.

Jan Apotheker (University ofGroningen, Netherlands) alsoreported that cooperative learningin the chemistry classroom can be apowerful tool. Cooperative learninginvolves peers helping to educateone another. While the influence ofpeers has an important role in edu-cation, the techniques of coopera-tive learning are not always easy to

implement in the classroom. Apotheker presentedtwo worksheets designed to help overcome start-upproblems.

Chemistry in the Arts and Everyday Life

As several speakers discussed, there is a growingpanoply of alternative teaching styles that can beused to demonstrate to non-science majors the valueof chemistry in everyday life. Nan-Kan Chen reportedthat in Taiwan, non-science majors lack a sciencebackground, and even enter college with “chemopho-bia.” To attract the interest of these students, somechemistry professors are emphasising the practicaland daily applications of chemistry with the aid ofmultimedia presentations, laboratory visits, anddemonstration kits.

Tuija H. Timonen (Helsinki, Finland)—one of thefew actual school teachers attending theConference—discussed how integrating chemistryinto arts and crafts lessons is another way to help stu-dents relate chemical principles to everyday life. AsTimonen pointed out, colors play an important role inhow teenagers perceive their appearances. Naturalcolorants offer a many-sided theme for integratingscience and environmental protection. Timonendescribed a project in which the arts, crafts, and

by Peter Mahaffy

The tetrahedron is a geomet-rical figure instantly recog-nized by chemists as

shaping countless compoundsfound in nature and synthesized inlaboratories. At the beginning ofthe 20th Century, Jacobus van ‘tHoff was awarded the Nobel Prizein Chemistry for his work that ledto the prominence of this image inchemistry. Might the tetrahedronalso be a geometrical figure thatcan help us describe and shapechemistry education in the 21stcentury?

In the last decade chemistry edu-cation has been fruitfully describedby planar triangles, particularly thetriangle of thinking levels (symbolic,macroscopic, and molecular) sug-

gested by Alex Johnstone as beingcentral to understanding chem-istry.1 We’ve been very well servedby that triangular metaphor, whichhas helped educators address mis-conceptions students have at eachof the three thinking levels as theylearn chemistry.

Yet chemistry education mustrespond to global challenges.Professional associations, includingIUPAC and national chemistry soci-eties, as well as the chemical indus-try are calling for fresh approachesto building trust between chemistsand the general public and increas-ing global interest and understand-ing about our chemical world.Research presented to 350 dele-gates from 60 countries at the 18thInternational Conference onChemical Education (ICCE) in

Istanbul 3–8 August 2004 high-lighted innovative ways of reachingthe human learners in our class-rooms and helping citizens aroundthe world make responsible deci-sions about chemical substances,reactions, and processes central totheir lives.

To build trust and public under-standing we need to emphasizenew contours of chemistry educa-tion, highlighting the human ele-ment in and outside the classroom.And the language and metaphorsthat we use to describe chemistryeducation need to reflect that newemphasis. In the opening session ofthe ICCE Conference, I suggested anew conceptual metaphor for ourwork with students and thepublic—that we move chemistryeducation into three dimensions,visualizing the shape of things tocome in chemistry education astetrahedral,2 rather than triangularplanar. We need to find new ways


Zafra Lerman (top) andJan Apotheker.

Tetrahedral Chemistry Education:Shaping What is to Come



chemistry were integrated. In the chemistry lessonsstudents isolate anthraquinone pigments from thefungus Cortinarius sanguineus and the roots of Rubiatinctoria. During the isolating process students learnthe basics of laboratory work. The result is a colorant,which they then use in craft lessons for dying andprinting yarn and fabric. The dyed materials are thenmade into products, which are shown in an exhibitionat the end of the project. According to Timonen, girlsespecially thought that this project was more inter-esting than traditional learning.

In Portugal, ceramic tiles, which decorate churches,palaces, fountains, and even simple houses, are a veryimportant part of the artistic heritage. Maria ElisaMaia (Lisboa, Portugal) reported how chemistry stu-dents are playing a role in the conservation andrestoration of these national treasurers. Maia reportedthat the secondary school Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro hasa special vocational program in ceramics. Studentsand a teacher from the school collaborated with tech-nicians, restorating the tiles in the Nossa Senhora daNazaré Church. Salination is the main problem atNazaré, which is located near the Atlantic. According

to Maia, the students prepared a kit foridentification of the ions, worked onlocation, and took samples back toschool to do a more complete analysis.Another fieldwork example, was pre-sented by Šefka Horvat-Kurbegovi(Zagreb, Croatia), who discussed therestoration and conservation of worksof art at the cathedral of Zagreb.

The molecular dance* of chemistryis an inspiration for the performingarts, and as Zafra Lerman (ColumbiaCollege, Chicago, USA) argued, thearts can be effective tools to commu-nicate, teach, and learn chemistry.While the public learns from the mediaabout popular topics such as genetherapy, cloning, the human genome,

of integrating the web of humanconnections into our students’ dis-covery of the symbolic, macro-scopic, and molecular levels ofthinking about chemistry.

Tetrahedral chemistry educationcan challenge us to find new waysof bringing chemistry to life for stu-dents and the public. This meansgrounding the macroscopic, molec-ular and symbolic dimensions ofchemistry in “real world” problemsand solutions, including industrialprocesses and environmental appli-cations. We should stress educatingscience and non-science majorsabout the processes of science, and

the interactions between scienceand society. Tetrahedral chemistryeducation also emphasizes thehuman learner—through case stud-ies, investigative projects, problemsolving strategies, active learning,and matching pedagogical strate-gies to the learning styles of stu-dents. Numerous examples ofinnovative and successful “tetrahe-dral” strategies were presentedthroughout the week of the ICCEConference.

The Committee on ChemistryEducation pays attention to thevital human element of IUPAC’seducational mandate. The commit-

tee, which has responsibility for thebiennial ICCE conferences, focusesits work in two areas: PublicUnderstanding of Chemistry (PUC)and Chemistry Education forDevelopment (CED). Individuals,divisions, or standing committeeswith suggestions for activities andinitiatives to shape the future ofchemistry education are encour-aged to contact CCE Chair PeterAtkins, PUC Subcommittee ChairPeter Mahaffy, or CEDSubcommittee Chair Ram Lamba.

www.iupac.org/standing/cce.html

References1 Johnstone, A. H. “Thinking About

Thinking.” Int. Newsletter of Chem.

Edu. 36, (1991): 7–10.

2 Mahaffy, P.G. “Moving Chemistry

Education into a Third Dimension,”

Alberta Science Education Journal

Special Issue on Chemistry Education

36 (1), September 2003, 9–16.

SymbolicMolecular

Human Element

Macroscopic

Molecular Symbolic

Macroscopic

Nan-Kan Chen (top)and Mei-Hung Chiu.

*The molecular dance is a favorite simile of John C. Polanyi

(1986 Nobel prize winner), who acknowledged that observing

a chemical reaction is like observing dance partners while they

are on stage rather than in the wings before or after the dance.

<www.utoronto.ca/jpolanyi/profile/profile2.html>.



and stem cells, it doesn’t know that the basis for thisresearch is chemistry. Lerman explained that studentswho major in art, music, dance, drama, and poetry arehappy to enrol in a chemistry class to get inspirationfor their work. The chemical bond has become one ofthe most attractive subjects for drama and dance pro-ductions. For example, those lovers, sodium and chlo-rine, were portrayed in a mock performance of Romeoand Juliet by a troop of students from Columbia.

Between lectures and posters, delegates wereexposed to topics as varied as chemistry curriculum,new approaches to teacher training, micro-scalechemistry, student attitudes and perception, distanceeducation, interdisciplinary education, green chem-istry, and chemistry and society. It seemed that nosubject was forgotten!

As we were reminded by John Bradley at the endof his plenary lecture: Those of us attending the 18th

ICCE are fortunate. We have an opportunity toengage in professional discourse, to learn a lot, and toteach others in this very diverse, stimulating interna-tional meeting. This good fortune brings responsibil-ity. Most of us go home stimulated and energized andfew of us successfully transfer these feelings and thenew knowledge to our colleagues. But we could domore . . .

The 19th ICCE will be held 12–17 August 2006 inSeoul, Korea, on the theme of “Chemistry andChemical Education for Humanity” <www.19icce.org>.In 2006 the Korean Chemical Society, which has 5000members, will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary.

Lida Schoen <[email protected]>, based in the Netherlands, is a titular member

of the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education and the Subcommittee on the

Public Understanding of Chemistry, and is a member of the Science Across the

World team.

Chemistry isEverywhere

In January 2003, Professor HaleBayram, the Secretary Generalof the Organizing Committee of

the 18th ICCE and a teacher trainerin Istanbul, alerted chemistryteachers Selmin Aydin and HülyaKordel about IUPAC’s poster com-petition “It’s a Chemical World!”Sixteen-year old Can Etik, a stu-dent in their class, produced one ofthe winning posters: Chemistry is

Everywhere, which represents theatomic, microscopic, and macro-scopic world in beautiful water-color.

In the summer of 2003, theschool (Ozel Kalamis Lisesi inIstanbul) phoned Etik in Britain,where he was on vacation, to tell himhe had won the prize. Upon hisreturn home to Turkey, Etik gaveinterviews to magazines, radio, andtelevision; He had became an artisticscientific celebrity! Etik said that hisfather used to draw, and that maybehe inherited this artistic gift from

him. This could well be the case, histwin brother Cem won anotherScience Across the World competi-tion called “When the Wind Blows”<www.scienceacross.org.

The Etik brothers, who are con-centrating on science, have twomore years to go in high school.They haven’t decided yet whatfield of study they will pursue afterfinishing school. Their parentspostponed their vacation plans toattend the 18th ICCE ceremony atwhich Can Etik was presented witha certificate of recognition byPeter Mahaffy.

Peter Mahaffy (right) presentsCan Etik with a certificate ofrecognition.

by C

an

Eti

k


IUPAC WireYoung Observers Going to Beijing

IUPAC is pleased to announce its call for applica-tions for Young Observers to participate in the40th IUPAC Congress being held in Beijing 14–19

August 2005. The theme of the Congress is“Innovation in Chemistry.” To encourage young scien-tists to participate in this unique Congress, the organ-izers have established a program offering travelassistance. For details visit the congress Web site.

In the spirit of innovation, IUPAC will also facilitatethe participation of Young Observers in the concur-rent General Assembly. The Young Observer programprovides an excellent opportunity for young scientiststo establish international collaborations, gain knowl-edge of global research activities, and participate inIUPAC activities. Some Young Observers from previ-ous assemblies have remained actively involved inIUPAC by joining and chairing subcommittees andtask groups.

Awards will be offered by IUPAC to candidatesfrom all National Adhering Organizations (NAOs) andAssociate NAOs. Both the U.S. and U.K. NAOs willindependently select and support the participation ofyoung scientists from their countries as well. All suc-cessful candidates are expected to submit an abstractof a poster or paper to be presented at the Congress;such abstracts will be subject to adjudication as will allother submissions for presentation at the meeting.

For more details about these programs, includingapplications procedures, age limits, criteria for selec-tion, and timelines/deadlines, please inquire to one ofthe following, depending on your current location:• In the USA, contact Valerie Theberge at the

National Research Council <[email protected]>• In the UK, contact Stanley Langer at the Royal

Society of Chemistry <[email protected]>• All other IUPAC NAOs/ANAOs, contact the IUPAC

Secretariat <[email protected]>

For details and updates about the IUPAC GA andCongress, visit the following Web site: <www.iupac.org/symposia/2005.html#140805>.

www.iupac.org/news/archives/2004/40thCongress-yc.html>

See Congress advertisement on back cover.

Marian Góral Received the 2004Franzosini Award

At the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Subcommitteeon Solubility and Equilibrium Data, held 24–25July 2004 in Aveiro, Portugal, the Franzosini

Award was given to Dr. Marian Góral in appreciationof his scientific contributions to the Solubility DataProject.

Dr. Góral’s research interests are the same as theSubcommittee on Solubility and Equilibrium Data(SSED). He is the co-author of new evaluations in theupdated SDS volumes on hydrocarbon-water systems(8 parts of volume 81 already have been accepted forpublication) and also the co-author of the series ofpublications “Recommended Liquid-LiquidEquilibrium Data” in the Journal of Physical andChemical Reference Data. Two of these manuscriptsalready have been accepted for publication: Part 1:Binary C5-C11 Alkane-Water Systems and Part 2:Unsaturated Hydrocarbon-Water Systems.

