CHEMISTRY
International
The News Magazine of IUPAC

October-December 2021
Volume 43 No. 4

Putting the A in STEM

Restructuring IUPAC
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRYTop Ten Emerging Technologies in ChemistryChemistry International
CHEMISTRY International
The News Magazine of theInternational Union of Pure andApplied Chemistry (IUPAC)

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Cover: Putting the A(rt) in STEM has always been a topic of interest for this editor. Therefore, it was atreat to realize this past summer that the IUPAC Congress was no stranger to the scene. See page 46
for more details. This cover of CI is the hundred and second in color and the last put “on the press.”
From 2022 on, CI will be online only. It is the editor’s personal satisfaction to close this CI chapter with
an A on the cover.

Contents

CHEMISTRY International October-December
2021 Volume 43 No. 4
October-December2021

aist

I U P A CIYBSSD 2022

nC

Features
Restructuring IUPAC at the Turn of the 20th Century
he2

by Edwin D. (Ted) Becker interviewed by Brigitte Van TiggelentryChemistry
Education

ee

is

Su

bi

Gr

m

na

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lit

Systems Thinking and Sustainability by Peter Mahaffy,

6

Stephen Matlin, Marietjie Potgieter, Bipul Saha, Aurelia Visa, Sarah Cornell,
Felix Ho, Vicente Talanquer, Jane Wissinger and Vania Zuin
UN SDGs

Planetary
Boundaries

IOCD turns 40: The future of the chemistry
for sustainable development by Federico Rosei and Stephen A. Matlin
IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021

11
13

by Fernando Gomollón-Bel

IUPAC Wire
Chemistry International—Freely-Available Across the WorldIUPAC Announces the 2021 Top Ten Emerging Technologies
in Chemistry
Climate Change 2021—The Physical Science Basis
2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize—Call for Nominations
Awardees of the 2021 IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU InternationalAward for Advancements in Green Chemistry
An Interview with Joseph WangIn Memoriam: Gus Somsen
In Memoriam: Aubrey Dennis Jenkins
Up for Discussion
Combat Ethical Pollution in the Chemical Community

21
21

22
23
23
24
25
26

29

by Leiv K. Sydnes

Project Place
Safety Training Program e-learning
Green Chemistry in Sub-Saharan Africa
Categorizing Interactions Involving Group 11 Elements
Recommendations for terms relating to materials
characterization: Latin and other introduced terms

32
32
32
32

IUPAC Provisional Recommendations

33

Making an imPACt
Glossary and tutorial of xenobiotic metabolism terms usedduring small molecule drug discovery and development
Interpretation and use of standard atomic weights
Glossary of methods and terms used in analytical spectroscopy
The Gender Gap in Science: PAC Special Topics Issue
Reference materials for phase equilibrium studies.
1. Liquid–liquid equilibria
Special CTI on Polymer Sciences
Stamps International
Conference Call
Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation Aerosols:
Chemistry and Climate
Educational Workshop in Polymer Sciences 2020+in conjunction with MACRO2020+, Jeju Island

34
34
34
34
35
35
37
38
41

Where 2B&Y
CHEMRAWN in Action—This Time with E-waste in Focus

42

Poetic Science
An Ode to IUPAC by Jeremy G. Frey

45

From the Cover

46

Index

47

Restructuring IUPAC at theTurn of the 20th Century
by Edwin D. (Ted) Becker
interviewed by Brigitte Van Tiggelen

Arne Tiselius (1951-1955) pointed to the problem ofcontinuing commissions devoted to continuous surveys of a particular field [Fennell, ref. 2, p 142]. In 1973
round the turn of the century IUPAC undertook
President Jacques Bénard (1971-1973) said that “it isa major restructuring. Commissions, whicheasy to obtain general approval for the creation of new
had been the heart of IUPAC’s scientific work
bodies, but it is difficult to decide to abandon existingfor most of its 80-year history, were virtually elimiones.” [Fennell, ref. 2, p 222] Such comments werenated and largely replaced with a system of peer-reechoed almost every year.
viewed projects [1-3]. Brigitte Van Tiggelen asked Ted
Reflecting about the financial resources and the
Becker, Secretary General in that key transition period
support of members. Each commission was composed(1996-2003) and a central figure in the restructuringof titular members (TMs)—initially 10 per commission,
effort, to reflect on the rationale for this significant
later cut to eight. IUPAC agreed to pay travel expenses
change and to describe just what was done.
for TMs to the biennial General Assembly and often to acommission meeting in intervening years. Commissions
Brigitte: So, what was wrong with commissions?
also elected associate members and national representatives, who were able to cover travel expenses outside
Ted: In principle, nothing! My experience was that
IUPAC, but TMs were at the heart of commissions andmost commissions worked very well, with really dedithe number of TMs became a kind of “currency” withincated members who worked hard. I was a commission
IUPAC because each TM involved a considerable financhairman for six years, and I was pleased with what wecial commitment.
and other commissions accomplished. The problem
TMs were selected by each commission to fill
was that the entire system of commissions, as it hadvacancies, as they occurred, from experts in the field,
evolved, was unsustainable in terms of (i) number ofwith particular concern about geographical distributioncommissions; (ii) financial resources devoted to mainand often concern about sub-specialties. This worked
taining commissions; and (iii) methods for selecting
well to bring together knowledgeable people to assess
commission members. In addition, the actual projects
issues in a field and to decide how IUPAC could conto be undertaken by a commission were chotribute. However, the result was asen by the commission members at eachsmall number of “insiders” formeeting without much real thought—a given subject. In fact, in
often because a single member was
1981 President Heinrich
enthusiastic and volunteered to do theZollinger (1979-1981)
work. At any given time, there werecomplained
about
nearly 500 “active” projects, some of“the involvement of
which dragged on for 8 to 10 years.
too small a circle ofid
7 1 chemists in IUPAC work—a d e
7
en
9
1
nt
t J.
(
(19
H
r
B e n arde.
Z o ll i n g
Brigitte: Will you elaborate on these issues.
reporter in Davos [30th General
Assembly] even called this circle a ‘charmed
Ted: First, about the numbers. In 1997 there were 37
circle’.” [Fennell, p. 293] A reform effort was initiatedcommissions, each devoted to a particular aspect ofby President Allen Bard (1991-1993), beginning in 1993.
chemistry—e.g., organic nomenclature, spectroscopy,
The size of commissions was further reduced, andanalytical reagents, clinical toxicology—but there werea “pool” of TMs created that would, it was hoped, bemany more emerging areas of chemistry not repreassigned temporarily to a commission to work on spesented. There was understandably constant pressurecific high-priority projects. Allocation of the pool TMs
to create new commissions, but it was almost
each year was the responsibility of the IUPAC Officers
impossible to disband an existing commisand Division presidents collectively.
sion because that was tantamount todeclaring that particular chemistry speBrigitte: How did you become involved?
cialty no longer of any importance—a
conclusion that was usually incorrect.
Ted: As the new Secretary General, my first encounIUPAC presidents had long voiced conter with the pool TM process was in 1996. I found it
cern about the increasing number offrustrating! A dozen officers spent hours debating
commissions.
As
early
as
1955
President
potential specific projects that most of us knew little
5
55

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Chemistry International

October-December 2021

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about. In the end, i dwork, the team would be91
9a few TMs were allo- e n t A
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1.J . B a rd (cated to temporarily
would continue work in n t
(1
Pr
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h li
enlarge some commissions. Collectively, the Division
the departments in which. E. F i s c
Presidents (DPs) recognized the problems of too
they were employed and got
p a ymany commissions and too many projects that werechecks. We recognized the analogy to IUPAC, where
not always well thought out and often dragged on for
the expertise was in the Divisions, but everyone was ayears. However, each DP understandably defended thevolunteer—no pay checks—and no need tocommissions within his Division. Most DPs seemed willcontinue “employment.” Perhaps, we
ing to consider changes, and they reacted favorably
thought, we could form temporary
to my brash suggestion that we use the budget,
commissions.
rather than number of TMs, to set priorities. The
Since the IUPAC Executive
result was a special meeting of all DPs, their
Committee (EC) was toDivision vice-presidents, and the IUPAC officers
meet in Jerusalem thein Frankfurt in March 1997.
weekend of April 5-6
I thought we made some progress in Frankfurt. E . D .
2 0 April 5-6, my pre-arBec
6k er ( 1 9 9 ranged schedule was
However, by the time that the concerns of all theMembers of Commissions and Division Committees
t ogo to Oxford Wednesday
were taken into account, I realized we would have justaftenoon, spend a long week-end at
about as many Commissions and just as many TMs.
the Secretariat, rather than returning to de98Moreover, superimposed on this structure would be
the US, then go on to Israel the following n t J . J(19o rt n e r
the need to manage projects, allocate TMs and money,
Tuesday. This turned out to be Easter weekend,
and argue over relatively small changes. We needed to
but I got a key to the offices so I could do email andchange the focus by starting over—abolishing all comprint documents from my computer. I also was able
missions and establishing new commissions as needed.
to consult Roger Fennell’s History of IUPAC so I could
The Bylaws provide a means to do that: each biennium
be sure of facts. I prepared a long Discussion Paper
Council had to authorize the continuation of each comfor the EC meeting, proposing that the IUPAC orgamission, but that was almost always done as a routine
nization would continue to consist of Council, Bureau,
matter for all commissions as a group.
EC, Standing Committees, and Divisions (including
The problem, of course, is that IUPAC’s scientific work
Division Committees). However, the norm would be thatwould virtually cease unless we could provide a better
Commissions should not be regarded as part of the “regway of dealing with the actual projects themselves.
ular” organization but rather as the temporary working
groups that carry out specific projects developed by the
Brigitte: How did you find a new approach to break theDivision Committees with the help of the Governancecycle without endangering IUPAC’s productivity?
and the Secretariat. Divisions should regard the entire
worldwide chemical community as the resource for both
Ted: The special DP meeting in Frankfurt was held
ideas and for volunteers to carry out projects, not theon Monday, March 24, 1997. John Jost and I stayed“charmed circle” of IUPAC insiders. Likewise, ideas forin Frankfurt on Tuesday to prepare minutes. John
projects should come from the worldwide community.
had just been named as new Executive Director, andI proposed that in 1999 we cease the automatic
this was his first exposure to the IUPAC bureaucracy
renewal of commissions, effective in 2001. During theand procedures. That evening John and I had dinner
two-year “grace” period, Commissions would continue
with Vice President/President-elect Joshua Jortner
to work on existing projects, but each Commission
and discussed ways to improve IUPAC projects andwould have to give thought to what projects, if any,
commission operations. Joshua and I asked John howthat particular group would propose for the future.
industry would deal with projects. John had been VP
Meanwhile, the Division Committees could use whatfor Research at a large petrochemical corporation.
ever means are available to plan projects that would
John told us that in response to a serious problem,
utilize new Commissions.
a project team would be formed from people withThe EC agreed with all the concepts that I had
relevant expertise in the corporation’s various departproposed, and after considerable discussion, President
ments—for example, from Chemistry, Geology, Legal,
Albert Fischli (1996-1997) immediately appointed aEngineering, etc. When the project team finished its
committee to develop proposals [4]. This committeei