At the 3rd annual SSED meeting, Dr. Góral pre-sented the method used for critical evaluation of sol-ubility data of water-hydrocarbon systems. These newprocedures are based on an equation of state con-taining an association term and on generalized solu-bility equations.

Dr. Marian Góral is with the Institute of PhysicalChemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.

International Year of Physics, 2005

On 1 June 2004, following its fifty-eighth ses-sion, the United Nations declared that 2005would be the International Year of Physics.

The Year of Physics, istimed to coincide with thecentenary of seminal scientificdiscoveries by Albert Einstein.Celebrations throughout the yearand the world will emphasizethat physics provides the basisfor understanding nature,and through its applica-tions, many of today’stechnological advances.

News and information on IUPAC, its fellows, and memberorganizations.See also www.iupac.org/news

Up for Discussion


Electromotivity to ReplaceElectromotive Force?

by Vladimir Simeon

As generally known, the so–called electromotiveforce is an important parameter of the reac-tion taking place in an electrochemical cell

because it is proportional to the reaction gradient ofGibbs energy:

ξ and ν denote the advancement (extent) of the cellreaction and the number of exchanged electrons,respectively. If the leads connecting the electrodes tothe measuring instrument are identical in chemicalcomposition, the electromotive force can be defined 1,2

as the zero-current limit of the Galvani potential dif-ference between two electrodes:

The traditional name “electromotive force” (in usesince 1827)3 is obviously inconsistent with the defini-tion (2) and the term “force” is potentially misleading.Nevertheless, this name is still widely used and has itsplace in authoritative international manuals of recom-mended terminology and symbols, such as IUPAC’s“Green Book”1 and “Compendium”4 or ISO 31,5 not tospeak of numerous textbooks. Several alternatives tothe name “electromotive force” have been proposed,one of the more recent ones being the four-wordphrase zero-current cell potential.6

By inspecting the family of words containing thecommon fragment “motiv,” it can be seen that one ofits members is the word “motivity” (first recordedaround 1687)3 meaning “the power of moving or pro-ducing motion.”3,7 The word “motivity” may be used todevise a suitable substitute for the name “electromo-tive force,” viz. ELECTROMOTIVITY.

There are some important advantages of using theterm “electromotivity” for E, instead of “electromotiveforce” or “zero-current cell potential”:• The meaning of the proposed name, “electromotiv-

ity,” is perfectly consistent with the defining equa-tion (2) where the zero-current conditions areadditionally stipulated.

• Consisting of one single word, the proposed nameis both economical and easy to combine into com-posite names or phrases (e.g. standard electromo-

tivity, relative standard electromotivity, thermalelectromotivity, etc.).

• The equivocal word “potential” (having at leastthree meanings: potential, potential difference,potential energy) is not used.

Believing that these reasons are sufficient, I am pro-posing the acceptance of the name “electromotivity”for the physical quantity E, defined by Eq. (2), as arecommended substitute for the traditional name“electromotive force.”

References

1. I. Mills, T. Cvitaš, K. Homann, N. Kallay, and K. Kuchitsu,

Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd

ed., Blackwell, Oxford 1993, pp. 14, 58–62.

2. D.J.G. Ives and G.J. Janz, Reference Electrodes, Academic

Press, New York 1961, pp. 4-8.

3. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, 10th ed.

(2001).

4. A.D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson, Compendium of

Chemical Terminology, 2d ed., Blackwell, Oxford 1997, p.

131.

5. ISO 31-5:1992(E) 5-6.3.

6. P.W. Atkins, Physical Chemistry, 5th ed., Oxford University

Press, Oxford 1994, p. 331.

7. H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, The Concise Oxford

Dictionary of Current English, 4th ed., Clarendon Press,

Oxford 1952, p. 772.

Vladimir Simeon <[email protected]> is a professor at the Department of

Chemistry, at the Faculty of Science of the University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Bonded by Stereobonds

by Hubert Maehr

We all agree that a molecular diagram repre-sentative of a chiral compound shouldcomprise all elements pertaining to the

stereochemical information and we abet the currentefforts by IUPAC in its attempt to design a correspon-ding graphical solution. It certainly is an arduous taskto consider or accommodate the myriad of opinionsand suggestions that the task group (project headedby William G. Town, # 2003-045-3-800; Jul-Aug2004 CI, p. 23) is confronted with and to finally arriveat a proposal that chemists will embrace and actuallyuse. Some of these opinions that were recently voiceddemand a reply.

A forum for members and member organizations to shareideas and concerns.Send your comments by e-mail to <[email protected]>.

r

,

1

T p

GGEF Fν ξ ν

∆∂= − = − ∂

0limI

E ϕ→

= ∆

(1)

(2)


I concur with the summary of the present state ofaffairs succinctly presented by Kaupp and Naimi-Jamal (Jan-Feb 2004 CI, p. 15) and their proposal fora targeted use of the common stereobonds to bringlucidity to the chemical literature. Solid and hashedwedge bonds should indicate absolute configuration,and “thick and hatched” bonds could represent race-mates. It is difficult to imagine a simpler solution tothe current problem and I would also like to point outthat it is precisely this bond allocation that was pro-posed by us almost 20 years ago (J. Chem. Edu. 1985,62, 114–120) and recently reiterated in detail (J. Chem.Inf. Comput. Sci., 2002, 42, 894–902).

Flack points out (Jul-Aug 2004 CI, p. 21) thatmolecular structure should be able to distinguishthree disparate cases, namely enantiopure com-pounds of known absolute configuration, enantiopurecompounds of unknown absolute configuration, andracemates. He also correctly observed that Kaupp andNaimi-Jamal’s suggestions for molecular diagramsaddress only two of these categories and do not pro-duce graphical representations of enantiopure com-pounds of unknown absolute configuration. Again, Iwould like to emphasize that our proposals containedin the above-mentioned papers, address all three sce-narios. We also presented examples of pragmatic sig-nificance such as single-diagram representations ofmanifold independent relative configurations as areoften encountered, especially during structure eluci-dation of natural products (e.g., palitoxin). In brief, forevery verbal stereochemical nuance, we offered a sin-gle pictorial counterpart whose basic elements are

summarized below. The letter of M. Oki (Jul-Aug 2004 CI, p. 22) also

deserves a rebuttal. He is concerned that “thick andhatched” bonds do not provide stereochemical infor-mation. Let me paraphrase a section of our above-

mentioned publication. Clearly, a line, thick or slender,hatched or solid, obviously lacks differentiation of itstermini. Such a line indeed appears inherently inca-pable of serving as a stereobond. Thick, hatched, orbroken lines, however, are used as bonds in the con-text of a longstanding but tacit convention.Accordingly, the stereogenic unit to which the line-type bond symbol is attached is considered to lie inthe picture plane so that the bold line reveals its lig-and in front of that plane, whereas the hashed symbolis intended to show that the ligand is behind it. Thisconvention elevates line symbols to fully functionalstereobonds.

The comment by McNaught (Jan-Feb 2004 CI, p.16) also elicits a comment. He is concerned that theproposal of targeted redeployment of establishedstereobonds as descriptors of detailed stereochemicalinformation would be difficult, as the reader wouldhave no means of recognizing that a convention wasbeing used. This apprehension, in our opinion, isunfounded. Imagine, for a moment, that our proposedconvention would be in effect. Those readers who areincognizant of the convention would be at exactly thesame level of understanding as all of us are presentlyaccustomed. We now look at a structural diagram andwonder what the visible, chiral connotations reallymean. More often than not, we have to consult theaccompanying text to ascertain the chiral meaning ofthe diagram or, given a synthetic scheme, we arrive atthe stereochemical information after studying thestarting materials and reagents used. But those read-ers who are familiar with the convention would bene-fit from an unprecedented level of unequivocalinformation contained in a single molecular diagram.And the ratio of the acquainted versus unacquaintedwould surely increase exponentially as a function oftime. Those who did not know the convention wouldcertainly not receive wrong information. It would onlyprotract the shadow of ambiguity.

Allocating the six commonly used stereobonds,shown above, as determinants of complete, graphicstereochemical descriptions appears very appealingto many of us. The comments by Kaupp and Naimai-Jamal are representative of this conviction.

I doubt that there will ever be a perfect solution.When I asked Kurt Mislow, a paragon of stereochem-istry, about his opinion of our proposal, he noddedthoughtfully and said: “I guess this is about as good aswe can do. What a shame we can not color-code.”

Hubert Maehr <[email protected]> is at Roche Research Center,

CHO

Cl

CHO

ClPictorial

Description

VerbalDescription

Enantiostatus

enantiopure / but unknownchirality sense

Cl

CHO

Cl

racemic

ClCl

enantiopure,enantioenriched

[R-(R*,S*)]-2,4-dichloropentanal,

(R*,S*)-2,4-dichloropentanal

(R*,S*)]-2,4-dichloropentanal[(±)-


Information about new, current, and complete IUPACprojects and related initiatives.See also www.iupac.org/projects

Reference Methods, Standards, andApplications of Photoluminescence

Measurements of the fluorescence properties of mol-ecules are critical to the development of an under-standing of the photophysics and photochemistry ofthe singlet excited state(s) of the species. A reliableand standard methodology is also required if pub-lished data are to be used to the photochemical com-munity at large. Methods for fluorescence-decayanalysis are also an integral part of the determinationof the photophysical parameters of the species, asthese time-resolved fluorescence properties are use-ful in spectroscopy, kinetics, energy transfer, analyti-cal applications, and in characterization of chemical,biological, and physical systems which emit light.

The purpose of this new project is to review andupdate the two previous IUPAC documents coveringthis topic, namely “Reference Materials forFluorescence Measurement,” Pure Appl. Chem., 60(7),1107–1114 (1988) and “Recommended Methods forFluorescence Decay Analysis,” Pure Appl. Chem.,62(8), 1631–1648 (1990). The project, which willinclude advances registered since the earlier publica-tion, will emphasize newly developed reference mate-rials and methods.

The fields to be covered by the project include cal-ibration (spectra, quantum yields, decay times); pro-cedures (steady-state, time-resolved methodsincluding ultrafast techniques, single-molecule stud-ies); and applications to biological (cells, organelles,membranes) and other microorganized systems (gels,films, solids, and, in general, complex environments,usually contaminated by light scattering).

A task group for the project, including nearly 20experts from different specialties and countries, wasformed and leaders for the different subtasks werenominated. The photochemical community is encour-aged to participate by joining any of the subgroups.Communication will be performed through the projectWeb page, and a vast dissemination plan will be alsodevised. The project began mid-year in 2004 and willend at the end of 2006. Before final documents arewritten, advance reports and document drafts will beissued.

For more information, contact the Task Group Chairman Enrique San Román

<[email protected]> or Fred Brouwer <[email protected]>.

www.iupac.org/projects/2004/2004-021-1-300.html

Glossary of Terms Used inBiomolecular Screening

The field of biomolecular screening, an importantcomponent of the drug discovery process, hasevolved rapidly in recent years. Along with the newtechnologies and techniques that are now routinelyused in lead discovery and optimization have comenew nomenclature and terminology. Biomolecularscreening stands at a key interface with medicinalchemistry and biology in the drug discovery process.Effective communication between these disci-plines and among scientists of different back-grounds is dependent on clear and consistentunderstanding and application of the terminologyparticular to the field.

This project, a collaborative effort between theIUPAC Chemistry and Human Health Division and theSociety for Biomolecular Screening, seeks to providean authoritative glossary of the terms commonly usedin biomolecular screening.

For more information, contact Task Group Chairman John Proudfoot

<[email protected]>.


Practical Studies for MedicinalChemistry Guidelines

The goal of this new project, which is supported bythe IUPACs Chemistry and Human Health Division, isto provide developing countries with a practical text-book on medicinal chemistry. The textbook will takeinto account the special characteristics and needs ofdeveloping countries, such as methods for using nat-ural resources or the difficulty of paying for reagentsor other materials. The project is intended to encour-age postgraduate research in these countries in thearea of new-drug discovery. It is hoped that thisresearch can lead to drugs for forgotten diseases suchas Tuberculosis, Malaria, and Chagas that principallyaffect developing countries and receive little attentionfrom developed countries.

The major output of this project will be a book tobe titled Practical Studies for Medicinal ChemistryStudents: An Integrating Approach for DevelopingCountries, which will be made available in print andonline. The text will be written in English, but sometexts will also be in Spanish and Portuguese when pro-vided by the authors.

The Project Place


The book will integrate information from a variety ofdisciplines involved in medicinal chemistry, such asorganic synthesis, isolation, structural identification,structure-activity relationships, and biological activi-ties. It will be possible to perform the experiments inthe book with easily accessible materials, with startingproducts (natural products from the area, for example,economic reagents), and low-cost instrumentation.

An outline of the book is presented on the projectWeb page at the address below.

For more information, contact the Task Group Chairman, Antonio Monge Vega



Internationally Agreed Terminologyfor Observations in ScientificCommunication

This two-year project based on the C-NPU genericdatabase deals with properties that are observed inthe medical laboratory, but not defined by the sevendimensions of the SI system. (The NPU is theNomenclature, Properties, and Units in LaboratoryMedicine coding). The VIM (International Vocabularyof Basic and General Terms in Metrology), whichdefines the primitive concepts of the SI system, isdesigned for metrology: the science of measurement.However, most scientific disciplines, not only labora-tory medicine, also rely—some predominantly—onobservation. Thus, this project intends to design avocabulary shared by both observations and meas-urement. Developing a common framework to inte-grate the concepts of property, and in a morerestricted sense of quantity, the project includesexplaining to laboratory medicine workers the mean-ing of and usefulness of this view.

For more information, contact Task Group Chairman Françoise Pontet



Biophysico-Chemical Processes ofHeavy Metals and Metalloids in SoilEnvironments

The objective of this project is to produce a referenceproviding the scientific community with a critical eval-uation of the biophysico-chemical processes of metalsand metalloids in soil environments. The evaluation,which is being conducted by a multidisciplinary groupof soil and environmental scientists, will cover interac-tions with soil components (clay minerals, organics,microorganisms) as well as their speciation, mobility,bioavailability, and toxicity. It will also examine inno-vative restoration strategies for polluted soils.

The behavior of heavy metals and metalloidsdepends on chemical, physico-chemical, and biologi-cal factors associated with microbial activities.Dynamics and equilibria of these elements in soil envi-ronments are significantly influenced by structural,surface, and solution chemistry of soils and interac-tions of soil minerals with organic components andmicroorganisms. These physicochemical-biologicalinteractions would influence the transfer of these ele-ments from the inorganic and organic soil con-stituents to the soil solution and to plants.

Biogeochemical processes operating in soil envi-ronments that affect the fate, behavior, and bioavail-ability of metals and metalloids is currently an area ofactive research. Yet, a comprehensive and detailedbook describing the current state of knowledge on thesubject is absent from scientific literature. This bookwill bring a critical, qualitative and quantitative reviewof the fundamentals of the physics and chemistry ofheavy-metal and metalloid interactions in soils, includ-ing the influence of soil microorganisms on theseprocesses. In addition, the book will review the latestadvances in spectroscopy and how they can be usedto study various aspects of heavy-metal and metalloidinteractions with inorganic and organic components.

The book will be co-edited by A. Violante, P.M.Huang, and G.M. Gadd.

For more information, contact Task Group Chairman Antonio Violante




Electrochemical Detection in LiquidFlow Analytical Techniques:Characterization and Classification(IUPAC Technical Report)

K. Tóth, K. Stulík, W. Kutner, Z. Fehér, and E. LindnerPure and Applied ChemistryVol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1119–1138, 2004

Since the early 1970s, a large number of papers hasbeen published on different liquid flow analytical tech-niques. The flow analysis database on the World WideWeb <www.flowinjection.com> lists more than 10 000

references. In 1994, IUPAC classified the analyticalmethods based on flowing media and defined flowanalytical systems, component parts, and terms fordescribing their performance. Then, fundamentals ofanalytical aspects of chemical process control werediscussed in 1999 and information essential for char-acterizing a flow-based analytical system has beenprovided in 2002. The aim of the present report is toextend the existing, recommended, and consistentterminology to electrochemical detection and detec-tors used in flow analytical techniques with a briefcritical overview of the currently used electrochemicalflow-through detectors.

Liquid flow analytical techniques are classified, anddefinitions are provided of flow-injection analysis,

Recent IUPAC technical reports and recommendationsthat affect the many fields of pure and applied chemistry.See also www.iupac.org/publications/pac

Quantities, Terminology, andSymbols in Photothermal andRelated Spectroscopies (IUPAC Recommendations 2004)

M. Terazima et al.

Pure and Applied Chemistry,

Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1083–1118 (2004)

The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with mat-ter causes absorption, emission, and scattering ofradiation. Except for emission and scattering, theabsorbed electromagnetic energy is converted toheat by various nonradiative processes and induceschanges in temperature, pressure, and refractive

index of the medium. In photothermal spectroscopy,the effects caused by these changes are monitored byvarious methods. The discovery of the photothermaleffect dates back to Bell’s discovery of the photoa-coustic effect in 1880, but it is after the invention ofthe laser that the photothermal spectroscopiesbecame popular. In 1964, Gordon et al. found a beamdivergence effect from liquid samples that wereplaced in a gas laser cavity. This phenomenon wascorrectly interpreted in terms of the “thermal lens”effect produced by heating induced by the Gaussianlaser beam. The thermal lens method soon became astandard technique to detect the thermal energy pro-duced by nonradiative transitions. Since then, varioustypes of photothermal methods have been developedand applied to a variety of problems. Today, pho-tothermal spectroscopy is widely used in physics,chemistry, biology, and engineering.

This paper presents quantities, terminology, andsymbols of terms related to photothermal phenomenaand used in photothermal and related spectroscopies.The terms used in the literature to describe pho-tothermal phenomena and methods are reviewed, anda glossary of terms is given. The origins of photother-mal phenomena, as well as the relations among vari-ous photothermal effects, are summarized. The listedterms cover the terminology in transient grating, tran-sient lens, photoacoustic spectroscopy, photothermalradiometry, calorimetry, interferometry, deflection,reflection, and other related spectroscopies, whichuse or are related to photothermal effects.

www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2004/7606/7606x1083.html

Making an imPACt

Relations among the origins and detection methods of pho-tothermal effects, which are caused by the heating effectafter photoirradiation.


Relationshipbetween sampledomain and signaldomain in case ofelemental analysis.

segmented flow analysis, flow titration, continuousmonitoring, liquid chromatography, and capillary elec-trophoresis. Electrochemical detection and flowthrough detection cells are characterized with respectto the surface and bulk detection. The detector per-formance is discussed in terms of its principal analyti-cal parameters, such as detection limit and dynamicconcentration range, as well as its dynamic character-istics, such as the response time, sampling frequency,transport lag, and long-term stability. Moreover, dif-

ferent detection modes are critically evaluated,including both potentiostatic and galvano-static tech-niques. Factors influencing sensitivity and detectionlimit, which include electronic and hydrodynamicapproach, are also discussed. Different detectordesigns are critically reviewed, and the special fea-tures of electrochemical detectors for flow analyticaltechniques are emphasized.


Piezoelectric Chemical Sensors(IUPAC Technical Report)

R. P. Buck, E. Lindner, W. Kutner, and G. Inzelt

Pure and Applied Chemistry

Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1139–1160 (2004)

The rapid expansion of the field of piezoelectric sens-ing devices, within the larger area of chemical sensorsand biosensors, requires improved classification andcharacterization of relevant concepts and principles.This report addresses mostly the application of piezo-

electric sensing devices in electroanalytical chemistrybased on the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) tech-nology, and it has been coordinated with relevantdocuments of physics and electrical engineering.Basic terms and definitions related to piezoelectricmaterials and sensing devices, electric transducers,and analytical measurements with piezoelectric chem-ical sensors are provided. In addition, the more essen-tial response equations are presented.


Guidelines for Calibration inAnalytical Chemistry. Part 2:Multicomponent Calibration (IUPAC Technical Report)

K. Danzer, M. Otto, and L.A. Currie


Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1215–1225 (2004)

Calibration in analytical chemistry refers to the rela-tion between sample domain and measurementdomain (signal domain) expressed by an analyticalfunction x = fs(Q) representing a pattern of chemical

species Q and their amounts or concentrations x in agiven test sample on the one hand and a measuredfunction y = f(z) that may be a spectrum, chro-matogram, etc.

Simultaneous multispecies analyses are carried outmainly by spectroscopic and chromatographic meth-ods in a more or less selective way. For the determi-nation of n species Qi (i = 1,2 …n), at least n signalsmust be measured which should be well separated inthe ideal case. In analytical practice, the situation canbe different.


Making an imPACt


Critical Evaluation of the State ofthe Art of the Analysis of LightElements in Thin FilmsDemonstrated Using the Examplesof SiOXNY and AlOXNY Films

(IUPAC Technical Report)

S. Dreer and P. Wilhartitz


Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1161–1213 (2004)

The quantitative analysis of thin films containing lightelements is very important in improving the coatingprocesses and technological properties of the prod-ucts. In order to review the state of the art of modernanalytical techniques for such applications, the modelsystems SiOXNY and AlOXNY were selected. Over 1000abstracts were screened, and the relevant literature

was evaluated to give a comprehensive overview ofinstruments, analytical procedures and results, filmtypes, deposition methods, and investigation goals.From more than 150 citations, the limitations, draw-backs, and pitfalls of the different methods wereextracted and reviewed critically, while in addition,improvements were proposed where possible. Thesesuggestions are combined with the newest results ofinvestigation by the authors of this paper.Recommendations concerning the optimized combi-nation of analytical methods for different analyticalproblems have been worked out on the basis of allresults. Analysis of various multicomponent systemscontaining light elements demonstrated the applica-bility of the different methods of analysis in combina-tion to all film systems with related compositions.


Mechanisms of Immunosensitizationto Metals (IUPAC Technical Report)

D.M. Templeton


Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 1255–1268 (2004)

Many metal ions produce immunosensitization. Whilemetals common in the body, such as Na, K, Ca, Mg,and Fe, are immunologically inactive, some trace ele-ments are strong immunosensitzers. Often, exposureto high local concentrations of a metal in the lung oron the skin initiates the immunological process andleads to acute or chronic disease. Exposures to suchmetals in the workplace, in connection with drug ther-apy, or in everyday life have considerable health con-sequences for society.

This present review summarizes our knowledge ofthe mechanisms by which certain trace elements evokeallergenicity. Some physiological electrolytes (e.g., Na+,K+) and macro-nutrients (e.g., Ca2+, Fe3+) are immuno-logically inactive. However, some trace elements essen-tial for cell function (e.g., Co2+, Cu2+, Cr3+),as well asnonessential elements generally considered toxic (e.g.,Hg species) or in use as therapeutic agents (e.g., somespecies of Pt and Au), can give rise to adverse immunereactions. Specific immunological responses to Ni, Co,Cr, Hg, Be, Cu, Pt, Pd, Ir, In, and Au are discussed. Ingeneral, these elements can activate T or B cells by spe-cific receptor interactions, resulting in clonal expansion

of a metal-specific lymphocyte and an immuneresponse (typically dermatitis) upon re-exposure.

This report constitutes the background for anotherIUPAC project which goal is to evaluate and harmonizethe use of specific biomarkers for metal sensitization.


Other Technical Reports and Errata are publishedin the June 2004 issue of Pure and AppliedChemistry (Vol. 76, No. 6), including:

p. 1227—Aerosol Pollution in Some Chinese Cities

p. 1241—Aerosols: Connection Between RegionalClimate Change and Air Quality

p. 1269—Diagnostic Relevance of the LymphocyteTransformation Test for Sensitization to Berylliumand Other Metals

p. 1283—Revised Section F: Natural Products andRelated Compounds. Corrections andModifications (2004) Pure Appl.Chem. 71, 587–643(1999)

p. 1293—Understanding the Reaction that Powersthis World: Biomimetic Studies of Respiratory O2

Reduction by Cytochrome Oxidase. Erratum PureAppl. Chem. 76, 303–319 (2004)

www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2004/7606/


• Chemistry of the noble metals: including advancesin electroplating and refining technology.

• Corrosion science: awarded for studies leading tonew concepts in corrosion science and technology.

• Fuel cell science and technology—the FrancisBacon medal: awarded for the development of novelchemical science and technology leading to practicalfuel cell design and operation.

• Heterogeneous catalysis: awarded for the develop-ment of novel heterogeneous catalysts or processesdependent upon them.

• Heterocyclic chemistry: covering the synthesis,structure determination and reactions of all types ofheterocyclic compounds.

• High throughput drug discovery methodologies:awarded for ground-breaking innovations that haveenabled a significant acceleration of the drug discov-ery process.

• Magnetic resonance spectroscopy: awarded forstudies leading to improved methods in magnetic res-onance spectroscopy.