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Secretary General Ted Becker (left) and President Joshua Jortner, during the meeting of the IUPAC Executive Committee heldin Tokyo, Japan, 24-25 April 1999.

was very carefully selected to deal with restructuring
and also with the development of goals and strategy related to VP Jortner’s critical assessment of
IUPAC activities. Hence, we chose the name Strategy
Development and Implementation Committee (SDIC),
and we had specific timelines for completing the work.
Brigitte: So, a new committee, but this time with a specific task!
Ted: Indeed. The SDIC met several times and worked
extensively by email as well. It first completed theStrategic Plan, which was approved by the EC andpublished in January 1998. Then we laid out a complete
scenario to convert to a project-driven system but
deliberately avoided being too prescriptive, leaving it
up to the Divisions to decide on many details [5].
The SDIC report was unanimously approved by the
EC in April 1998, but I recognized that the big hurdle
would be the Bureau in September. The Bureau had 22
voting members, of which the EC provided only eight.
I felt that to make such radical changes, we had tohave wider acceptance. I quietly set a goal of positive
votes from at least 17 Bureau members, including atleast five of seven DPs. To garner more support andto fill in more details, we set up yet another group—
Committee on Project Evaluation Criteria, chaired by
Bureau member Gus Somsen and comprised of fivecurrent, former or future DPs, and one former industry executive, who understood how projects shouldwork. In addition, I took a lot of time while in Europe
during the summer of 1998 to meet with almost all DPs
individually. In September, after much discussion, theBureau approved the restructuring proposal from theSDIC and EC by a vote of 20 to 0 with two abstentions[one from a DP, one an elected member of the Bureau].

4

Chemistry International October-December 2021

The new project-driven system went into partial operation in January 1999, in conjunction with all the existing
Commissions [6,7].
Brigitte: This seems to have moved swiftly by IUPAC
standards and without many hurdles…18 months to
set up a major restructuring which is unanimously
endorsed!
Ted: Well the Council, which is the legal decision-making body of IUPAC, still had to validate the neworganization. The final phase was two bylaw changes
by Council in August 1999 to confirm and formalize
the decision to move from a commission-centeredsystem. This involved a lengthy, contentious, and quite“political” process for Council to endorse, rather thanrescind, the entire restructuring. I recall this as very
difficult, with daily pronouncements at the General
Assembly leading up to the Council meeting and “policy statements” from the Bureau designed to counterspecific complaints by opponents. At the Council
meeting, President Jortner repeatedly had to publicly “guarantee” that nomenclature activities would
be preserved. The key decision came on a UK resolution around which opposition had coalesced, which
was treated as an amendment to a Bylaw change. It
was defeated 33-74 with 24 abstentions—showing aclear majority basically in favor of the restructuring.
A final vote on the restructuring proposal was thenoverwhelming.
Brigitte: You mention “nomenclature” as a core business of IUPAC to be preserved and maintained outside
the new project structure. How was this specificity to
be reconciled with the new structure?
Ted: Immediately after the Council meeting, we set inRestructuring IUPAC at the turn of the 20th century
motion several actions to avoid what could have been themost serious shortcomings. President Jortner appointed
the ad hoc Education Strategy Development Committee,
chaired by Peter W. Atkins. The EC developed a budget that carefully reallocated to the Divisions and to areserve fund the expected significant savings from full
support of commission meetings. I undertook the special
problems of chemical nomenclature. With the individual
Nomenclature Commissions set to be abolished in two
years, I thought that we needed outside advice on what
IUPAC should do in nomenclature, and I worked with
Alan McNaught, who had wide experience within IUPAC
in the area of nomenclature and terminology, to hold a“roundtable” strategy meeting in Washington in March
2000. I deliberately did not invite any of the nomenclature experts on the current Commissions because I
wanted to focus on what the broader “user community”
needed in the future from IUPAC, not review the pastaccomplishments of the Commissions. We had participants from such organizations as Chemical Abstracts
Service, the European Patent Office, the US International
Trade Commission and others who really needed internationally agreed terminology in words, not only structural
formulas. We also had computer experts, who were
dealing with ways to connect the words and formulasby computer algorithms. Overall, I think the meeting wasquite successful in assessing needs and defining general
directions in which IUPAC might proceed [8]. One very
important point was the [then controversial] proposal by
Steve Heller (then member of the Committee on Printed
and Electronic Publications and past chairman of theCommittee on Chemical Databases) for IUPAC taking
on a computer process being developed at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, which eventually became known as InChI, the International Chemical
Identifier, and is widely regarded as one of IUPAC’s
recent successes.
Over the next several months, I became convincedthat we should try to form a new Division to bringnomenclature activities together. Alan wisely proposed the name “Division of Chemical Nomenclatureand Structure Representation” to emphasize future
directions and the integrated nature of the subject of
nomenclature. The Division was approved by Bureau
and Council in 2001, with Alan McNaught as initialdivision president (2002-2005), thus assuring that
Jortner’s “guarantee” to protect nomenclature in the
restructuring process was clearly fulfilled [9].
Brigitte: What is your assessment of this substantial
restructuring of IUPAC?
Ted: I think that all of us advocating for restructuring

were convinced that it had to happen for IUPAC toretain the financial backing from our National Adhering
Organizations that is needed to support the ever-expanding scope of “chemistry.” Also, it was necessary
to counter the perception that IUPAC’s scientificwork depended on only an elite “charmed circle.”
Unfortunately we lost some thoughtful discussions
without regular Commission meetings—only partiallycompensated by ad hoc advisory groups. I always
regretted that some commission members, who had
contributed so much to IUPAC over the years, probably felt unappreciated when their commissions wereabolished, even though the restructuring was clearly
not aimed at any individual commission.
The restructuring actions had exactly the desired
effect. Each project would be carried out by a “taskgroup”—a term chosen to emphasize the temporary
nature of the group. Anyone in the world could propose
a project, with the proposal given peer review via asystem that Fabienne Meyers set up at the Secretariat.
The proposal and reviewers’ recommendations thenwent to one or [often] more Division or Standing
Committees for decision and allocation of funds.
With all commissions terminated in 2001, the focus
was on what new commissions should be formed [orre-formed] under more stringent guidelines. I was surprised that the Divisions proposed reinstating only twoof 37 commissions, and that none have been formed
since 2001. Some Divisions used a few subcommittees
to carry out specific functions, and others used outsideadvisory groups to recommend areas for IUPAC work.
Brigitte: Thank you so much Ted for having shared yourknowledge of these important years from the history
of IUPAC and clarified the process and the successive
steps that led to a profound reorganizing of IUPAC at
the turn of the last century. This successful restructuring in which you were deeply involved demonstrated
the ability of a huge international body of chemists
composed mainly of volunteers to restructure itself tokeep in line with both its duties and challenges.

References
1.
2.
3.

Stanley S. Brown, History of IUPAC 1988-1999, IUPAC
2001, ISBN 0-67-8550-1-2; supplement to Ref. 2.
Roger Fennell, History of IUPAC, 1991-1987, Blackwell
Science, 1994, ISBN 0-86542-8786(94)Edwin D. Becker, Think IUPAC Project—Secretary
General’s Report, Chem. Int. 2001, vol. 23, no. 1,
pp. 12-13; https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2001.23.1.12 (alt
https://publications.iupac.org/publications/ci/2001/

continued on page 10
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Systems Thinking
and Sustainability

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STCS 2030+ builds on and extends outcomes fromthe recently completed IUPAC Systems Thinking in
Chemistry Education (STICE) project [5], which examined the potential benefits of incorporating systems
thinking (ST) into chemistry education and ways tosupport chemistry educators in using ST. Systems
thinking uses a variety of tools and cognitive frameworks to enhance our understanding of complex
behaviors and phenomena from a holistic perspective.
One of the main drivers behind the STICE project
included recognition that, while ST has been has been
identified as one of the core competences necessary
to achieve sustainability [6] and has been extensively adopted in some other disciplines, including

IYBSSD 2022

n

tr

A

3-year IUPAC project Systems Thinking in
Chemistry for Sustainability: Toward 2030 and
Beyond (STCS 2030+, IUPAC Project #2020014-3-050) [1] launched in late 2020 is breaking
important new ground in addressing chemistry’s
orientations, roles, and responsibilities in the 21stCentury and helping to map out implications forchemistry education, research, and practice. In taking
on this ambitious task, STCS 2030+ draws on expertiseavailable within IUPAC’s own structures, as a projectco-sponsored by three IUPAC standing committees:
the Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE), theCommittee on Chemistry and Industry (COCI) andthe Interdivisional Committee on Green Chemistry
for Sustainable Development (ICGCSD). The projectis also working with other organizations, such as theInternational Organization for Chemical Sciences in
Development (IOCD), which is a co-supporter, andinvolves collaborators with individuals from organizations that include the Stockholm Resilience Centre[2], the American Chemical Society (ACS) Green
Chemistry Institute [3], the International Year of Basic
Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD 202223) [4], and chemistry educators and chemical industry from around the world.

I U P A C

eeis

by Peter Mahaffy, Stephen Matlin,
Marietjie Potgieter, Bipul Saha, Aurelia
Visa, Sarah Cornell, Felix Ho, Vicente
Talanquer, Jane Wissinger and Vania
Zuin

na

Gr

m

Converging on
chemistry’s role inthe 21st Century

bi

y
lit

UN SDGs

Planetary
Boundaries

Figure 1: Integrating Sustainability into Learning in
Chemistry—the visual representation of Working Group 1
editorial in the Journal of Chemical Education.

biology, engineering, and earth and environmental
sciences, virtually no attention has been given to theuse of ST in chemistry education. Potential benefits tousing ST approaches in chemistry education include(a) enhancing students’ knowledge, skills, and values
in chemistry through a focus on the interconnections
between different chemical phenomena; (b) improving
students’ knowledge of the influence of chemistry on
planetary and societal issues; and (c) preparing students to make informed decisions and to address thecomplex global challenges of the 21st Century [7]. An
important catalyst for the IUPAC ST projects was a
proposal by a group at the International Organization
for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD) thatST should be key to re-imagining chemistry in the
21st Century and optimizing chemistry’s contributions
to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) [8]. The STICE project catalyzed considerable
global momentum, with wide dissemination at national
and international conferences, publication in Naturejournals, 43 contributed papers to the December 2019
special issue of the Journal of Chemical Education [9]and a feature cover story in the February 3, 2020 issueof Chemical & Engineering News [10].
Aims of the STCS 2030+ project are three-fold:(a) to highlight and strengthen the centrality of chemistry as a sustainability science through chemistryeducation, engaging with the 2022-2023 IYBSSD toincorporate ST as a fundamentally important approachto support integrating human needs and science in theservice of planetary sustainability; (b) to formulate
recommendations to guide use of ST in chemistry education; and (c) to seek ways to engage with chemicalindustry to explore how it can contribute to outcomesof the IYBSSD and how chemical industry views ST and
its incorporation into chemistry education, research,and industrial practice.

Progress to Date
Two working groups have been meeting bi-weekly
since the beginning of 2021, focused on the first two
STCS 2030+ project aims (sustainability and education), and plans are underway to form a third working
group to engage with chemical industry. We report
below progress made by the working groups.
Working Group One—Sustainability (WG1) has
focused its efforts on Project Aim 1—to articulate thestrong contribution that chemistry education andpractice will make to achieving sustainability. The
group co-authored a guest editorial in the Journal ofChemical Education, titled “Integrating Sustainability
into Learning in Chemistry,” and Figure 1 [11]. The timing coincided with Earth Day 2021 and ACS celebrationof Earth Week in April 2021. The article proposed thatchemistry educators have the responsibility to teachthe central role chemistry will play in concert withother disciplines, in building a sustainable future forpeople and the planet. Two frameworks driving global
sustainability efforts that can be leveraged to integratethese important concepts into curricula are the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) [12] andthe Planetary Boundaries Framework [13].
Educators are using the UN Sustainable
Development Goals to provide concrete examples ofways in which green and sustainable chemistry cancontribute to achieving the 2030 SDGs and to bringinternational perspectives into the classroom. The
chemistry community is much less familiar with thePlanetary Boundaries Framework, which measures
the stability and resilience of the Earth system in the
midst of rapid global change. The framework’s nine
earth system processes (climate change, novel entities,
stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol
loading, ocean acidification, biogeochemical flows ofnitrogen and phosphorus, freshwater use, land-systemchanges, and biosphere integrity) and their dynamic
interactions describe the biophysical state, stability,
and resilience of our planet. Control variables for eachof the earth system processes, many of which are

directly related to the production and measurement ofchemical substances in the atmosphere, hydrosphereor lithosphere, have been identified and quantified forseven of the nine earth system processes. As Figure
2 from an interactive electronic version of the framework created by the King’s Centre for Visualizationin Science (KCVS) [14] shows, the numerical value ofthe control variable indicates with a green/yellow/
red colour scheme whether that earth system process
is still in a safe operating zone (below the planetary
boundary), a zone of increasing risk, or a zone of highrisk as a result of human activity.
WG1 is exploring ways in which the Planetary
Boundaries Framework can be used by chemistry
and cross-disciplinary science educators as a ST tool
to explore and address the dynamic and complex
challenges of sustainability. Chemist Peter Mahaffy,
Physicist Rob MacDonald, and the student researchteam at King’s Center for Visualization in Science(kcvs.ca) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada are collaborating with Sarah Cornell and her colleagues at the
Stockholm Resilience Centre to visualize the web of
earth system connections in the planetary boundaries
framework and to explore how knowledge of chemistry and other STEM science core curriculum concepts
can be woven in to approaches to understand andaddress the complex challenges faced by the Earth

Figure 2: Planetary Boundaries Framework, from the King’sCentre for Visualization in Science (KCVS) planetary boundaries
interactive learning resource at www.planetaryboundaries.kcvs.ca,
building on and adapted from the Stockholm Resilience Centre(Steffen et al., Science 2015 or [13]).

Chemistry International

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Chemistry and systems
system as a whole. The working group is collaboratingwith the KCVS research team in their development ofinteractive electronic resources linking STEM curriculum
to the planetary boundaries framework. The project is
exploring how the outcomes can be disseminated as
an IUPAC contribution to the activities and approaches
planned for IYBSSD so as to facilitate integrating theteaching and learning of basic science concepts into
sustainability considerations [15].
One example of using the web of planetary boundaries connections linking the ocean acidification earthsystem to other earth system processes is shown in
Figure 3. An interactive force-directed graph developed
at KCVS [14] highlights the ocean acidification earth system, which then moves to the centre of view for the user,
revealing several important chemistry and STEM curriculum topics that are linked to the ocean acidification earthsystem process. For example, the ocean acidification
earth system process is interconnected with the climatechange, biosphere integrity, land-system changes, andbiogeochemical flows earth system processes, and offersa sustainability context for coverage in foundational
chemistry courses of topics such as acid-base chemistry, solubility & precipitation, equilibrium concepts, gas
properties, and speciation in aqueous solutions.
Working Group Two—Education (WG2) has focusedon developing a common understanding of systems
thinking in chemistry education, outlining basic questions that need to be answered to define what aspects of
ST could be integrated in chemistry education, why that
integration is important, and how that integration could
be best accomplished. Initial answers to the following
questions have been generated:• Why do we think chemistry educators should incorporate systems thinking into their courses?

•

•

•

•

•

Which aspects/characteristics/parts of ST do weanticipate will be the easiest for a typical chemistry
instructor to integrate into what they are alreadydoing?
Which aspects/characteristics/parts of ST do we
believe typical chemistry instructors will struggle
with the most?
What are some background terms and concepts
that educators might need to know about to understand ST?
Which general chemistry topics/content do wethink will provide the easiest entry points for integrating ST?
If we were to think about educating educators,
what should be our goals for their professional
development?

WG2 has agreed to develop guidelines and resourcesthat help chemistry educators incorporate ST into theircourses to promote:• A view of chemistry itself as a system to make thesubject more comprehensible and coherent, rather
than appearing as a massive list of facts to belearned, so that teaching and learning are facilitated;• Connections of chemistry with global challenges
and sustainability goals that can help to make thediscipline more attractive to diverse students;• Development of skills for thinking at a system scaleand seeing how systems interact and influence
one another, facilitating understanding and solving
complex, multi-dimensional problems.
• Development of thinking skills for tackling the sustainability challenges faced by the world, which
involve curricular interactions across disciplines
with planetary and societal systems.
Figure 3: Visualization of the
web of connections among theocean acidification earth systemand several other connectedearth system processes in thePlanetary Boundaries Framework.
Representative descriptions of
the connections are shown foreach connection, and a webof curriculum connections tochemistry and STEM disciplines
will be developed and disseminated in an interactive resourcefor educators. (Visualization by
Robert MacDonald, King’s Centre
for Visualization of Science,www.kcvs.ca)

8

Chemistry International October-December 2021

Chemistry and systems
The group has reviewed some existing instructional
activities to evaluate the extent to which they can help
promote ST in chemistry education and propose possible modifications that will enrich their ST components.
WorkingGroup
Three—Chemical
Industry(WG3)—proposed
As STCS 2030+ moves ahead, it is engaging in
dialogue with people working in chemistry-relatedindustries, which are seen as important to all aspectsof the project’s aims. In particular, industry perspectives and needs can help to inform what is important
to be included in the reforms of chemistry education
approaches and curricula; in the focus and cross-disciplinary perspectives of chemistry research; and in theways that chemistry engages with other basic sciencesin channeling efforts in the IYBSSD.
The leadership of STCS 2030+ invites interested
individuals and groups in chemistry-related industries
to contact project task group co-chair Stephen Matlin
to discuss involvement in the project.

Figure 4: One goal of Working Group Two (Education)is to publish IUPAC recommendations for the use of
systems thinking in chemistry education, building on andextending the work of the IUPAC STICE project, the ACS
Green Chemistry Institute, and other chemistry educators,
published in a special issue of the Journal of Chemical
Education, December 2019 [9].

The guidelines and resources to be developed will
help educators identify and reflect upon the:• Big/core/central ideas of ST in chemistry that students should understand;• Learning objectives (LOs) that should guide instruction and assessment of ST in chemistry;• Topics and contexts that are most productive inmotivating and building student understanding of
ST in relation to global challenges and sustainability
goals;
as well as to select or design:• Formative and summative assessment tasks
that help evaluate student progress towards andachievement of the targeted LOs;
• In-class activities that help develop student understanding of targeted central ideas and achieve thetargeted LOs;
• Ways in which a ST orientation enriches chemistrylearning.

Future directions for the project and ways forothers to get involved
Future directions for the project will include:• Integrating the activities of the working groups
across the entire project;• Reporting regularly and solicit input from thethree IUPAC standing committees and otherstakeholders;• Strengthening and building further interactions
with partners and collaborators;• Developing additional mechanisms for disseminating project outcomes, including the developmentof a ST web site NS and presentation of outcomesand engage with practitioners through ST workshops at national and international chemistry
conferences;• Articulating IUPAC recommendations and exemplars for the education community;• Liaising further with leadership of IYBSSD to discuss ways to integrate the interactive resources
linking chemistry teaching and learning to sustainability as a contribution to IYBSSD;• Developing a plan for sustainability of this work
beyond the lifetime of the IUPAC project so as tocontinue to serve chemistry educators and otherstakeholders; and• Working toward building a community of practiceamong chemistry educators with resources andexemplars.

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Chemistry and systems
To become involved in the project, please contact any of the task group co-chairs: Peter Mahaffy<Peter.Mahaffy@kingsu.ca>, Stephen Matlin <stephen.
matlin@gmail.com>, Marietjie Potgieter <marietjie.
potgieter@up.ac.za>, Bipul Saha <drbsaha@rediffmail.
com>, or Aurelia Visa <apascariu@yahoo.com>.

8.

9.

References
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability:
Toward 2030 and Beyond (STCS 2030+) https://iupac.
org/project/2020-014-3-050 (accessed 2021-07-13).
Stockholm Resilience Centre - Stockholm ResilienceCentre https://www.stockholmresilience.org/ (accessed2021-07-16).
ACS Green Chemistry Institute - American Chemical
Society https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/
greenchemistry/about.html (accessed 2021-07-16).
International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable
Development 2022 https://www.iybssd2022.org(accessed 2021-07-13).
IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education. Learning
Objectives and Strategies for Infusing Systems Thinking
into (Post)-Secondary General Chemistry Education.
IUPAC project 2017-010-1-050; https://iupac.org/
project/2017-010-1-050 (accessed 2021-07-13).
Wiek, A.; Withycombe, L.; Redman, C. L. Key
Competencies in Sustainability: A Reference Framework
for Academic Program Development. Sustain. Sci. 2011,
6 (2), 203; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-011-0132-6.
Flynn, A. B.; Orgill, M.; Ho, F. M.; York, S.; Matlin, S. A.;
Constable, D. J. C.; Mahaffy, P. G. Future Directions for

10.

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12.
13.

14.
15.