• Mass spectrometry: awarded for studies leading toimproved techniques for the identification and analy-sis by mass spectrometry.

• Organic reaction mechanisms: covering the studies

of the mechanisms of organic reactions.• Organometallic chemistry: including any aspect of

the chemistry of the main group and transition ele-ment organic compounds.

• Peptides and proteins: covering advances in thechemical synthesis of peptides, new understanding ofprotein structure and function, or for new insights intoprotein-protein interactions and protein folding mech-anisms.

• Reactions kinetics and mechanisms: relating to theprinciples governing reaction rates and mechanisms.

• Sensors: awarded for chemical input into the designof novel sensors or novel applications of existing sen-sors.

• Solid state chemistry: covering the area of thechemistry, physics and materials science of solidswith particular reference to the reactivity of solids.

• Structural chemistry: covering studies involving nov-elty of approach or leading to fundamental theoreticaladvances in the development of general structuralprinciples.

• Surface and colloid chemistry: embracing interfa-cial studies in general.

• Tertiary education: for teachers in higher andadvanced further education.

The closing date for nominations for the above awards is 31 January 2005 and further details andapplication/nomination forms may be obtained from Stanley Langer on +44 (0)20 7440 3325; email: [email protected], or visit <www.rsc.org/lap/awards/industry.htm>.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY AWARDS

This is the fourth year of the latest 10-year cycle of the RSC's industrially-sponsored awards. Through theseawards, the RSC bestows the highest accolade on members of the chemical science community. For this lat-est cycle, the scheme has been extended very considerably, with the number of awards on offer increased by

30 per cent on previous years. Many cutting edge areas of chemistry are now recognised, including advances inbiomembrane chemistry, chemical biology, green chemistry, nanotechnology, fuel cell science, nucleic acids chem-istry and sensors. The RSC is indebted to the continuing support of existing industrial sponsors and to the manynew sponsors that have come forward so generously.

Each award is made to those of British nationality, including Commonwealth citizens, or those normally domiciled inthe British Isles, and is not limited to members of the RSC. Each award consists of a silver medallion and a prize of£500. For each award, equal consideration will be given to those candidates who have made fundamental contribu-tions to their subject as well as to those whose work has been directed to its application. Account will also be takenof significant contributions in applied science not reflected in publications. The subject areas are interpreted in thebroadest manner to ensure that no worthy candidate is excluded.

This latest tranche of 17 awards for 2004 is as follows.


Chemistry at the Interfaces

P.R. Sundararajan, W.Z.Y. Wang, and A.M. MacMillan (editors)Pure and Applied ChemistryVol. 76, Nos. 7–8, pp. 1295–1603 (2004)

A double issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry hasbeen devoted to a selection of papers presented atthe 39th IUPAC Congress and 86th Conference of theCanadian Society for Chemistry held 10-15 August2003 in Ottawa, Canada. “Chemistry at the Interfaces”was the title of the conference, which was organizedalong six general chemical themes: Analytical,Chemical Education, Inorganic, MacromolecularScience and Engineering, Organic, and Physical andTheoretical. The congress offered broad symposiatopics from nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes tometalloproteins and metals in medicine to the chem-istry of nucleic acids. The selections made for thisissue of PAC, prefaced by Alex McAuley, Congresspresident, involve the interdisciplinary aspects ofmacromolecular science and engineering and nucleicacids chemistry.

Controlling Self-AssemblyUbiquitous in nature, molecular self-assembly relies ontwo key elements: chemical complementarity and struc-tural compatibility. While non-covalent interactions suchas hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, and van de Waals inter-actions play a role in self-assembly of molecular motifs,it is equally important to understand the mechanism ofself-assembly, in terms of atomic and molecularsequences. In other words, how the primary structure ofa molecule or a sequence of molecules controls the sec-ondary and tertiary structures, which are the ultimateentities that dictate the functional properties of amolecular system.

The title of the congress symposium “Controllingthe Self-Assembly in Macromolecular Systems: fromNature to Chemistry to Functional Properties” inten-tionally emphasized control. While self-assembly isenabled by the choice of motifs, controlling the extentof such self-assembly to precisely tailor the functionalproperties is a challenge. For example, can we com-mand the same polymer system to self-assembleusing, say, only 60% of the hydrogen bondablegroups for one application, and 100% for another?Thus, discussion related to controlling the nature andthe extent of self-assembly was the intent of this sym-posium chaired by P.R. Sundararajan. A broad rangeof topics was covered, including block copolymer

vesicles, micelles for drug delivery, hydrogen-bondedsupramolecular structures, and dendritic polymerswith specific functional properties.

Polymers in Electronics and PhotonicsElectro-active and photo-active polymers are beingconsidered for use as the active components in a widerange of electronic and photonic devices, such as liq-uid crystals and light-emitting diodes displays, elec-tro-optic modulators, optical attenuators, electroniccircuits, solar cells, actuators, memory elements,lasers, and chemical and biological sensors. In com-parison with inorganic materials, functional polymerscan be readily fabricated as thin films on substrates atmuch lower processing temperatures and evendirectly incorporated into specifically defined loca-tions on a substrate using the printing technology.

In their paper, Yamamoto et al. describe the design,synthesis, and properties of a new class of metal-bind-ing dendrimers. The authors show the state-of-the-artsynthesis, unique properties, and potential applica-tions of these polyazomethine dendrimers. In a paperby Wong et al., the synthesis and multifunctionalproperties of phenylenevinylene oligomers aredescribed. The structurally well-defined oligomers areparticularly interesting for a number of applicationssuch as light-emitting diodes and solar cells.

Papers by Dalton and Wang deal with recentadvances in the field of organic materials, which havetelecommunications applications. Nonlinear opticalpolymers as described by Dalton and near infraredelectrochromic organic materials as reviewed byWang show great potential for use in a number oftelecommunication devices, such as modulators andvariable optical attenuators that operate in the near-infrared wavelengths.

Papers by Barrett, Ikeda, Rochon, and Zhao dealwith azobenzene and photo-active liquid crystal poly-mers. Finally, Sundararajan offers morphological rea-soning in his paper to account for the enhancedcharge carrier mobility in the doped polymer systems,which is useful for the rational design of polymer-based optoelectronic devices.

Chemistry of Nucleic AcidsNew developments in the chemistry of nucleic acidsdemonstrate growing interdependence with disciplinessuch as biology, medicine, and materials science, andoffer the promise of unimagined future opportunitiesand consequences. The date of this symposium affordeda happy opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary

BookwormBooks and publications hot off the press.See also www.iupac.org/publications


of the historical paper by Watson and Crick, which con-tinues to inspire endeavors in nucleic acid chemistry.

The ensuing papers in this issue are introducedwith a brief overview by Andrew MacMillan, chair ofthe symposium, of the developments and milestonesthat have characterized the past 50 years. MacMillanemphasizes the diversity of current research in thisfield, including work on synthetic design and method-

ology, targeted synthesis, and structure-function. For an overview of the 2003 IUPAC Congress and

Conference of the Canadian Society for Chemistrysee Nov-Dec 2003 CI, p. 10 or <www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2003/2506/3_mcauley.html>.

www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2004/7607

Macromolecules and Materials Science

R.D. Sanderson and H. Pasch (editors)Macromolecular Symposia, Vol. 214Wiley-VCH, 2004, pp. 1–379ISBN 3-527-31047-9

As part of its activities, UNESCO encourages andsponsors UNESCO Schools and scientific conferencesin collaboration with scientific associations such asthe IUPAC. The UNESCO School and Conference onMacromolecules and Materials Science is held annu-ally at different locations in South Africa. Worldauthorities in various fields of macromolecular sciencegive tutorials at the UNESCO School and informativeplenaries at the conference. The exposure to newideas and advanced concepts in macromolecular sci-

ence is of great importance to South African studentsand senior staff from different universities andresearch institutions.

The 6th UNESCO School & IUPAC Conference(14–17 April 2003, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga,South Africa) focused on polymer properties with aspecial session on the characterization of polyolefins.Abridged versions of a number of papers have beencompiled in this volume of Macromolecular Symposia.The content of the papers is also available in theVirtual Teaching Encyclopaedia, which also containspapers from previous UNESCO conferences.

www.sun.ac.za/unesco/

www.iupac.org/publications/macro/2004/214_preface.html

Introdução à Química OrgânicaLuiz Cláudio de Almeida BarbosaPearson Prentice Hall, 2004ISBN 85-7605-006-4

Organic chemistry underpins every aspect of ourlives. We take for granted that the cells in our bodieswill function with unerring accuracy, yet they mustcarry out millions of complex chemical transforma-tions of organic compounds every second. We alsoexpect that drugs will be available for all of our ail-ments; that brightly colored synthetic plastics, paints,and fabrics can be purchased from our shoppingmalls; and that good-quality food will be readily avail-able from the crops that have been protected fromthe ravages of insects, fungi, and weeds. The qualityof our lives is thus inextricably linked to life-savingdrugs; synthetic polymers; insecticides, fungicidesand herbicides; and a myriad other organic chemicals.

The importance of organic chemistry to students ofbiology, medicine, veterinary science, pharmacy,agronomy, food science, and agriculture is not indoubt. These students will find everything they need

to know in Professor de Almeida Barbosa’s new book.Written in Portuguese, the book is a concise, yet com-prehensive introduction to all aspects of modernorganic chemistry. The treatment is rigorous, yet thebiological interests of the students have not beenoverlooked. The text is full of fascinating examples ofmolecules with interesting biological properties.

Luiz-Cláudio de Almeida Barbosa writes with greatauthority since he has carried out cutting-edgeresearch in both the UnitedKingdom and Brazil, saysProfessor John Mann fromQueen’s University of Belfast.

The former edition of thistextbook, published in 1998,was used in several universi-ties and helped to reinforcethe use of IUPAC recommen-dations in Brazil. The IUPACrules are highlighted in the lat-est version of the publication.

www.prenhall.com/barbosa_br


Reports from recent conferences and symposiaSee also www.iupac.org/symposia

Polymers in Medicine,Nanotechnology,Degradation, andStabilizationby R.D. Sanderson

The 7th Annual UNESCO/IUPAC Conference onMacromolecules focusing on “Polymers in Medicine,Nanotechnology, Degradation, and Stabilization,”took place 5–8 April 2004 in Stellenbosch, SouthAfrica. The organizing committee comprised J.Wendorff (Phillips-University of Marburg, Germany),A.J. van Reenen (Stellenbosch University, SouthAfrica), Aneli Fourie (UNESCO Associated Centre forMacromolecules and Materials, Chemistry & PolymerScience Division, University of Stellenbosch, SouthAfrica), and myself.

About 200 delegates representing 19 countriesother than South Africa participated in the confer-ence. Delegates from the African continent were fromUganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Egypt, Libya,and Lesotho. Other countries represented includedRussia, China, Turkey, India, France, Germany, UnitedKingdom, USA, Israel, Switzerland, Netherlands,Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovenia, Italy, andAustralia. The total number of students who activelyparticipated at the conference was 75.

Forty talks were presented, of which 7 were ple-nary lectures, 26 invited lectures, and 7 oral submis-sions. The talks focused on state-of-the-art activityand advancements in various fields. All others wereaccommodated in a lively poster session, whichproved to be especially popular for student presenta-tions.

Conference topics included polymer nanofibresand nanotubes; promising objects for applications inmedicine; structure-property correlations of bone,bone-cement, and polymers; polymers in cardiovas-cular applications; bio-inspired cationic surfactants;facile synthesis of supramolecular materials via theionic self-assembly route; and the effect of thermo-oxidative degradation and stabilization on themechanical properties of polypropylene.

Bringing together experts on the same theme ledto lively discussions on the preciseness of using cer-tain techniques and also brought to light the availabil-ity of analytical subroutines on certain analyticalequipment that the manufacturer often fails to explainto the customer.

The overseas plenary and invited speakers stressedthe importance of postgraduate-level training in poly-mer science and chemistry in Africa. In particular theyemphasized the importance of this field to theeconomies of the African continent.

An encyclopedic CD-ROM 2004 (PolymerED) foruse in teaching is being created that will consist ofmany of the abstracts as well as conference talks. Thisencyclopedia provides an excellent tool for teachingand expanding course notes and will be made avail-able to all speakers at the conference. It will be placedin an abridged form on the conference Web site afterapproval by each of the contributors. Abstracts andpapers are being collected for peer review and will bepublished in a issue of Macromolecular Symposia.