Systems Thinking in Chemistry Education: Putting thePieces Together. J. Chem. Educ. 2019, 96 (12), 3000–
3005; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00637.
Matlin, S. A.; Mehta, G.; Hopf, H.; Krief, A. One-World
Chemistry and Systems Thinking. Nat. Chem. 2016, 8(5), 393–398; https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2498.
Journal of Chemical Education Special Issue—
Reimagining Chemistry Education: Systems Thinking,and Green and Sustainable Chemistry https://pubs.acs.
org/toc/jceda8/96/12 (accessed 2021-07-13).
In these classrooms, chemistry is part of a larger
whole https://cen.acs.org/content/cen/articles/98/i5/classrooms-chemistry-part-larger-whole.html (accessed2021-07-13).
Wissinger, J. E.; Visa, A.; Saha, B. B.; Matlin, S. A.;
Mahaffy, P. G.; Kümmerer, K.; Cornell, S. Integrating
Sustainability into Learning in Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ.
2021, 98 (4), 1061–1063; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.
jchemed.1c00284.
THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development https://sdgs.
un.org/goals (accessed 2021-07-16).
Steffen, W.; Richardson, K.; Rockström, J.; Cornell, S.
E.; Fetzer, I.; Bennett, E. M.; Biggs, R.; Carpenter, S. R.;
Vries, W. de; Wit, C. A. de; Folke, C.; Gerten, D.; Heinke,
J.; Mace, G. M.; Persson, L. M.; Ramanathan, V.; Reyers,
B.; Sörlin, S. Planetary Boundaries: Guiding Human
Development on a Changing Planet. Science 2015, 347(6223), 736–747; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855.
Planetary Boundaries - KCVS https://planetaryboundaries.kcvs.ca/ (accessed 2021-07-16).
Nugent, C. The Unexpected Ways Climate Change Is
Reshaping College Education. TIME magazine. April 16,
2021.

Restructuring IUPAC at the turn of the 20th century (cont. from page 5)
4.

5.

6.

7.

january/SG-report.html)
Albert E. Fichli, President’s Report, State of the Union,
Chem. Int. 1997, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 152-155; https://doi.
org/10.1515/ci.1997.19.5.152 (alt http://publications.iupac.
org/ci/1997/september/fischli.pdf) Adapting mission,
goals and structures, p. 154
Report of the Strategy Development and
Implementation Committee (posted Apr 1998), https://old.iupac.org/news/archives/1998/strategy
Changes in the Organization and Management of theUnion’s Scientific Work (posted 19 Oct 1998), https://old.iupac.org/news/archives/1998/october
71st Bureau, 26-27 Sep 98, Frankfurt, Germany(posted 11 Nov 98), https://iupac.org/wp-content/
uploads/2020/04/71_bureau.pdf, or specifically item
6 https://old.iupac.org/news/archives/1998/71st_
bureau/71b_p6.html

8.

9.

IUPAC held a Round Table discussion on“Representations of Molecular Structure: Nomenclatureand Its Alternatives”—Summary and Executive
Committee Actions (posted 24 Apr 2000), https://old.
iupac.org/news/archives/2000/NRT_Report.html
Alan McNaught, Chemical Nomenclature and Structure
Representation; Chem. Int. 2002, Vol 24, No. 2,
pp. 12-14; https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2002.24.2.12b(alt https://publications.iupac.org/publications/
ci/2002/2402/CI2402.pdf

Edwin D. Becker <tbecker@nih.gov> has been a member of various IUPAC
bodies for more than 30 years and ultimately, secretary general from 1996
to 2003. He is a scientist emeritus at the National Institutes of Health,Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Brigitte Van Tiggelen <bvantiggelen@sciencehistory.org> is Director ofInternational Operations at the Science History Institute, USA.

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Chemistry International October-December 2021

IOCD turns 40
The future of
the chemistry
for sustainable
development
by Federico Rosei and Stephen A. Matlin

The International Organization for Chemical
Sciences in Development (IOCD) passes animportant milestone in 2021, as 1 July marked
the 40th anniversary of its launch at a meeting
hosted by UNESCO in Paris in 1981. Registered in
Belgium, IOCD was originally established as the first
non-governmental organization to focus on the needto develop opportunities for chemists in low-andmiddle-income countries (LMICs) to progress professionally and work on projects of relevance to thedevelopment of their countries and regions [1].
Driven by the passionate commitment and vision of
its founding President, the Nobel Laureate Glenn T.
Seaborg [2] and founding Executive Director, organic
chemist Pierre Crabbé, IOCD’s early years were marked
by the creation of Working Groups in areas such as
agricultural and medicinal chemistry and chemistryeducation [3].
While IOCD’s governance passed into new handswith the appointment of Robert Maybury [4] as
Executive Director following Crabbé’s untimely passing in 1987, and with Seaborg being succeeded by theNobel Laureate Jean-Marie Lehn in 1992, the organization continued to grow and evolve its focus, advancing
into areas of institutional and infrastructural capacity-building in fields such as natural products, biotic
exploration, and environmental analytical chemistry[5]. On Maybury’s retirement in 2009, he was succeeded by the organic chemist Alain Krief, who during
the following decade helped steer IOCD’s overhaul andtransformation into an organization centred on therole of the chemical sciences in sustainable development [6]. A number of activities were phased out andnew ones instituted, two notable examples being thecreation in 2013 of a Working Group on Materials forEnergy Conversion, Saving and Storage (MATECSS),
co-led led by Federico Rosei and his colleague
Mohamed Chaker based at the Institut National de laRecherche Scientifique (INRS), Montreal and in 2014
the establishment of a group that was subsequently
named Chemists for Sustainability (C4S), whose core
members are Henning Hopf, Alain Krief, Stephen

Matlin, and Goverdhan Mehta. To a large extent, IOCD
has evolved and is still evolving towards addressing
several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In
parallel, Rosei and collaborators established at INRS a
UNESCO Chair that has the same name as the working
group, MATECSS, and is therefore completely alignedwith IOCD and its objectives.
Recognising that sustainable development createsa critical need for clean, affordable and environmentally friendly energy to be available across the world,
including in LMICs, MATECSS set out with the aimsof helping to expedite technology transfer and build
capacity through engagement with local scientists,
engineers, and students in LMICs; and to foster thedevelopment of low cost, adaptive technologies basedon materials for energy conversion, saving, and storage
that fit within the paradigm of local-scale energy systems and that use local resources. To this end, training
courses, workshops, and places for PhD and postdoctoral researchers have been provided. In this sense,
MATECSS focuses directly on three SDGs, Goal 4 (quality education), Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy)
and Goaly 13 (climate action); and indirectly on others.
The C4S group, which openly invites collaborators
to bring additional perspectives to its work, has been
serving advocacy and think-tank roles through written articles, lectures at various fora, and web materials
related to its mission of promoting the engagementof chemistry in sustainable development [7]. Amongnotable achievements, a pair of C4S articles [8,9] in2015-16 highlighted the importance of the chemical
sciences in supporting the newly established SDGs
and stressed that chemistry would need to makesome deep-seated changes in order to optimize
its contributions to the SDGs. The nature of thesechanges was encapsulated in the concept of “oneworld” chemistry, whose defining characteristics
included the re-orientation of chemistry as a science
for the benefit of society and the adoption of systems
thinking and cross-disciplinarity in its approaches.
The proposal that chemistry should embrace systems
approaches has found particular resonance and led
to a project (2017-2019) of the IUPAC Committee
on Chemistry Education, also supported by IOCD
and co-led by Peter Mahaffy and Stephen Matlin, on
infusing systems thinking into chemistry education(STICE) [10]. This initiative was very productive, stimulating a growing body of literature and practice [11].
It has been succeeded by a new project [12], Systems
Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability: Toward2030 and Beyond (STCS 2030+) in 2020-2023,
co-sponsored by the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry
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Hed

IOCD turns 40
Education, Committee on Chemistry and Industry,and Interdivisional Committee on Green Chemistry
for Sustainable Development, and also supported
by IOCD, described in the accompanying article byMahaffy et al [13].
Besides being the 40th anniversary of IOCD’s
founding, 2021 is marking a further time of pivotal
change in both governance and activities for theorganization. Alain Krief has been succeeded as
Executive Director by Federico Rosei, while JeanMarie Lehn has announced he will retire as IOCD’s
President after 30 years of service. The search forhis successor is underway. Half of the membershipof IOCD’s governing body, the General Assembly, hasbeen replaced, with newly elected members being
significantly younger that those departing, all female,and bringing experience of green and sustainablechemistry, materials science, physics and industry tocomplement the expertise of continuing members,
resulting in broader capabilities.
The younger, more diverse character of the governance and its leadership attune with evolutionary
shifts taking place in IOCD as it redevelops its mission
for the 21st century. The changes signpost the intention
to be inclusive, mindful of the needs and goals of coming generations and strengthened in focus on efforts
to promote the central importance of the chemical sciences in achieving a sustainable future through action
in education, research, and practice that unites efforts
across disciplinary boundaries.
In pursuing its objectives and ambition to address
the SDGs, IOCD is an inclusive organization. We welcome collaborators, volunteers, and sponsors whoshare our vision and who want to engage with us oncommon goals, towards a long-term peaceful coexistence of all living species on Planet Earth.

IOCD’s action group Chemists for Sustainability (C4S) core
members zooming in August 2021; (from left to right) Henning
Hopf, Alain Krief, Stephen Matlin, and Goverdhan Mehta.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Federico Rosei <ceo@iocd.org> is the Executive Director of IOCD <http://
www.iocd.org/>, holds the Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured
Materials and the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy
Conversion at the Centre for Energy, Materials and Telecommunications,
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université du Québec, Canada.
Stephen Matlin <s.matlin@imperial.ac.uk> is the Secretary of IOCD, is a
Visiting Professor in the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College
London, UK and a Senior Fellow in the Global Health Centre at the Graduate
Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
References
1.

12

12.

13.

G.T. Seaborg, An international effort in chemical
science. Science 1984, 223, 9, https://doi.org/10.1126/
science.223.4631.9

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11.

October-December 2021

S.A. Matlin, A. Krief. Glenn Seaborg, The Periodic Table
and a Belgian NGO. Chimie Nouvelle 2018, 129, 1-10,
http://chimienouvelle.be/CN129/Article%20Krief.pdf
D.A. O’Sullivan, Group to use chemistry to solve
developing countries’ ills. Chem. & Eng. News 1983,
21-24, https://doi.org/10.1021/cen-v061n001.p021
S.A. Matlin. Robert Maybury’s contributions to IOCD.
IOCD, Namur, 2021, http://www.iocd.org/v2_PDF/
RobertMayburyIOCD-Obit2021-04bp.pdf
J.-M. Lehn, E.R. Blout, R.H. Maybury. IOCD: 20 Years of
Building capacity in chemistry in developing countries.
Chem. Int. 2002, 24(3), 3-5, https://doi.org/10.1515/
ci.2002.24.3.3
IOCD: Organization outline and strategy, 2020-2021.
IOCD, Namur, Brochure, February 2020, published
online 7 March 2020, http://www.iocd.org/v2_
PDF/2020-IOCD-OutlineBrochure-4p.pdf
H. Hopf, A. Krief, S.A. Matlin, G. Mehta. Chemists for
Sustainability: Overview of topics and publications.
Brochure. IOCD, Namur, 12 April 2021, http://www.iocd.
org/v2_PDF/C4S-2021-04ap.pdf
S.A. Matlin, G. Mehta, H. Hopf, A. Krief. The role ofchemistry in inventing a sustainable future. Nature Chem.
2015, 7, 941-943, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2389
S. A. Matlin, G. Mehta, H. Hopf, A. Krief. ‘One-world’chemistry and systems thinking. Nature Chem. 2016, 8,
393-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2498
Learning Objectives and Strategies for Infusing
Systems Thinking into (Post)-Secondary
General Chemistry Education. https://iupac.org/
project/2017-010-1-050
P.G. Mahaffy, S.A. Matlin. Next hundred years: Systems
thinking to educate about the molecular basis ofsustainability. L’Actualité Chimique, December 2019,
446, 47-49. https://www.lactualitechimique.org/Pourles-cent-ans-a-venir-reflexions-sur-l-enseignement-dela-chimie-et-la-durabilite
Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability:
Toward 2030 and Beyond (STCS 2030+). https://iupac.
org/project/2020-014-3-050
P.G. Mahaffy, S.A. Matlin, M. Potgieter, B. Saha, A. Visa,
S. Cornell, F. Ho, V. Talanquer, J. Wissinger, V. Zuin.
Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability: 2030
and Beyond (STCS 2030+). Chem. Int. 2021, 43(4) 6-10

IUPAC Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry 2021
Breakthroughs fora circular, climateneutral future
by Fernando Gomollón-Bel

I

UPAC thrives to boost the impact of chemistryaround the world. Recently, it established a new
initiative—the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in
Chemistry—to showcase the tremendous importanceof the chemical sciences by highlighting developmentson the verge of becoming game-changing commercial
breakthroughs [1]. Some have been truly transformational for our society, such as RNA vaccines and rapid
tests, both key technologies to enable a smooth transition to the new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, the Top Ten efforts continue—featuring abrand-new logo and further actions to disseminate
and promote the project beyond this publication.
The new selection of emerging technologies gathers
both well-established, high-technology readiness level(TRL) applications and ground-breaking opportunities
for the chemical industry. Of course, many of them still
address the ongoing coronavirus crisis, focusing on
new pharmaceutical solutions to prevent the spreadof pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, many tackle
the climate crisis and provide new roadmaps to achieve
the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) [2]. The consequences of global warming arehere—heatwaves, floods, and wildfires devastate ourplanet constantly. Chemistry will provide pivotal tools
towards a sustainable future [3], many included in thissingular selection. IUPAC experts have selected the
Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021—
ten ideas to catalyse industrial innovations and transform our world.

Blockchain technology

Digital advances for more reproducible, traceable chemical innovation
Solvay, Evonik, and BASF are some of the world-leading companies that are exploring the uses of blockchain
technology in chemistry. Furthermore, many believe thatblockchain holds the key to more reproducible science
thanks to one of its main built-in features—traceability.
Back in 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto conceptualised anddesigned blockchain—although many other computerscientists had played with similar ideas in the 1980s and90s. Nakamoto designed the beloved cryptocurrency
Bitcoin, a list of digital financial records and monetarytransactions linked withencrypted algorithms andmanaged by a distributed
peer-to-peer network ofusers. Ever since, experts
have adapted this technology to develop otherapplications such as smart
contracts, digital stocks,
and proofs of authenticity valued in the Arts. By design,
blockchains offer an immutable repository to record any
kind of transaction, offering great potential all along thescientific process. Since the original record of transactions is safely kept throughout a network of computers
under strict cryptographic protection, fraudulent alterations are quickly detected. The U.S. National Instituteof Standards and Technology, among other prestigious
institutions, believes blockchain could benefit scientists
across all fields, as well as solve serious problems suchas reproducibility [4]. For instance, chemists in the UK
have explored the uses of blockchain to trace a seriesof simple computational calculations. Their preliminary
results suggest that this type of encrypted environment
could increase both transparency and accessibility, as
every single step of the process is documented andshared within the digital ledger [5]. German researcher
Sönke Bartling believes that blockchain can benefit
research beyond secure laboratory notebooks anddata-collection—enhancing publications, grants, evaluation, and recognition. Indeed, the World Intellectual
Property Organization is exploring the potential ofblockchain to transform the industry of Intellectual
Property (IP)—from evidence of creatorship to the
management of royalties [6]. Chemical companies
want to stay ahead; many have already created blockchain-based systems to modernise their supply chain.
This technology guarantees secure transactions acrossall parties, boosting traceability to unprecedented
levels of detail. “Smart contracts” are fully automated,enabling a continuous tracking of chemical goods
from raw materials to the market shelves. European
chemical manufacturers also explore the possibilitiesof blockchain to advance the circular economy—with
easier, more reliable life cycle assessment, blockchain
will likely increase recyclability, improve the utilisationof resources, and eventually reduce overall costs [7].
Another proof of the possibilities of blockchain in chemistry is the proliferation of start-ups such as ChemChain,supported by the European Commission through different funding programmes. This company ensures thatdata and information on chemicals is fully-protected

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IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
through their decentralised, encrypted ledgers, which
has attracted leading industries such as Dow-Dupont.
It is expected that Blockchain will generate a businessvalue of over $3 trillion by 2030 [8], and its applications
in chemistry will certainly represent a large share of it.

Semi-synthetic life

New letters to expand biochemistry andtherapeutics
Alchemists dreamt of transforming lead into gold.
Nowadays, chemists fantasise with expanding the codeof life—a universal system to conceal biological information. In the past few years, this field has becomea reality and has already achieved some remarkable
milestones. After decades of failed attempts, a teamof researchers at Scripps finally succeeded in 2014
in adding two artificial letters to the genetic alphabet—nicknamed X and Y [9]. Since then, scientists
have further expanded the alphabet with new bases
like B, P, S, and Z [10]. All of these synthetic nucleotides could populate our genomes with new words,
new ideas—such as the information needed to create
life-saving proteins for diagnostics, treatments, andmore. Ultimately, chemists also designed novel biological systems that interpret and exploit these unnatural
letters. Genetically-engineered strains of Escherichia
coli carry these artificial nucleotide bases in their
DNA and transcribe the information they encode into
unusual proteins, which also feature non-traditionalamino acids such as pyrrolysine and azydo-phenylalanine [11]. Nowadays, chemists study how to perfectthese artificial biochemical machinery, developing
new systems to minimise the number of transcription
and translation errors, which benefit from the swift
advances of technologies such as Nobel-winning
CRISPR/Cas9. The implications of these discoveries

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October-December 2021

transcend chemistry—life works with building blocks
beyond the ones we bare, sparking new thoughts onwhat extra-terrestrial life could look like. Aside philosophical questions, unnatural nucleotides and aminoacids provide new chemical tools for the design oftargeted treatments, including THOR-707, an agent
against metastatic solid tumours currently undergoingclinical trials. One of the companies spearheading thistechnology is Synthorx, established by synthetic life
pioneer Floyd Romesberg. It was acquired by French
pharma giant Sanofi in late 2019 for $2.5 billion—
showcasing the commercial interest in this emerging
technology. In the future, chemists may discover otherartificial DNA letters, as well as synthesise novel unnatural amino acids, expanding the limitations of life as
we know it and enabling a whole new range of better
therapies and medical solutions.

Superwettability

A centuries-old discovery offers newopportunities
British scientist Thomas Young is mostly known
for the double-slit experiment, which supported thatlight is a wave. However, he pioneered other importantfields of science, including the study of wettability—
the ability of liquids to maintain contact with a solid
surface. In 1805, Young proposed the first definition forthis concept, based on the contact angle liquid droplets form in the interface. Therefore, something really
wetting will adopt rather flat shapes and small angles,
whereas non-wetting liquids create almost sphericalstructures, at angles parallel to the surface [12]. Aftercenturies of studying this phenomenon, scientists
acquired a better understanding and even learnt how
to tweak wettability at will—designing new materials
with exceptional properties. Among these, superwettability emerged as a great promise with applications
in energy, health, agriculture, and much more. Some ofthese advances are heavily inspired by natural microand nanostructures, such as the feet of geckos andfrogs, the eyes of mosquitoes, and the surfaces of cacti
and roses. Based on many of these examples, scientists have created nanostructured surfaces on metals,
polymers, fabrics, and more. Chemistry is, of course,
fundamental to these designs, which require carefully
controlled manufacturing techniques. Furthermore,
superwettable structures have led to surprising reactivities. Such surfaces exhibit unique fluid dynamics,
which enhances the efficiency of chemical reactions
where interface interactions are key—particularly
photo- and electrocatalytic transformations. Examples
include high-performance water splitting, epoxidation,

IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
esterification, and condensation. Moreover, this typeof nanostructured catalyst usually exhibits enhanced
durability, recyclability, and selectivity, paving the way
to greener, more efficient chemical processes alignedwith the United Nation’s Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) 12 and 13 [13]. The uses of superwettablesurfaces beyond chemistry include sensors, printers,
energy-storage devices, pollution removal, water
harvesting, and others. Several Chinese and Korean
companies are exploring its potential in different
fields, such as self-cleaning textiles, oil separation, andcooling. Many challenges in fabrication remain, however researchers are confident that this technology
will revolutionise materials science. New opportunities
keep arising [14].