The 8th Annual UNESCO/IUPAC Conference onMacromolecules: “Polymers for Africa,” 4–9 June2005, is scheduled to take place at Sugar BeachResort, Mauritius.

Prof. R.D. Sanderson <[email protected]> served as the conference chairman. He is a

professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Stellenbosch in South

Africa. He is also director of the Institute for Polymer Science and director of the

UNESCO Associated Centre for Macromolecules and Materials.

Biodegradable Polymers andPlasticsby In-Joo Chin

The Eighth World Conference on BiodegradablePolymers and Plastics was held at Hanyang Universityin Seoul, Korea, from 1–4 June 2004. The conferencewas sponsored by IUPAC and jointly organized by thePolymer Society of Korea, Biodegradable PlasticsSociety Japan, BioEnvironmental Polymer Society,European Degradable Polymer Society, KoreanBiodegradable Plastics Association, and HanyangUniversity. It brought together 238 participants from19 countries including Japan, USA, China, Italy,Germany, Sweden, Poland, Australia, Taiwan,Thailand, UK, and the Netherlands.

Conference participation was well balanced amongacademia, research institutions, and industries. Abouthalf of the attendees were from abroad. The confer-ence was co-chaired by Seung Soon Im, Departmentof Polymer and Textile Engineering, HanyangUniversity, and Young Ha Kim, Biomaterials ResearchCenter, KIST, Seoul, Korea.

The meeting featured 36 invited lectures andalmost 100 contributed oral and poster presentations,

Conference Call


which were classified as follows: • Microbial Poly(hydroxy alkanoate)s• Poly(lactic acid)s• Biodegradable Polyesters and Polyurethanes• Hydrogels and Biomedical Applications• Blends and Processing• Structure and Properties of Degradable Polymers• Standards and Regulations

During the first session, a number of world-renowned experts reported on recent progress inbiodegradable polymers and plastics:• R. Narayan and D. Graiver—“Drivers, Standards,

and Technologies for Biobased, BiodegradablePolymer Materials”

• A.-C. Albertsson—“Degradable Aliphatic Polyestersand Poly(ether-esters) for Tissue Engineering andDrug Delivery”

• Y. Doi—“Engineering and Environmental Impact ofPolyester Biosynthesis from Renewable CarbonResources”

• G. Swift—“Impact of Origin of Resources andPolymer Structure and Compositions on theProduction and Availability of BiodegradablePolymers”

• G. Ghislandi and G. Floridi—“Mater-Bi Products”

It was noteworthy that a significant number ofpapers were presented on various aspects of micro-bial poly(hydroxy alkanoate)s and their copolymers:• S.Y. Lee on the systems biological approach for the

production of various polyhydroxyalkanoates bymetabolically engineered Escherichia coli

• L.K. Nielsen on the production of PHB in sugarcane• Noda on NodaxTM PHA copolymers and their

blends• Y. Inoue on the structure, properties and biodegrada-

tion of some bacterial copoly(hydroxyalkanoate)s.

G.Q. Chen discussed recent findings on the pro-duction of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyhexa-noate) by recombinant Aeromonas hydrophiliaharboring genes of phA, phB, and vgb. H.N. Changreported on the PHA production on an industrial scaleusing high-density cell culture. T. Iwata discussed thestructure and biodegradability of poly[(R)-3-hydroxy-butyrate] fiber and films and Y.B. Kim talked aboutthe shape memorizing PHBVs.

Poly(lactic acid) is another important class ofbiodegradable polymer. P.J. Dijkstra spoke about thenew developments in polylactide chemistry, S.H. Kimabout the PLA synthesis in the supercritical chlorodi-

fluoromethane, and Y. Kimura about a novel synthesisapproach to stereo-block PLA. Proceedings of theselected papers will be published in MacromolecularSymposia.

A number of leaders in the biodegradable polymersand plastics industry participated in the conference.Navamont (producer of Mater-Bi), Cargill Dow,Procter and Gamble (producer of NodaxTM), BASF(producer of Ecoflex), Showa High Polymer (producerof Bionelle), Mitsui Chemicals, and IRe Chemical ofKorea all presented their recent research and devel-opment activities. Also, several Korean companiessuch as SK Chemicals, Toray Saehan, IRe Chemical,Daesang, and Yuhan Kimberly, all members of theKorean Biodegradable Plastics Association, financiallysupported the conference.

Since 1989, when the series started, the conferencehas been held in Toronto, Canada; Montpellier, France;Osaka, Japan; Durham, North Carolina, USA;Stockholm, Sweden; Honolulu, Hawaii, USA; andTirrenia, Italy. It was very meaningful to have the 8thWorld Conference on Biodegradable Polymers andPlastics in Korea, because public awareness about thereuse and recycling of sustainable resources and thepreservation of the environment has been growingsteadily in many Asian countries. In fact, in the sessionon Standards and Regulations, industrial developmentactivities in the biodegradable plastics of Japan,China, and Taiwan were reviewed. The standardiza-tion effort in Korea was also presented.

The 9th World Conference on BiodegradablePolymers and Plastics will be held in the USA in 2006.J.L. Willett of the USDA accepted responsibility forpreparing the next meeting.

In-Joo Chin <[email protected]>, conference secretary, is a professor in the

Department of Polymer Engineering in Seoul, Korea.

Conference Call


Functional and Nano Systemsby Courtney Young

Because functional and nano systems are of currentnational and international interest, the 2nd IUPACInternational Symposium on Macro- and Supra-Molecular Architectures and Materials (MAM-04):Functional and Nano Systems, held 13–17 June 2004in Missoula, Montana, USA, was extremely timely.Topics included, but were not limited to, minerals,metals, materials, processes, self-assembly, adsorp-tion, characterization and analysis, interphases, bio-materials, biomedicine, bio-inspired technology,design and modeling, composites, coatings, mem-branes, thin films, gels, colloids, electronics, polymers,photonics, biochips, quantum dots, magnetic clusters,sensors and controls, imaging and patterning, geneticengineering, drug delivery and diagnostics, machinesand robotics, batteries and fuel cells, surface modifi-cation, synthesis, and catalysis.

These topics and their applications were coveredby 74 presentations of which 20 were invited, 22 werecontributed and 32 were posters. Dick Jones(University of Kent, Canterbury, UK), as the officialIUPAC representative, provided an excellent introduc-tion of the IUPAC organization during the openingsession.

Poster presenters also gave “one-minute” presenta-tions during a session to entice the audience to attendtheir posters. Needless to say, this helped make theposter session a highlight of the symposium. Posterawards were given to Tomohiro Iwasaki, WasedaUniversity, Japan (1st place); Sun Min Park, PohangUniversity, Korea (2nd place); and Dan Nielsen,University of Montana, USA (3rd place) for best pre-sentations.

MAM-04 was chaired and organized by EdRosenberg and Kurt Geckeler. The organizers editedand distributed the proceedings of the symposium atthe meeting. A number of lectures were delivered bydistinguished international experts, including NobelPrize Laureate Robert Huber (Germany), who gave aplenary lecture.

Overall, the symposium was very successful andthe meeting objectives were met. It provided an inter-disciplinary forum for scientists and engineers to meetand discuss their work. Before, during, and after ses-sions, groups of various sizes were observed, oftenwith a speaker, having their own meetings. Suchmeetings were also a constant at dinners each of theevenings that hosted dinners were not scheduled.

Finally, it is worth noting that, unfortunately, partic-ipants from China and the Middle East encounteredproblems in obtaining visas to travel to the USA. Insome cases, registered participants were unable toattend the symposium, and lecture sessions had to berearranged.

Courtney Young is a professor in and head of MontanaTech, Metallurgical and

Materials Engineering Department of the University of Montana, USA.

ππ-Electron Systemsby George Malliaras and John Reynolds

The Sixth International Symposium on Functional ππ-Electron Systems (Fππ6) was held on 14–18 June 2004at the Cornell University campus, in Ithaca, New York,USA. The symposium was attended by about 500 par-ticipants and sponsored by the Kinki Chemical Societyof Japan, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research,and the Office of Naval Research.

This symposium series began in 1989 in Osaka,Japan, as the “International Symposium on FunctionalDyes.” Past symposia were held in Kobe (Japan, 1992),Santa Cruz (California, 1995), Osaka (Japan, 1999) andUlm (Germany, 2002). The name of the symposium waschanged a few years back to reflect its broadenedscope and to align it with recent developments in aca-demic, industrial, and government research institutions.

The Fπ symposium series has developed throughthe years to become a unique forum for the discussionof structure-properties relationships in π-conjugatedmaterials. These include organic semiconductors(with applications in display technologies and low-cost electronics), as well as biologically relevant mate-

Polymer LEDs made by Gang Yu, 5” x 5” and 5.1”diameter, to commemorate the 2000 Nobel Prize.These single pixel polymer LEDs are fixed digitalimages with a resolution of 80 dpi. (Courtesy of AlanHeeger and Gang Yu of DuPont Displays.)


Conference Call

rials such as DNA. Fπ6 brought together chemists, physicists, biolo-

gists, and engineers to discuss recent developmentsin the field of π-conjugated materials. The technicalprogram included 5 keynote lectures, 35 plenary lec-tures, 90 highlighted and contributed oral presenta-tions, and 3 extensive poster sessions. The openingaddress was given by Zen-ichi Yoshida (KyotoUniversity), founder of the Fπ series.

The theme of the symposium was defined by the fivekeynote lectures. Each day began with a keynote lectureand was followed by plenary, contributed, and posterpresentations. The keynote lectures were given by:• Roald Hoffmann (Cornell): “Waiting to be Made:

Some as (yet) Unknown π-Electron Systems”• Andrew Holmes (Cambridge): “Controlled

Synthesis of Light-Emitting Polymers”• Klaus Müllen (MPI Mainz): “Putting the Molecules

into Molecular Electronics”• Gary Schuster (Georgia Tech): “Long-Distance Charge

Transfer in Duplex DNA: Mechanism and Meaning”• Yasuhiko Shirota (Osaka): “Synthesis, Properties, and

Applications of Amorphous Molecular Materials”

The plenary, contributed and poster presentationsaddressed advances in:• Synthesis of functional π-electron materials • Processing and patterning • Structure (bulk, surface/interface) • Properties (electronic, biological, mechanical, etc.) • Applications • Industrial aspects of π-electron materials

Located in the Finger Lakes region, Ithaca providedan ideal setting for the meeting. The region features amultitude of scenic gorges, state parks, and award-winning wineries. Combining the best of rural andurban life, Ithaca was voted one of the top 10 bestplaces for families to live in the USA. The state-of-the-art lecture halls of the Cornell campus, the availabilityof dormitory rooms (in addition to regular hotelrooms) at walking distance from the lecture rooms,and easy access to the Internet and exercise facilitiesenhanced the quality of the meeting. Fπ7 will be heldin Osaka (Japan) in May 2006.

George Malliaras <[email protected]>, organizer of the Fππ6, is an assistant

professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New

York, USA. John Reynolds <[email protected]> is a professor at the

University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, USA.

Biomolecular Chemistry by David StC. Black

The 7th International Symposium on BiomolecularChemistry—ISBOC-7—was held at the University ofSheffield from 27 June to 1 July 2004. The first thingto note is that the previous descriptor in the title,namely “Bioorganic” was deliberately replaced by theword “Biomolecular,” in order to broaden the scopeand allow the introduction of “bioinorganic” chemistry.This series of conferences is planned by theBiomolecular Subcommittee of the IUPAC Division ofOrganic and Biomolecular Chemistry. The conferencewas master-minded by Michael Blackburn and hiscommittee, in collaboration with the Royal Society ofChemistry, and by all measures was a great success.

The key ingredient in any conference is a high qual-ity scientific content. The approximately 250 partici-pants were given a veritable feast of stimulating andinformative plenary and invited lectures, and theyjoined in many vigorous and stimulating discussions.The statistics show that there were 7 plenary, 5keynote, and 23 invited lectures, 38 contributed oralpresentations, and 86 poster presentations. Theposters were on display for the entire duration of thesymposium, and extended lunch and tea breaksallowed generous time for discussion.

Biomolecular chemistry is arguably the mostimportant area of chemistry for development duringthis century, as it deals with fundamental questionsrelating to the controlling mechanisms of life itself.The scene was set in the opening lecture, theAlexander Todd Lecture, sponsored by Yusuf Hamiedof Cipla Ltd. (Bombay and London), and delivered byGeorge Whitesides (Harvard University, USA), whodealt with both the fundamental and applied aspectsof biomolecular chemistry. Whitesides spoke of theneed to understand the fundamental nature of the cellas a system of chemical reactions, and the shift inemphasis in biology from structure to function, lead-ing for example to important research on protein-lig-and interactions, which by their floppy nature are stillbeyond the accuracy of modelling techniques. Movingto the applied area of the pharmaceutical industry,practicalities such as cost become highly significant,and change will be needed in planning future drugdevelopment. Polyvalency is a promising approach,and genomics provides a new tool, but new assayswill need to be simple and inexpensive, if costs are tobe contained. The current state of structure-based


drug discovery was outlined by Hans-Joachim Böhm(Roche, Basel, Switzerland), who showed that compu-tational prediction of binding affinities have led toenhanced hit rates.

The University of Sheffield Krebs Lecture was givenby Stephen Lippard (MIT, USA), whose bioinorganicresearch is aimed towards an understanding of thebiological oxidation of hydrocarbons at non-hemediiron centres, and to the development of practicalsynthetic models that will achieve the same thing invitro. The theme of mixed-valent iron systems wasdeveloped further by Carl Wieghardt (Mülheim,Germany) and James Cowan (Ohio State University,USA). The bioinorganic theme was neatly linked backinto a major bioorganic area by Bengt Nordén(Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden) in a lec-ture on the role of binuclear ruthenium intercalators inthe study of DNA binding mechanisms, which empha-sized the importance of kinetic rather than thermody-namic recognition.

Dieter Seebach (ETH, Zürich, Switzerland) broughtus up to date with the exciting new properties ofoligomers from homologated proteinogenic aminoacids. In only eight years, the enormous amount ofsynthetic work required has been more than repaid bythe results. The critical tertiary structural motifs occurin smaller oligomers than for the proteins, and conse-quently these oligomers are a practical prospect fordiagnostic and pharmaceutical applications.

The role of real proteins in enzymes was the subjectof the lecture on dihydrofolate reductases by StephenBenkovic (Penn State University, USA), which broughtall the armory of physical organic chemistry to bearon the understanding of conformational changeswhich are responsible for function. Dudley Williams(Cambridge, UK) advanced the hypothesis thatincreasing hydrogen bonding results in the strength-ening of existing ones and leads to significant lower-ing of ligand-protein binding energies. All the leadingexperts then participated in a remarkably lively andextended discussion on the possible novelty andvalidity of this hypothesis. Those graduate studentspresent will look back on this discussion in years tocome and realize its significance. Further research onenzymatic transition state structures was describedby Vern Schramm (Albert Einstein College ofMedicine, New York, USA) on N-ribosyltransferases:the design of new drugs can be advantageously based

on matching the transition state structure. Using acombinatorial screening approach, enzymes can beevolved to provide mutants which can showenhanced enantioselectivity in reactions that are valu-able for synthetic organic chemistry. Manfred Reetz(Mülheim, Germany) has developed this technique andshown that even more exciting applications lie ahead.Experimental evidence emphasises that enantioselec-tivity arises in the dynamic reaction process, and notas a result of the fit of the substrate or product.

Just one dramatic example of the rapid progressbeing made in dealing with large biological macro-molecules was illustrated in the lecture by CarolRobinson (Cambridge, UK), who explained how massspectrometry can now be used to learn about interac-tions between intact proteins and small molecules.The use of nano-electrospray mass spectrometry hasallowed the molecular mass measurement of severalribosymes, which are composed of three very largeRNA molecules and over 50 different proteins.

The scope of the conference was sufficiently broadto include lectures on the biological impact of smallRNAs (Kazunari Taira, Tokyo, Japan) and syntheticmultifunctional pores (Stefan Matile, Geneva,Switzerland).

The overall framework of the conference groupedthe oral and poster presentations into six symposia,on proteins and peptides, bioinorganic chemistry, syn-thetic and bioorganic chemistry, structure and mech-anism, biothermodynamics, and biospectroscopy. Theposters were available for most of the conference andrelaxed coffee and lunch breaks provided ampleopportunity for discussion of them. In addition to anexcellent conference banquet in the historic CutlersHall, a special feature of the social program was apiano recital by the internationally renowned localpianist Benjamin Frith on the Bosendorfer Imperialgrand piano in the Firth Hall of Sheffield University.

ISBOC-8, the next conference in this exciting—andincreasingly important—series, will be held in approx-imately two years’ time in Florida, USA, chaired byRussell Kerr.

David StC. Black <[email protected]> was IUPAC representative at the ISBOC-7.

He is now IUPAC Secretary General, and has been a member of the IUPAC Division

of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry since 1994. He is a professor at the

University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia.

Conference Call


Announcements of conferences, symposia, workshops,meetings, and other upcoming activities.

Hydrogen Energy

13–15 July 2005, Istanbul, Turkey

The first meeting of the International HydrogenEnergy Congress will be held 13–15 July 2005 at theIstanbul Lutfi Kirdar Convention Center, where 6000delegates can have parallel sessions in 26 rooms atthe same time. Furthermore, an exhibition area ofabout 10 000-square meters is provided inside theconference center for the exhibitors.

Increasing interest in hydrogen energy has madethis meeting necessary. It will bring together

researchers and practitioners from industry, academia,and government from all over the world. IHEC-2005will offer a full range of hydrogen-energy-relatedinvited lectures, technical sessions, and exhibits. Thecongress and exhibition are planned to be the largestevent ever organized on the topic of renewable andhydrogen energy technologies.

For further details, including registration, the scien-tific timetable, and social activities visit the congressWeb site.

www.ihec2005.org

Analytical Methodologies inTrace Metal Speciation6–9 April 2005, Luxembourg

The International Association of EnvironmentalAnalytical Chemistry will hold the 10th IAEACWorkshop on Progress in Analytical Methodologiesin Trace Metal Speciation in Luxembourg, 6–9 April2005.

This workshop will address the current and futurestatus of chemical speciation. The program will includekeynote lectures and podium and poster sessions cov-ering recent developments in the study of chemicalspecies in environmental and biological systems.

Main topics include the following:

• speciation in food and in food production• importance of speciation in industrial processes• role of speciation in transport and bioavailability in

biological systems• speciation and global change• new perspectives in the determination of labile and

non-labile chemical species in environmental com-partments

• microbial transformation of inorganic metals andmetalloids

• speciation of emerging pollutants

http://chemspec2005.crpgl.lu

Food Safety3–4 March 2005, Brussels, Belgium

The 3rd AOAC Europe /Eurachem Symposium: LegalLimits on the Road to Food Safety—EstablishingSound Criteria for Compliance Decisions will be held3–4 March 2005 in Brussels, Belgium. The symposiumis intended for an audience of food and feed analysts,quality-assurance managers, administrators, and aca-demics.

Quality-assurance managers as well as competentauthorities have to consider a number of factors whendeciding how to comply with European Union ornational legislation. They require more informationthan just analytical results because there are so manydifferent standards for food safety. Critical issues tobe addressed by this symposium are as follows:

• regulatory issues and requirements• assessment of compliance• sampling and its uncertainty• use of different methods of analysis• quality issues in analysis and measurement uncer-

tainty• data tracking and tracing as part of quality control

The symposium will include lectures by invitedspeakers, a poster session, and five-minute posterpresentations. The symposium will be held at theHotel Bedford in the center of Brussels.

For more information contact Margaret Lauwaars <[email protected]>,

IRMM FSQ, Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Belgium.

Where 2B&Y


Nanostructured AdvancedMaterials

5–8 September 2005Stellenbosch, South Africa

The Third IUPAC Workshop on Advanced Materials(WAMIII) focusing on “Nanostructured AdvancedMaterials,” will be held from 5–8 September 2005 inStellenbosch, South Africa. The workshop will featureinvited and submitted papers and poster contribu-tions in addition to five plenaries covering the fivemain themes:• nanoparticles: centers in application (gold

nanoparticles, nanomagnet exciting new particles)• nano-electronics

• electrospinning• bottom-up design and self-assembly• synthesis application and characterization

Based on the resounding success of the previousmeetings in Hong Kong and Bangalore, this workshopshould again strengthen the ties and collaborationsbetween experts around the world and hopefullyinvigorate developments on the African Continent,especially in South Africa.

Potential lecturers are invited to submit abstractsby 1 March 2005.

See calendar on page 37 for contact information

www.sun.ac.za/unesco/Conferences/WAMIII/HOMEPAGE2005.htm

Polymer Gels and Networks10–14 July 2005, Prague, Czech Republic

The 68th Prague Meeting on Macromolecules and44th Microsymposium will provide a discussion forumfor participants from academia and industry interestedin the science and technology of synthetic and naturalpolymer gels and networks. The meeting will placeemphasis on theoretical and experimental studies ofthe relations between the formation, chemical compo-sition, structure, and properties of polymer networksand gels. Special attention will be paid to hydrogelsused in biomedical applications, such as drug deliveryand tissue engineering.

Meeting topics include preparation and chemicalmodification of networks and gels; gelation and net-work formation; gel and network states of matter; gelsin life sciences, technology, and applications. Thetechnical program includes about 10 main lectures, 10

invited lec-tures, and 20oral lectures.Those partici-pants who wishto present anoral lectureshould submita brief sum-mary with thepreliminary registration card to the PMM Secretariatbefore 31 December 2004. Two poster sessions areplanned as well. The number of posters is not limited.

DEADLINES: Preliminary registration and offers oforal lectures: 31 December 2004; final registration andabstracts: 15 April 2005.

See calendar on page 36 for contact information

www.imc.cas.cz/sympo/44micros.html

VisasIt is a condition of sponsorships that organizers ofmeetings under the auspices of IUPAC, in consideringthe locations of such meetings, should take all possiblesteps to ensure the freedom of all bona fide chemistsfrom throughout the world to attend irrespective ofrace, religion, or political philosophy. IUPAC sponsor-ship implies that entry visas will be granted to all bonafide chemists provided application is made not lessthan three months in advance. If a visa is not grantedone month before the meeting, the IUPAC Secretariatshould be notified without delay by the applicant.

How to Apply for IUPACSponsorshipConference organizers are invited to complete anApplication for IUPAC Sponsorship (AIS) preferably 2years and at least 12 months before the Conference.Further information on granting sponsorhsip isincluded in the AIS and is available upon request fromthe IUPAC Secretariat or online.<www.iupac.org/symposia/application.html>.

Where 2B & Y

Physics and SustainableDevelopment 31 October–2 November 2005Durban, South Africa

The United Nations has declared 2005 to be theInternational Year of Physics in commemoration ofthe 100 th anniversary of Einstein’s“Miraculous Year” in which he publishedthree of his most famous papers. Part of theplanned celebrations is the WorldConference on Physics and SustainableDevelopment to be held 31 October to 2November 2005 in Durban, South Africa.Participants from developed and developingnations will join together to examine thecontributions that physics has made tosociety in order to formulate and sharpenaction-oriented plans for the contributions thatit can and should make in future. This conference willbe cosponsored by UNESCO, the Abdus SalamInternational Centre for Physics, the InternationalUnion of Pure and Applied Physics, and the SouthAfrican Institute of Physics.

The World Conference will be the first global forumto focus the physics community on development

goals and to create new mechanisms of cooperationtoward their achievement. The conference will be heldin conjunction with the 2005 General Assembly ofIUPAP and is expected to attract 400–500 partici-pants from across the globe.

Four themes have been chosen for the conference:Physics and Economic Development, Physics andHealth, Energy and the Environment, and Physics

Education. An International AdvisoryCommittee comprised of Nobel

Laureates and other international sci-ence leaders will work with a

Planning Committee to preparethe program. In part, the confer-

ence will be a follow up to theUNESCO-ICSU World Conference on

Science which was held in June 1999 andsought to strengthen the ties between sci-ence and society, as well as to the broader

United Nations World Summit on SustainableDevelopment that was held in Johannesburg in thesummer of 2002. The conference is expected to leadto important action items that organizations of physi-cists, including all of the national physical societies,will join together to implement collectively.

www.wcpsd.org


Mycotoxins and Phycotoxins

21-26 May 2007, Istanbul, Turkey

The XIIth International IUPAC Symposium onMycotoxins and Phycotoxins will be held 21–26 May2007 in Istanbul, Turkey. Since IUPAC initiated thisseries of symposia in 1973 in Sweden, 10 symposiahave been held in the following locations: Pulawy,Poland; Paris; Lausanne, Switzerland; Vienna; Pretoria,South Africa; Tokyo; Mexico City; Rome; Guaruja,Brazil and Maryland, USA. These symposia, whichhave become the principal interdisciplinary meetingson mycotoxins and phycotoxins, provide overviews ofresearch and developments in analytical chemistry,risk assessment, effects on human health, control, andremediation strategies.