Artificial humic matter

Engineering carbon-negative solutions for sustainable and efficient agriculture
Agriculture, livestock, and land use account foralmost one-third of all greenhouse emissions. Beyond
contributing to the concerning climate crisis, these
affect crop yields directly—and reports from theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
predict that we will reach a critical situation in 2030.
Once again, chemistry could convey a hopeful answer,
an artificial alternative to humic matter for a better
management of the scarce resources in our soils.
Although hidden underneath us, the decompositionof organic matter into humic matter is the second
largest process in the carbon cycle,
after photosynthesis. Thus, designing
strategies to make it more efficientis currently a priority. Furthermore,
artificial humification processes
ensure a complete
control throughout thereaction, which leads
to cleaner, safer, andgreener fertilisation
solutions. Currently,
several approaches
exist to accelerate
the decompositionof organic matter—and hydrothermal
humificationisemerging
as one of the most
attractive
among
them.
Envisioned
by Fan Yang andMarkus Antonietti, thistechnology ‘cooks’ organic matter in hot water in thepresence of basic ashes. The specific conditions ofthese processes mimic natural geochemical processes
and yield a product mixture comparable to natural
humic residues [15]. Recent lab experiments suggestthat these artificial humic matter improve soil quality
and health, as well as agricultural productivity—an
attractive alternative to offset the negative effects ofclimate change. This enhancement comes from themany benefits of artificial humic matter. Researchshows it improves water and fertiliser binding—hence
improving the utilisation of resources and reducing
side-effects such as eutrophication—and stimulates
soil microbiology, which benefits the absorption anddigestion of minerals. Moreover, unlike natural biochemical decomposition processes that are unavoidably
linked to the emission of greenhouse gases such ascarbon dioxide and methane, artificial humic matter isessentially carbon negative [16]. Experts believe thatthese carbon fixation solutions will contribute to thecircular economy, aligning with SDG 13 and leading toa carbon-neutral society. Currently, several institutes in
Europe are working to develop the first pilot plants to
prepare artificial humic matter in large scale. Together
with other IUPAC Top Ten Emerging technologies,
such as nanopesticides, nanosensors, and artificial
intelligence, artificial humic matter will pave the way tomore sustainable and efficient agricultural processes.

Chemical synthesis of RNA and DNA
The future of nucleic acids inmedicinal chemistry after
COVID vaccines

Last year, IUPAC highlighted
the potential of RNA vaccines to
put an end to COVID-19
and most likely to manyother diseases in the
future, including cancer, HIV, and influenza[17]. These vaccines
are adaptable andversatile, as well as
relatively quick to
manufacture.
By
the end of July
2021, the U.S. had
administeredover
325 million dosesof mRNA vaccines
againstSARS-CoV-2,
according to Our World in
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IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
Data. However, none of this would be possible without
the breakthroughs in the chemical synthesis of nucleic
acids. Now, after more than fifty years of technologicaldevelopments, the manufacture of RNA and DNA isfully-automated and democratised—to the point thatseveral “benchtop” synthetic devices are commerciallyavailable. Amidst the Top Ten selection, this is probably
the most established in the market. It has successfullytransitioned from basic laboratory reactions, withphosphoramidite chemistry at its core, to an innovation
landmark of the past century. Nowadays, the synthesis of nucleic acids has advanced enough to yield
results that verge on science fiction. In 2019, Chinese
researchers reported a proof-of-concept synthesizer
that used the same principles as a conventional inkjet
printer. Using this technology, scientists printed different strands of DNA directly and precisely into silicon
microreactors—devices with a myriad of applications
in chemistry, biotechnology, and medicine [18]. Big IT
companies, such as Microsoft and Western Digital, arecurrently exploring the possibilities of chemically-synthesised DNA for data storage—and the results arevery promising. The latest results hint that nucleic acids
pack information more durably and densely than conventional magnetic solutions, up to seventeen exabytes
per gram, according to recent studies [19]. Beyond
these technological advances, the automated chemical
synthesis could lead to novel therapies with tremendous potential. As of 2020, the FDA had approved
eleven drugs based on oligonucleotides—and several
more are currently undergoing medical trials. Leadingchemical and pharmaceutical companies—Biogen,Merck, Bausch & Lomb, among others—are studying
this technology, which is becoming increasingly popular after the triumph of mRNA-based COVID vaccines.
Targets include cancer, infectious diseases, diabetes,and more—all encompassed within SDG 3 [20]. Finally,
these decades-old chemical developments yield promising results, proving anew that funding basic scientificresearch is paramount for progress [21].

Sonochemical coatings

Safer, more durable materials with value-added
properties
Physical stimuli regulate IUPAC Top Ten Emerging
Technologies such as mechanochemistry, liquid-gating,and high-pressure inorganic chemistry. Under uniqueconditions, chemicals often behave surprisingly—yielding previously unimagined properties and capabilities.
Sonochemistry—the use of (ultra)sonic waves to trigger
chemical reactions—stands out among these phenomena, particularly for its huge potential to manufacture

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innovative functional materials with value-added properties [22]. This year IUPAC highlights the potentialof sonochemistry in surface coating, a technologythat directly contributes to several SDGs. This type oftreatment conveys all sorts of different properties toa given surface—magnetic, fluorescent, and antimicrobial, among others. The latter has proven especially
important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as different
surfaces in hospitals, public venues, and others withwhich we interact in our daily lives required effective
antiviral properties to eliminate SARS-CoV-2 residues.
Sonochemical coatings cover textiles with antibacterial nanoparticles of metals such as silver, copper, andzinc—all of which reduce the occurrence of hospital
infections [23]. Furthermore, several studies show that
antibacterial sonochemical coatings withstand many
washing cycles without a decrease in performance—something key in real-life settings in which where
garments constantly undergo professional cleaningat high temperatures. Sonovia, an Israeli start-up, uses
zinc-nanoparticle sonochemical coatings on reusable
masks that kill over 99% of bacteria, virus and fungi,
according to their website. Moreover, certain coatings
yield ‘smart’ materials. For example, Spanish researchers covered textiles in Prussian blue nanoparticles,
which detect strains of pathogenic bacteria with a simple colour change; they expect that this development
could prevent bacterial infections in crowded settings
beyond hospitals [24]. Sonochemical coatings provide
advantages in the fields of food safety and energy, too,covering strawberries with antibacterial compounds
extends their shelf life and the coating of lithium-ion
batteries provides high performance and stability. For
these reasons, several companies are exploring new
possibilities to scale-up this technology to an industrial setting and developing roll-to-roll methods thatenable continuous production of coated materials. The
European Commission also funded the SONO projectwith more than €8 million to attain this goal [25]. As
an emerging technology, sonochemical coatings now
ought to survive the “valley of death” and successfully
bridge the gap with industry.

Chemiluminescence forbiological use
Water-soluble dioxetanes improve the speed
and sensitivity of biological tests
Luminescence has always fascinated humans.
Admiring the green glow of fireflies and the blue
shine of algae is just magical. Scientists have learned
to harness the power of these chemical reactions –luminol helps crime scene investigators detect bloodand the 2008 Nobel prize-winning green fluorescentprotein (GFP) lights up biological samples, simplifying
microscopy. Yet, scientists thrive to keep improving
light-emitting molecules for applications in efficient
diodes, safety signalling, biological studies, and more.
Recently, researchers discovered highly-efficient chemiluminescent probes with great potential for applications
in biology, biotechnology, and medicine. Based on
dioxetanes—four-membered, saturated oxygen heterocycles—these molecules sparkle remarkably underphysiological conditions, sometimes thousands of times
brighter than previous solutions. Most importantly,
dioxetanes perfectly perform their duty in water, unlike
competitors that need organic solvents. This expedites
analyses because chemiluminescent processes happen
in vivo, like enzymatic solutions, with a comparable
quantum yield [26]. This emerging technology is still inan early stage, yet many interesting applications havealready arisen. Among other things, dioxetane probes
show great promise detecting certain types of tumours,
and even help differentiate between cancer subtypes.
They also enable ultra-sensitive detection of pathogenic
bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria, linked to serious foodborne illnesses that cause serious problems
even today. Furthermore, dioxetanes bring interesting
opportunities to the field of live cell imaging, which
could accelerate the understanding of fundamental biochemical processes, as well as provide novel sensitive
diagnostic tools. Some molecules even exhibit emission
in the near-infrared region, a wavelength with greater
penetration than visible light—opening the door to both
non-invasive diagnostics and localised treatments [27].
It is remarkable that Biosynth—a company that recently
merged with Carbosynth—expressed interest in thesenovel dioxetane chemiluminescent compounds, andsoon started commercialising them. In an official press
release, Biosynth’s president stated that the potentialof this technology is huge and likely to dramatically
improve the speed of biotests [28]. Glowsticks also
shine thanks to dioxetanes [29]. Perhaps water-soluble
dioxetane probes will become equally popular.

Sustainable production of ammonia
Green alternatives to the Haber-Bosch process

The Haber-Bosch process for the synthesis of ammonia is one of the most successful chemical reactions of
all time. It enables the transformation of atmosphericnitrogen—mostly inert, thanks to the second strongest
chemical bond in a diatomic molecule—into ammonia,
then nitrates and nitrites, which are used across industries to make fertilisers, plastics, fibres, refrigerants, andmore. This single reaction catapulted the demographic
boom of the 20th century and currently yields over 200
million metric tons of ammonia annually. However, allof this comes at high cost—the production of ammonia
emits more carbon dioxide than any other industrial
process, without considering all the subsequent transformation into different chemicals [30]. Of course,
we need to change that—chemists need a sustainable
alternative to make ammonia and remove the strong
ties to fossil fuels and greenhouse emissions. To achievethis, they envision two complementary strategies. On
one hand, they seek inspiration in Nature—particularly
nitrogenases in bacteria and cyanobacteria, which
reduce dinitrogen thanks to an iron and molybdenum
cofactor. Recent studies only showcase the wisdom of
evolution—few metals top the performance of the twothat are naturally present in enzymes. Nevertheless,they also favour hydrogen evolution, an unwanted
competing reaction, and only the rational design ofcatalysts will enhance the selectivity of the process
towards nitrogen reduction. Some solutions include
supporting catalysts onto layered materials or encapsulating them into zeolitic cages. On the other hand,chemists harness the power of electricity to break the
triple nitrogen–nitrogen bond and, at the same time,
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Hed

harvest hydrogen atoms from water. If the energy usedcomes from renewable sources—wind, hydroelectric,
solar—the process becomes doubly sustainable, since it
avoids relying on hydrogen obtained from the reforming of fossil fuels. The main challenge here is reducing
the electric potential needed, while maximising activity
and selectivity. So far, current solutions are far frombeating the appeal of Haber-Bosch, hence several companies and funding agencies are supporting research
to make hydrogen production greener [31]. Moreover,ammonia technically ‘stores’ hydrogen, a green fuelthat only yields water when burnt, and it could eventually become an alternative to fossil fuels on its own.
Unlike hydrogen, ammonia is easily liquified under mild
conditions, which will simplify storage and transportation. Australian researchers are optimistic, envisaging a
successful ammonia economy by 2040. Before that, we
will develop carbon capture technologies to diminish
the impact of Haber-Bosch production, then move thisprocess to renewable hydrogen sources. In the latest
phase of their roadmap, ammonia will come exclusively
from the electrochemical reduction of dinitrogen – eliminating carbon emissions throughout the process [32].
Although many fundamental studies are still ongoing,certain solutions for the manufacture of green ammonia have already reached high TRL, including private
endeavours by Yara (Australia), Hiringa Energy (New
Zealand), Topsoe (Denmark) and Iberdrola (Spain).
Green fertilisers, plastics, and fuels will come alongsidesustainable ammonia, contributing to SDGs across theboard, from clean energy and efficient agriculture tosustainable cities and responsible production [33].