The XIIth meeting will comprise a number of ple-

nary lectures reviewing the principal areas of the sym-posium plus contributed papers selected by aScientific Committee. As with previous symposia,poster sessions will play an important part in the sym-posium and there will be a concurrent instrument andmanufacturers exhibition.

This symposium will be hosted by Tubitak-AnkaraTest and Analysis Laboratory (ATAL), founded in1994. Tubitak-ATAL provides testing, analyses, con-sulting, and training, and specializes in mycotoxinsanalysis and method validation.

A call for contributed papers will be made in May2006.

www.atal.tubitak.gov.tr/iupac2007-mycotoxin

Where 2B & Y


Mark Your CalendarUpcoming IUPAC-sponsored eventsSee also www.iupac.org/symposiafor links to specific event Web site

2 0 0 416–18 November 2004 • Chemical Education and Sustainable Development • Moscow, Russia

The 2nd International Conference on Chemical Education and Sustainable DevelopmentProf. P.D. Sarkisov, Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology, Miusskaya sq., 9 RU-125047 Moscow,Russia, Tel.: +7 095 973 2419, Fax: +7 095 200 4204, E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

30 November–3 December 2004 • Agriculture • Jesenik, Czech RepublicChemistry for AgricultureDr. Adam Pawelczyk, Wroclaw University of Technology, Smoluchowskiego 25, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland, Tel.: +48 (0) 71-3202930, Fax: +48 (0) 71 3203469, E-mail: [email protected]

6–8 December 2004 • Fats, Oils, and Oilseeds Analysis and Production • Tunis, TunisiaIUPAC-AOCS Workshop <www.aocs.org/meetings/>

2 0 0 514–17 February 2005 • Crop Protection Chemistry in Latin America • San Jose, Costa Rica

International Workshop on Crop Protection Chemistry in Latin America: Harmonized Approaches forEnvironmental Assessment and Regulation<www.iupac.org/symposia/2005/crop-protection-chemistry>

20–25 February 2005 • Nanotechnology • Luxor, EgyptNanotechnology: Science and Application (NanoTech Insight ‘05)Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb, Institute of Physics, TU-Chemnitz, Department of Optical Spectroscopy &Molecular Physics, Reichenhainerstr. 70, D-09107 Chemnitz, GermanyTel.: +49 0 371 531 4807, Fax: +49 0 371 531 3060, E-mail: [email protected]

27 February–2 March 2005 • Heterocyclic Chemistry • Gainesville, Florida, USA6th Florida Heterocyclic ConferenceProf. Alan R. Katritzky, University of Florida, Dept. of Chemistry, Gainesville, FL 32611-7200, USA, Tel.: +1 352 392 0554, Fax: +1 352 392 9199, E-mail: [email protected]

17–22 April 2005 • Nuclear Analytical Methods • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil8th International Conference on Nuclear Analytical Methods in the Life SciencesProf. Dr. Elisabete De Nadai, Universidad de São Paulo, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Laboratóriode Radioisótopos, Caixa Postal 96, CEP 13400-970 Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, Tel.: +55 19 34294655, Fax: +55 19 34294654, E-mail: [email protected]

21–22 April 2005 • Clinical Laboratory • Barcelona, SpainThird European Symposium on Clinical Laboratory and In Vitro Diagnostic IndustryDr. Josep Lluis Bedini, Hospital Clínic, Laboratori Core, Barcelona, E-08036 Catalonia, Spain, Tel.: +34 93 227 98 69, Fax: +34 93 227 93 76, E-mail: [email protected]

4–9 June 2005 • Polymers and Biopolymers • Réduit, Mauritius8th UNESCO School and IUPAC Conference on Macromolecules: “Polymers for Africa”Dr. Dhanjay Jhurry, Department of Chemistry, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius, Tel.: +230 454 1041 - ext 1472, Fax: +230 465 6928, E-mail: [email protected]

26–30 June 2005 • Polymeric Materials • Prague, Czech Republic23rd Discussion Conference PMM Current and Future Trends in Polymeric MaterialsProf. Miroslav Raab (Chairman), c/o P.M.M. Secretariat, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry AS CR,Heyrovského nám. 2 CZ - 162 06 Praha 6, Czech Republic, Tel.: + 420 296 809 281, Fax: +420 809 296 410, E-mail: [email protected]

10–14 July 2005 • Polymer Gels • Prague, Czech Republic68th Prague Meeting on Macromolecules and 44th Microsymposium on “Polymer Gels and Networks”Prof. Michal Ilavsky, Academy of the Sciences, Insitute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Heyrovského nám. 2 CZ-162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic, Tel.: +420 296 809 281, Fax: +420 809 296 410 ,E-mail: [email protected]


17–21 July 2005 • Organometallic Chemistry • Geneva, Switzerland13th International Symposium on Organometallic Chemistry Directed Towards Organic Synthesis (OMCOS-13),Prof. E. Peter Kündig, Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Geneva, 30 Quai Ernest Ansermet, CH1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland, Tel.: +41 22 379 6526, Fax: +41 22 328 7396, E-mail: [email protected]

17–22 July 2005 • Carotenoids • Edinburgh, Scotland14th International Symposium on CarotenoidsProf. Andrew J. Young, School of Biological and Earth Sciences, John Moores University, Byrom St.Liverpool L3 3AF, UK, Tel.: +44 151 231 2173 / 3575, Fax: + 44 151 207 3224, E-mail: [email protected]

13–21 August 2005 • IUPAC 43rd General Assembly • Beijing, ChinaIUPAC Secretariat, Tel.: +1 919 485 8700, Fax: +1 919 485 8706, E-mail: [email protected]

14–19 August 2005 • IUPAC 40th Congress—Innovation in Chemistry • Beijing, ChinaProf. Xibai Qiu, IUPAC-2005 Secretariat, c/o Chinese Chemical Society, PO Box 2709, Beijing 100080, China,Tel.: +86 (10) 62568157, Fax: +86 (10) 62568157, E-mail: [email protected] (see back cover)

21–25 August 2005 • Solution Chemistry • Portoroz, SloveniaInternational Conference on Solution ChemistryProf. Vojko Vlachy, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, Aškerceva 5, POB537, SL 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia, E-mail: [email protected]

30 August–3 September 2005 • Learning Science • Barcelona, SpainEuropean Science Education Research Association—“Contributions of Research to Enhancing Students’ Interestin Learning Science”Dr. Roser Pinto, CRECIM Centre de Recerca per a l’Educacio Cientifica i Matematica, Campus de la UAB-EdificiG5, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain, Tel.: +34 93 5813206, Fax: +34 93 5811169, E-mail: [email protected]

4–9 September 2005 • Analytical Spectroscopy • Antwerp, BelgiumColloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale XXXIVProf. Rene Van Grieken, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium, Tel.: +32 3 820 2362, Fax: +32 3 820 2376, E-mail: [email protected]

5–9 September 2005 • Nanostructured Advanced Materials • Stellenbosch, South Africa3rd IUPAC Workshop on New Directions in Chemistry—Workshop on Nanostructured Advanced Materials (WAM III)Prof. R.D. Sanderson, University of Stellenbosch, Department of Chemistry & Polymer Science, Private Bag X1,Matieland 7602, South Africa, E-mail: [email protected]

10–13 September 2005 • Macromolecule-Metal Complexes • Tirrenia (Pisa), Italy11th IUPAC International Symposium on Macromolecule-Metal Complexes (MMC-11)Prof. Francesco Ciardelli, Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry Department, University of Pisa, via Risorgimento,35, I-56126 Pisa, Italy, Tel.: +39 0502219229, Fax: +39 0502219320, E-mail: [email protected]

11–15 September 2005 • Boron Chemistry • Sendai, Japan12th International Meeting on Boron ChemistryProf. Yoshinori Yamamoto, Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai,Japan, 980-8578, Tel.: +81 22 217 6581, Fax: +81 22 217 6784, E-mail: [email protected]

2 0 0 6

10–13 January 2006 • Green Chemistry • Delhi, IndiaSecond International Symposium on Green/Sustainable ChemistryDr. M. Kidwai, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, India, Fax: +91 11 27666235, E-mail: [email protected]

6–11 August 2006 • Pesticide Chemistry • Kobe, Japan11th International Congress of Pesticide ChemistryDr. Hisashi Miyagawa, Division Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto606-8502, Japan, Tel.: +81 75 753 6118, Fax: +81 75 753 6123, E-mail: [email protected]

Section head cont NEW


BookwormAlkali and Alkaline Earth Metal Pseudohalides, 30 (3)Biodegradable Polymers & Plastics, 24 (1)Chemicals in Products: Safeguarding the

Environment and Human Health, 25 (1)Chemistry at the Interfaces, 26 (6)Electronic Phenomena in Organic Solids, 24 (5)Functional Networks and Gels, 22 (2)Introdução à Química Orgânica, 27 (6)IUPAC Handbook 2004–2005, 31 (3)Macromolecule-Metal Complexes, 22 (2)Macromolecules and Materials Science, 27 (6)Mission and Challenges of Polymer Science and

Technology, 23 (2)On the Practice of Safety, 26 (1)Physicochemical Kinetics and Transport at

Biointerfaces, 24 (1)Recent Advances in Organometallic Chemistry

Directed Towards Organic Synthesis, 22 (5)Special Topic Articles Featuring the 2003 Winners of

the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists, 31 (3)Structure and Dynamics in Liquids, 29 (3)The “Gold Book” in Spanish, 23 (2)The Red Book II in Hungarian, 30 (3)

Conference Call Advanced Materials, Michael Hess, 31 (4)Bio-Based Polymers, Stanislaw Penczek, 30 (4)Biodegradable Polymers and Plastics, In-Joo Chin,

28 (6)Bioinorganic Chemistry, Stephen J. Lippard, 27 (1)Bio-Interface Science, Hans Griesser, 25 (5)Biomolecular Chemistry, David StC. Black, 31 (6)Chemistry for Water—ChemRAWN XV Conference,

Alan Smith, 26 (5)Emerging Issues in Analytical Chemistry, Ryszard

Lobinski, 32 (3)Flow Analysis, I.D. McKelvie, 25 (2)Functional and Nano Systems, Courtney Young, 30 (6)Heterocyclic Chemistry, Tom Tidwell, 25 (5)Interfaces and Interphases in Multicomponent

Materials, Edina Epacher, 27 (2)Macromolecules, Jaroslav Kríz, 28 (1)Medicinal Chemistry—Kraków 2003, Barbara

Malawska and Katarzyna Kiec-Kononowicz, 35 (3)Medicinal Chemistry in Asia, Tetsuo Nagano and

Kazuya Kiuchi, 28 (2)Mendeleev Congress on General and Applied

Chemistry, Oleg Nefedov and Oleg Sinyashin, 33 (3)Molecular Characterization of Polymers: From

Conventional Bulk Methods to Separation

Procedures, Dusan Berek, 28 (2)Organic Chemistry, Andreja Lesac, 26 (2)π-Electron Systems, George Malliaras and John

Reynolds, 30 (6)Polymers in Medicine, Nanotechnology, Degradation,

and Stabilization, R.D. Sanderson, 28 (6)Spectroscopy, Carmen Cámara and Luis Fermín

Capitán-Vallvey, 29 (1)

Feature Articles2003—The Year of Chemistry in Germany, Holger

Bengs and Wolfram Koch, 4 (3)Atomic Weights and the International Committee:

A Brief Historical Review, Norman E. Holden, 4 (1)Chemistry Clearing House, Elena S. Gryzlova, 4 (4)The Future of Chemistry Education, Lida Schoen,

12 (6)Chemistry for Kids at teutolab, Holger Jenett,

Alexander Brandt, Martin Püttschneider, RudolfHerbers, and Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus, 7 (5)

Chemistry Society of Mauritius: A New Society AimsHigh for its Island Nation and the Indian OceanRegion, Dhanjay Jhurry, 10 (3)

Chinese Terms for Chemical Elements: CharactersCombining Radical and Phonetic Elements, ChangHao, 10 (1)

Collaborative Trial Tests for Method Validation: Lessonsto be Learned, E. Anklam and J. Stroka, 7 (4)

Europe Goes Bachelor!, Terry Mitchell, 11 (5)Frontiers of Chemical Sciences: Research and

Education in the Middle East, John M. Malin, 7 (3)Green Chemistry in Russia, Pietro Tundo, 9 (2)Green Chemistry in the Arab Region: One Step

Further in IUPAC’s Campaign to PromoteSustainability and Chemistry, Pietro Tundo andMohamed Tawfic Ahmed, 8 (2)

Innovation in the Chemical Industry: The Way fromPure to Applied Chemistry, J.A. Kopytowski, 3 (5)

IUPAC and Commercial Polymers: IUPAC WorkingParty on Structure and Properties of CommercialPolymers—History, Output, and Future Prospects,D.R. Moore and H.M. Laun , 10 (4)

IUPAC, COCI, and the Chemical Industry: “The TimesThey Are A-Changing” and COCI Will Need to SingSome New Songs, David E. Evans, 4 (2)

Role Models in Chemistry: Jens Christian Skou,Balazs Hargittai and István Hargittai, 14 (2)

Role Models in Chemistry: John Pople, BalazsHargittai and István Hargittai, 14 (4)

Strengthening International Science: An Overview ofthe International Council for Science, Carthage

page(issue)Index for 2004


Smith and Thomas Rosswall, 4 (6)The Impact of International Exchange: The Scientific

Journey of Marini Bettolo from Italy to Uruguay,Patrick Moyna, 11 (2)

The IUPAC Solubility Data Project: A Brief History,Larry Clever, 12 (3)

The Periodic Table of the Elements, Norman Holdenand Ty Coplen, 8 (1)

When Ideas Become Deeds: Chemical Education andSustainable Development in Russia, Natalia P.Tarasova, 3 (4)

Women in Chemistry: Her Lab in Your Life, JoshMcIlvain, 8 (6)

XML in Chemical Education, Daniel Tofan, 16 (4)

Internet ConnectionHer Lab in Your Life—An Online Exhibit, 10 (6)IUPAC Solubility Data on the Internet, 24 (2)Kids and Science, 29 (4)

IUPAC Wire2004 Thieme—IUPAC Prize in Synthetic Organic

Chemistry, 16 (3)2004 Winners of the IUPAC Prize for Young

Chemists, 20 (4)Elections for 2006–2007 Terms, 16 (5)Executive Committee Looks at IUPAC’s Role in the

World, 19 (4)FECS 2003 Award for Service Presented to Leiv

Sydnes, 14 (1)IACT Gains Associated Organization Status, 14 (1)International Year of Physics, 2005, 17 (6)IUPAC Officers Meet with Chemistry Leaders in

Kazan, 18 (2)IUPAC Poster Prizes, 16 (5)Marian Góral Receives 2004 Franzosini Award, 17 (6)New Best Estimates of the Values of the

Fundamental Constants, Ian Mills, 17 (3)Off-Year Meetings, 16 (5)Strong Science and Technology Capacity, 16 (3)Young Observers Going to Beijing, 17 (6)

Making an imPACtCritical Evaluation of the State of the Art of the

Analysis of Light Elements in Thin FilmsDemonstrated Using the Examples of SiOXNY andAlOXNY Films, 23 (6)

Definitions of Terms Relating to Reactions of Polymersand to Functional Polymeric Materials, 21 (5)

Determination of Trace Elements Bound to Soils andSediment Fractions, 27 (3)

Electrochemical Detection in Liquid Flow AnalyticalTechniques: Characterization and Classification, 22 (6)

Glossary of Terms Used in Toxicokinetics, 21 (5)Guidelines for Calibration in Analytical Chemistry.

Part 2: Multicomponent Calibration, 23 (6)Implications of Endocrine Active Substances for

Humans and Wildlife, 21 (1)Piezoelectric Chemical Sensors, 23 (6)Properties and Units for Transfusion Medicine and

Immunohematology, 21 (1)Quantities, Terminology, and Symbols in

Photothermal and Related Spectroscopies, 22 (6)Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Poly (α-

Methylstyrene-co-acrylonitrile)/Poly(Methylacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) Blends,27 (3)

Terminology for Analytical Capillary ElectromigrationTechniques, 28 (3)

Mark Your CalendarListing of IUPAC Sponsored Conferences and

Symposia, 36 (1), 34 (2), 35 (3), 35 (4), 32 (5), 36 (6)

Officers’ ColumnsAdvancing the Business of IUPAC, David StC. Black,

2 (2)Chemists in a Vulnerable World, Leiv K. Sydnes, 2 (6)Exciting and Challenging Times for Chemists and

Chemistry, Leiv K. Sydnes, 2 (1)Extending the Role of IUPAC Within the Worldwide

Chemistry Community, Bryan R. Henry, 2 (3)Have We Lost Contact with Some of Our Old

Friends, Christoph F. Buxtorf, 2 (5)IUPAC’s Recognition of Chemists, Piet Steyn, 2 (4)

The Project PlaceAnalog-Based Drug Discovery, 19 (2)Bio-Physical Chemistry of Fractal Structures and

Processes in Environmental Systems, 24 (4)Biophysico-Chemical Processes of Heavy Metals and

Metalloids in Soil Environments, 21 (6)Chemical Thermodynamics for Industry, 17 (1)Chemistry’s Contributions to Humanity—A Feasibility

Study, 24 (4)Development of Simplified Methods and Tools for

Ecological Risk Assessment of Pesticides, 18 (5)Environmental Colloids: Behavior, Structure, and

Characterization, 17 (5)Explanatory Dictionary of Concepts in Toxicokinetics,

23 (4)

page(issue)


Glossary for Chemists of Terms Used in Toxicology—Revision and Updating, 20 (2)

Glossary of Terms Used in Biomolecular Screening, 20 (6)Glossary of Terms Used in Combinatorial Chemistry,

19 (5)Graphical Representation Standards for Chemical

Structure Diagrams, 23 (4)Green Chemistry in Latin America, 19 (5)Internationally Agreed Terminology for Observations

in Scientific Communication, 21 (6)Pesticide Science—Harmonization of Data

Requirements and Evaluation, 18 (1)Post Genomic Chemistry, 19 (2)Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science, 21 (2)Practical Studies for Medicinal Chemistry Guidelines,

20 (6) Quantifying the Effects of Compound Combinations,

24 (4)Reference Methods, Standards, and Applications of

Photoluminescence, 20 (6)Standard Definitions of Terms Related to Mass

Spectrometry, 23 (3)Structure and Properties of Polymer/Clay Nano-

Composite Materials, 20 (2)Terminology, Quantities, and Units Concerning

Production and Applications of Radionuclides inRadiopharmaceutical and RadioanalyticalChemistry, 23 (3)

Thermodynamics and Non-equilibrium Criteria forDevelopment and Application of SupplementedPhase Diagrams, 17 (5)

Toward a Core Organic Chemistry Curriculum forLatin American Universities, 24 (3)

XML in Chemistry and Chemical Identifiers, 25 (4)XML-Based IUPAC Standard for Experimental and

Critically Evaluated Thermodynamic Property DataStorage and Capture, 17 (1)

XML-Based IUPAC Standard for Experimental andCritically Evaluated Thermodynamic Property DataStorage and Capture, 26 (4)

Young Ambassadors for Chemistry, 18 (5)

Provisional RecommendationsName and Symbol of the Element with Atomic

Number 111, 28 (4) and 14 (5)Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry, 26 (3) and 28 (4)Numbering of Fullerenes, 26 (3) and 28 (4)

Up for DiscussionBonded by Stereobonds, Hubert Maehr, 18 (6)Chemical Safety in a Vulnerable World—A Manifesto,

Carl Djerassi, 12 (5)

Chemistry in Japan—A Report from the NationalCommittee for Chemistry, Akio Yamamoto, 20 (3)

Electromotivity to Replace Electromotive Force?,Vladimir Simeon, 12 (6)

In Response to “Chinese Terms for ChemicalElements,” Kaihsu Tai, 15 (5)

Questionable Stereoformulas of Diastereomers, GerdKaupp and M. Reza Naimi-Jamal, 15 (1) andResponse from the IUPAC Chemical Nomenclatureand Structure Representation Division (VIII), AlanMcNaught, 16 (1)

Questionable Stereoformulas of Diastereomers—Letters from H.D. Flack and M. Oki, 21 (4)

The Placement of Hydrogen in the Periodic Table,Eric Scerri, 21 (3)

Where 2B & YAnalytical Chemistry, 5–10 September 2004,

Salamanca, Spain, 37 (3)Analytical Methodologies in Trace Metal Speciation,

6–9 April 2005, Luxembourg, 33 (6)Biodegradable Polymers and Plastics, 1–4 June 2004,

Seoul, Korea, 30 (2)Bio-interfaces, 23–26 May 2004, Barossa Valley,

South Australia, 31 (1)Biological Polyesters, 22–28 August 2004, Beijing,

China, 33 (4)Biomolecular Chemistry, 27 June–1 July 2004,

Sheffield, UK, 33 (1)Biotechnology, 17–22 October 2004, Santiago, Chile,

33 (4)Carbohydrates, 23–27 July 2004, Glasgow, Scotland,

UK, 32 (2)Chemical Sciences in Changing Times, 18–21 July

2004, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, 34 (1)Chemical Thermodynamics, 17–21 August 2004,

Beijing, China, 33 (2)Chemistry for Agriculture, 30 November–3 December

2004, Jesenik, Czech Republic, 34 (4)CHEMRAWN XV: Chemistry for Water, 21–23 June

2004, Paris, France, 31 (2)Chromatography, 20–22 October 2004, Campos do

Jordao, Brazil, 29 (5)Clinical Laboratory, 21–22 April 2005, Barcelona,

Catalonia, Spain, 29 (5)Coordination and Organometallic Chemistry, 27 June–2

July 2004, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, 31 (2)Coordination Chemistry, 18–23 July 2004, Mérida,

Yucatán, México, 35 (1)DNA Supramolecular Assemblies, 5–6 May 2004,

Avignon, France, 30 (2)


Emulsion Polymerization and Latex Technology, 7–11June 2004, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, 31 (2)

Environmental and Clinical Analysis, 8–12 October2004, Rome, Italy, 38 (3)

Food Safety, 3–4 March 2005, Brussels, Belgium, 33 (6)Functional and Nano-Systems, 13–17 June 2004,

Missoula, Montana, USA, 36 (3)Heteroatom Chemistry, 20–25 August 2004,

Shanghai, China, 33 (2)Hydrogen Energy, 13–15 July 2005, Istanbul, Turkey,

33 (6)Latin American Congress, 30 May–2 June 2004,

Salvador, Bahia, 32 (1)Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, 10–12

November 2004, Montreaux, Switzerland, 33 (4)Macromolecule-Metal Complexes, 10–13 September

2005, Tirrenia (Pisa), Italy, 31 (5)Macromolecules, 4–9 July 2004, Paris, France, 33 (1)Metallocene Catalysis, 10–12 November 2004,

Singapore, 29 (5)Mycotoxins and Phycotoxins, 21–26 May 2007,

Istanbul, Turkey, 35 (6)Nanostructured Advanced Materials, 5–8 September

2005, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 34 (6)Natural Products, 31 July–4 August 2004, Phoenix,

Arizona, USA, 36 (3)Organometallic Chemistry, 17–21 July 2005, Geneva,

Switzerland, 30 (5)

Organometallic Chemistry, 25–30 July 2004,Vancouver, Canada, 32 (2)

Pharmaceutical R&D, 3–5 July 2004, Beijing, China,36 (3)

Physics and Sustainable Development, 31 October–2November 2005, Durban, South Africa, 35 (6)

Polymer Networks, 15–19 August 2004, NationalInstitutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, 35 (1)

Polymer Gels and Networks, 10–14 July 2005, Prague,Czech Republic, 34 (6)

Polymeric Materials, 26–30 June 2005, Prague, CzechRepublic, 30 (5)

Reactive Intermediates and Unusual Molecules, 17–23July 2004, Queensland, Australia, 34 (1)

Sample Handling, 18–21 April 2004, Baiona-Vigo,Spain, 31 (1)

Soil Science, 20–23 September 2004, Wuhan, China,37 (3)

Solution Chemistry, 21–25 August 2005, Portoroz,Slovenia, 31 (5)

Trace Elements, 7–8 October 2004, Brussels,Belgium, 38 (3)

Young Chemists, 25–29 August 2004, Torino, Italy,34 (4)

π-Electron Systems, 14–18 June 2004, Ithaca, NY,USA, 32 (1)


from the editorpublications.iupac.org/ci/2004/2606/nov04.pdf · from the editor chemistry...

Documents