Targeted protein degradation

Harnessing our cells’ machinery to revolutionise
pharmaAs previously mentioned, chemists and biochemists often find inspiration in nature. Once again, thisis exactly the case of targeted protein degradation(TPD), an innovative chemical tool with great therapeutic potential. The principle is rather simple: harnessing

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our own cells’ degradation pathways to eradicate
problematic proteins. This technology has attracted
multi-billion in investments, stimulated the creation ofstart-ups, and even started diverse clinical trials. The
key to TPD are small molecules that trigger proteolysis,
often known as PROTACs. Their structure is cleverly
designed to hijack protein-degrading enzymes and linkthem to a specific target, which is then eliminated in lieu
of the original victim [34]. The potential for medicinal
chemistry is tremendous. Before TPD, our strategies
to block proteins were mostly limited to inhibitors,
which need a specific binding pocket. However, only
one in four proteins showcase said functionality—here
TPD offers a therapeutic advantage, triggering theelimination of harmful structures. In addition, tracking
proteins directly avoids complicated alternatives toknock them out using genetic engineering or small
nucleic acids, often instable in vivo [35]. Rationallydesigned PROTACs (as well as other molecules withsimilar effects) show great promise in the treatmentof cancer. Arvinas, a Yale University pioneer spin-off,has entered clinical trials with drug candidates against
breast and prostate cancer based on TPD-molecules,
providing the first ever in-human data for this technology [36]. Other companies soon followed, including
Cullgen, Kymera, Zexin, and Nurix. Big pharmaceuticalindustries such as Pfizer, Bayer, Novartis, and Amgen,
among others, have also seen the potential of TPD andhave invested significant amounts to further developthese new drugs. Beyond cancer, researchers explore
the possibilities of TPD to treat illnesses related toprotein accumulation, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Preliminary
studies show that PROTAC-mediated TPD is a goodstrategy to trigger the elimination of certain protein
aggregations—among them pathogenic tau protein,linked to Alzheimer’s [37]. TPD expert Craig Crews,
co-founder of Arvinas, predicts these results are justthe beginning of a new revolution in the pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, a hopeful emerging technology.

IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
Single-cell metabolomics

Analysing biomolecules, one cell at a time
Last year, the IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies
initiative recognised the potential of nanosensors in
the detection of single molecules, often called “theultimate sensitivity.” Indeed, the latest advances inchemistry have enabled analyses with unprecedented
levels of precision. In this direction, this year’s searchrecognises the progress in single-cell metabolomics.
The progress in imaging techniques and technologies
such as mass spectrometry have provided new insights
into individual cells. Thanks to the enhanced resolution
and sensitivity of current mass spectrometers, chemists
can analyse several metabolites simultaneously, getting
detailed information about cellular pathways, biologicalmechanisms, as well as unique fingerprints of cells andsamples. To optimise the outcome with smaller sample
volumes, mass spectrometers extract the entire content of one cell at once. Both electrosprays and lasers
offer great alternatives for ionisation. More detailed
techniques even enable the analysis of specific cellular parts, using microextractions, capillary samplings,
and advanced separations coupling chromatography
and electrophoresis. The finest combinations not only
provide information about the nature of metabolites,
but also provide details on concentration and their
special arrangement. The potential to unravel unknown
biochemical mechanisms is extraordinary. Nowadays,
researchers seek to improve detection limits, as well
as develop digital tools. These will serve many purposes: from enriching databases to accelerating therecognition of metabolites to enhancing algorithms to
distinguish noise and artifacts from actual biologicalvariability [38]. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic—and future outbreaks—single cell metabolomics
will demonstrate their vast possibilities. Several studies
harness their power to better understand infection processes and the interactions between the invading virus
and our cells [39]. For some experts, the field is still
young and full of complex challenges ahead. However,scientists progressively solve these challenges andfurther validate this emerging technology, which could
bring sound answers to fundamental biochemicalsecrets [40].

A bright future ahead

Chemistry to tackle prominent societal
challenges
The IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in
Chemistry initiative is utterly beautiful. Year afteryear, it highlights the most exciting developments ina wide variety of fields, from blossoming discoveries

to established techniques already adopted by adventurous start-ups and audacious industries. Experts
throughout the world suggest and select the collection—a family that now gathers 30 up-and-coming
innovations with huge potential to transform our society. Several tackle environmental challenges, paving
the way towards a sustainable world. Others envisionnovel systems to reduce, reuse, and recycle resources
better, headed for a zero-waste, circular-economy.
Finally, some of the Top Ten facilitate our transition
to the new normal after the terrible coronavirus pandemic. Among these, many prepare us for forthcoming
outbreaks and future pathogens—chemistry is crucial
to avoid future health crises, key in fields from materials to pharmaceutical sciences. As we announce the2021 Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry,
we simultaneously begin our search for the 2022
candidates. Every chemist is kindly invited—indeed
encouraged—to submit nominations, as IUPAC looks
forward to further expanding and establishing this initiative. Please join us on our exciting journey.

Acknowledgements
This initiative is only possible thanks to the outstanding group of experts who identified and curated
the list of technologies; they are: Michael Droescher(Chair), Jorge Alegre-Cebollada, Sophie Carenco,
Javier García Martínez, Ehud Keinan, Rai Kookana,Greg Rusell, Ken Sakai, Natalia P. Tarasova, and Bernard
West. Many thanks to Bonnie Lawlor, for all her valuable corrections and contributions that enhanced thequality of this article.

References
1.

IUPAC (2019). “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in
Chemistry”. https://iupac.org/what-we-do/top-ten/
Accessed on 19/07/2021.

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IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
2.

United Nations (2015). “Sustainable Development
Goals”. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
3. Matlin, S.A., et al. Nature Chem. 2015, 7, 941.
4. NIST (2018). “Blockchain Technology Overview”. NISTIR
8202, https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8202 Accessed on
19/07/2021.
5. Hanson-Heine, M.W.D. and Ashmore, A.P. Chem. Sci.
2020, 11, 4464.
6. Clark, B. “Blockchain and IP Law: A Match made in
Crypto Heaven?” WIPO Magazine, February 2018.
7.
CEFIC (2019). “Molecule managers”. https://cefic.
org/app/uploads/2019/06/Cefic_Mid-Century-VisionMolecule-Managers-Brochure.pdf. Accessed 19/07/2021.
8. Gartner.com, 3 June 2019 “Gartner Predicts
90% of Current Enterprise Blockchain Platform
Implementations Will Require Replacement by 2021”.
9. Sefah, K., et al. PNAS 2014, 111, 1449.
10. Hoshika, S., et al. Science 2019, 363, 884.
11. Zhang, Y., et al. Nature 2017, 551, 644.
12. Young, T. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London. 1805, 95, 65.
13. Wu, Y., et al. Adv. Mater. 2018, 31, 1800718.
14. Liu, M., et al. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2017, 2, 17036.
15. Yang, F., et al. Sci. Total Environ. 2019, 686, 1140.
16. (a) Yang, F. and Antonietti, M. Adv. Sci. 2020, 7,
1902992. (b) Yang, F., et al. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2021, 50,
6221.
17. Sousa-Rosa, S. et al. Vaccine 2021, 39, 2190.
18. Li, H. et al. Sci. Rep. 2019, 9, 5058.
19. Vitak, S. “Technology alliance boosts efforts to store
data in DNA”. Nature, 3 March 2021.
20. Roberts, T.C., et al. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2020, 19, 673.
21. Berry, D.J. Hist. Technol. 2019, 35, 374.
22. Foroughi, F., et al. Catalysts 2021, 11, 284.
23. Perelstein, I., et al. Ultrason. Sonochem. 2015, 25, 82.

24. Ferrer-Vilanova, A., et al. Ultrason. Sonochem. 2021, 70,
105317.
25. CORDIS (2013). “A pilot line of antibacterial andantifungal medical textiles based on a sonochemical
process”. Grant agreement ID: 228730, https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/228730/en. Accessed on
02/08/2021.
26. Hananya, N. and Shabat, D. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017,56, 16454.
27. Green, O., et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 13243.
28. RAMOT Tel Aviv University, News 15 August 2017 “TelAviv University announces collaboration with Biosynthon pioneering chemiluminescent molecules”.
29. Compound Interest (2016). “The Chemistry of Glow
Sticks”. https://www.compoundchem.com/2014/10/14/
glowsticks/ Accessed 19/07/2021.
30. Kriestch-Boerner, L. Chem. Eng. News 2019, 97, 18.
31. Yang, B., et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 2021, 14, 672.
32. MacFarlane, D.R., et al. Joule 2020, 4, 1186.
33. Bella, F. ChemSusChem 2020, 13, 3053.
34. Alabi, S.B. and Crews, C.M. J. Biol. Chem. 2021, 296,
100647.
35. Luh, L.M., et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 15448.
36. Halford, B. Chem. Eng. News 2021, 99, 5.
37. Kargbo, R.B. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2019, 10, 699.
38. Duncan, K.D., et al. Analyst 2019, 144, 782.
39. Kumar, R., et al. Front. Microbiol. 2020, 11, 1152.
40. Fessenden, M. Nature 2016, 540, 153.

Fernando Gomollón-Bel <fer@gomobel.com> is the Graphene Flagship
Press Coordinator and a freelance science communicator based in
Cambridge, UK. He is also a collaborator of the European Young Chemists’Network, EuChemS.

The next search
for the Top
Ten Emerging
Technologies in
Chemistry is on.
The deadline fornomination
is 31 March 2022.
https://iupac.org/
what-we-do/top-ten/

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Chemistry International October-December 2021

IUPAC Wire

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

Chemistry International—Freely-Available
Across the WorldIUPAC Announces the 2021 Top Ten
Emerging Technologies in Chemistryrom January 2022 Chemistry International will
be freely-available to all in electronic form andwill no longer be available in print. The objective is to make it readily-available to a much broader
audience. It will still be published four times a year
and whilst retaining its familiar layout, will be web
based in a page-turning format from both the De
Gruyter and IUPAC websites.

UPAC has released
the results of its
2021 search for
the Top Ten Emerging
Technologies
inChemistry. The goal ofthis project is to showcase the transformativevalue of Chemistry andto inform the general public on the potential of thechemical sciences to foster the well-being of Society
and the sustainability of our Planet. Following
the same guidance as it did last year, the Jury*, aselection of international experts, identified different emerging technologies, scientific advances in
between a discovery and a fully-commercialized
ideas, with outstanding capacity to open new opportunities in chemistry, sustainability, and beyond. The
2021 finalists are (in alphabetical order):F

by Colin Humphris
Chair of Chemistry International Editorial Board
This is obviously a major change for Chemistry
International that has been available in print form since
1979, but we want to leverage the opportunities of adigitally-connected world. We want to access a farlarger international readership to raise interest in IUPAC
and its valuable work. At the same time, we have had
to recognise the limitations and costs of international
distribution of paper magazines. During the autumn the
Secretariat will be contacting all members and current
subscribers to advise them of any changes to theirmembership and entitlements and promoting the newformat and access.
This is a step towards a digital first format that
IUPAC is currently working with DeGruyter to design.
The eventual objective is to provide, news, comments,
feature articles, project updates and book reviews in realtime together with other digital features such as video
and webinars. This is work in progress as we explore thecapabilities of both the new DeGruyter publishing platform and our own website.
We feel this is an important symbolic, change as
IUPAC adapts its data, standards and nomenclature
to the digital needs of those who rely on us. Our first
century was focussed on the printed form and the availability of reliable, validated chemical information was a
key driver for innovation through the twentieth century.
The pace of change is accelerating in a digital world and
IUPAC will need to evolve to meet these needs. InChI is agood example of the different ways of working and thevalue of partnerships with users. Expect to see far moreof this. These will be exciting times for the Union.
Please enjoy next year’s page-turning format,
encourage your friends and colleagues to both read
Chemistry International and to contribute to it as a
medium to highlight the pivotal role of chemistry inaddressing the challenges the world faces today andtomorrow.

https://iupac.org/what-we-do/journals/chemistry-international/

I

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Artificial humic matter from biomass
Blockchain technology
Chemiluminescence for biological use
Chemical synthesis of RNA and DNA
Semi-synthetic life
Single cell metabolomics
Sonochemical coatings
Superwettability
Sustainable production of ammonia
Targeted protein degradation

IUPAC Vice President, Javier García Martínez, said that
“In the last months, we have witnessed how vital chemistry is in facing and overcoming our most pressing
challenges. Moving forward, these threats will only bemore complex and unpredictable—as the recent IPCC
report alerts us to the risk posed by climate change forour survival. With the Top Ten Emerging Technologies
in Chemistry, IUPAC provides a fresh look at technologies that are already creating new opportunities andopening new avenues for research and industry. I hope
this year’s edition arouses the same interest and attention as previous IUPAC Top Ten selections.”
The 2021 Top Ten Emerging Technologies in
Chemistry are further detailed in a feature article
published in this issue of Chemistry International,
see page 13. The author, Fernando Gomollón-Bel,
remarks: “While highlighting breakthroughs for a circular, climate-neutral future, the selected technologies
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IUPAC Wire
will change our world for the better, making a morethoughtful use of our resources, favoring more efficient transformations, and providing more sustainable
solutions in applications.”
The first selection of Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry was released in 2019 as a
special activity honoring IUPAC’s 100th anniversary;
the results were published in the April 2019 (Chem Int,
41(2), pp. 12-17, 2019; https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-20190203). The 2020 results were published in October
2020 (Chem. Int. 42(4) pp. 3-9, 2020; https://doi.
org/10.1515/ci-2020-0402)2019.
The next search for the Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry has already begun and thedeadline for submission is 31 March 2022. It will be led
again by Michael Droescher.
For more information on the 2019 and 2020 selections and on the search for the 2022 Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry go to: https://iupac.org/
what-we-do/top-ten/.
*The Jury was an international group of objective andunbiased experts who reviewed and discussed a pool of nominations, and ultimately selected the final top ten. The following
comprised the panel of judges for the 2021 Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry: Chair, Michael Droescher, (German
Association for the Advancement of Science and Medicine),
Jorge Alegre-Cebollada (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones
Cardiovasculares, Spain), Sophie Carenco (French National
Center for Scientific Research, France), Javier García Martínez(Universidad de Alicante, Spain), Ehud Keinan (Technion,
Israel), Rai Kookana (CSIRO Land & Water, Australia), Greg
Russell (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Ken
Sakai (Kyushu University, Japan), Natalia P. Tarasova (D. I.
Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Russia), andBernard West (Life Sciences Ontario, Canada).

Climate Change 2021—The PhysicalScience BasisThe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) is the United Nations body responsible
for assessing the science related to climatechange. The Sixth Report from IPCC Working Group
1 published in August 2021 paints a very sombre picture for the future. This report was commented on ina news item by the International Science Council (ISC)on behalf of its members, of which IUPAC is a founding member.
The report presents the latest advances in modellingand improved historical data to lead to the undeniable22

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October-December 2021

conclusion that the whole world is experiencing theeffects of climate change and that this is due to humanactivities. The extreme weather events which haveoccurred in 2021 are not taken into account. The goalof the Paris Agreement is that global warming is held
to well below 2 ºC with respect to pre-industrial values and efforts should be pursued to limit warming to
1.5 ºC. All five emission scenarios considered in the IPCC
report lead to warming greater than 1.5 ºC and threeof the five have warming of 2 ºC or greater by 2041
to 2060. The curbing of greenhouse gas emissions,mainly carbon dioxide, reducing the carbon footprint,
will improve the situation and could potentially reverse
the temperature trend later in the century if decisive
action is taken urgently now. Ambitious targets are
required and implementation is needed immediately.
Chemistry, often referred to as the central science,is crucial in the battle against climate change. Waysof reducing consumption of energy in chemical reactions and processes, renewable fuels produced fromsunlight with photocatalysts, reagent recycling andwaste reduction, new and more efficient materials are
all needed. IUPAC, as a worldwide resource for chemistry with over a thousand volunteer scientists who areexperts in their fields of chemistry, from academia andindustry, can and must make an important contribution
to these questions.
Christopher Brett, IUPAC President commented:“This landmark report on climate shows the current
state of the world and the need for decisive and incisive
action. We strongly support the statement by the ISC
and emphasise the important role that chemistry will

IUPAC Wire
play in addressing the challenges. This is in accordancewith a vision for IUPAC to be a global resource forchemistry for the service of humankind and the world.
We are already working on many of the topics which
will be crucial and we offer our expertise in addressingthese issues which must be carried out in collaboration
between all scientists and society as a whole.”
IUPAC has worked for years in several fields related
to the challenges of climate change and the environment, green chemistry for sustainable development
and world needs. Before the Covid-19 crisis, it was
already implementing an organisational drive to makemuch greater use of on-line meetings, thus reducing
travel and decreasing our carbon footprint.
Examples of IUPAC projects that address the challenges associated with climate change are:• Evaluated Kinetic Data for Atmospheric Chemistry• Climate and Global Change: Observed Impacts on
Planet Earth• Multi-scale Biogeochemical Processes in Soil
Ecosystems: Critical Reactions and Resilience to
Climate Changes• Assessment of the Contribution of IUPAC Projects
to the Achievement of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals• Visualizing and Understanding the Science of
Climate Change• Systems Thinking in Chemistry Education• Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability:
Toward 2030 and Beyond• Green and Sustainable Chemical Processes
The cover of the IPCC report is Changing by
Alisa Singer, “As we witness our planet transforming around us we watch, listen, measure…respond.”www.environmentalgraphiti.org – 2021 Alisa Singer.

https://iupac.org/climate-change-2021-the-physical-science-basis/2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize—Call for
NominationsI

UPAC and Gedeon Richter, Plc. are pleased
to announce the 2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize in
Medicinal Chemistry.

The 2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize will be presented
during the 37th ACS National Medicinal Chemistry
Symposium (26-29 June 2022) in New York (USA)and the recipient will also give a lecture on the subject of their research at the XXVII EFMC International

Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (4-8 September2022) in Nice (France).
The prize—USD 10,000—is to be awarded to
an internationally recognized scientist, preferably
a medicinal chemist, whose activities or publishedaccounts have made an outstanding contribution to
the practice of medicinal chemistry or to an outstanding example of new drug discovery.
The Prize has been established by a generous
gift from the Chemical Works of Gedeon Richter,
Plc. (Budapest, Hungary) to acknowledge the keyrole that medicinal chemistry plays toward improving
human health.
Applicants should be received by nomination only,with just one person needing to serve in that capacity,although a total of five (5) individuals should be listed
as referees overall. The package must be submitted
electronically and should contain a complete resume,a professional autobiography of not more than two
pages, and a one-page summary of what the individual considers to be his/her activities, accomplishments
and/or publications that have had the most significant
impact upon the field of Medicinal Chemistry. The
material will be forwarded confidentially to an independent selection committee appointed by the IUPAC
Subcommittee on Medicinal Chemistry and Drug
Development.
For further information please contact Janos
Fischer, Chair of the Jury and member of the
IUPAC Sub-committee on Drug Discovery and Drug
Development, by email at <j.fischer@richter.hu>
Nomination materials should be submitted by 15
December 2021

https://iupac.org/2022-iupac-richter-prize-call-for-nominations/Awardees of the 2021 IUPACZhejiang NHU International Award for
Advancements in Green ChemistryW

e are delighted to announce the 2021 recipients of the established IUPAC-Zhejiang
NHU International Award for Advancements
in Green Chemistry. We congratulate Gabriele
Laudadio from the Scripps Research Institute, Lichen
Liu from Tsinghua University, and Jingxiang Low from
University of Science and Technology of China as theearly career award winners, and David Milstein fromthe Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for the experienced chemist award.
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IUPAC Wire

Gabriele Laudadio

Lichen Liu

Jingxiang Low

These awards were presented
during the 2021 Virtual IUPAC
Congress in August at a special Symposium scheduled in
the Chemistry for Sustainability
thematic program in coordination with IUPAC’s Interdivisional
Committee on Green Chemistry
for Sustainable Development(ICGCSD).
The
IUPAC-Zhejiang
NHU
International Award was been
established in 2019 to encourage
young and experienced chemists
alike, and to emphasize the importance of advancements in Green
Chemistry, and demonstrating how
it adds value to human progress.
The 2021 Winners of the IUPACZhejiang NHU International Award
have been invited to prepare areview article for publication in
an upcoming issue of Pure andApplied Chemistry.
This award, managed by the
ICGCSD, is presented every two
years. Look for the announcementof the next call in 2022 ahead of
the 2023 IUPAC World Chemistry
Congress that will take place in the
Netherlands. For further information about the IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU
International Award, see https://
iupac.org/what-we-do/awards/
See the following page fora brief bio of each awardees:
https://iupac.org/awardees-ofthe-2021-iupac-zhejiang-nhuinternational-award-for-advancements-in-green-chemistry/

David Milstein

An Interview with Joseph WangP

rofessor Joseph Wang of the Universityof California San Diego (UCSD), USA, isthe first to be awarded the IUPAC Analytical
Chemistry Medal—an award that recognizes a significant lifetime contribution to analytical chemistry
and for researchers who have a substantial record of24

Chemistry International October-December 2021

Joseph Wang

achievements demonstrated by the number and quality of their publications, by being actively involved ininternational partnerships as well as by their commitment in the training of the next generation of analyticalchemists.
He spoke with Dr. Vera Koester of ChemistryViews
about his current research, especially the exciting
development of wearables, and giants in chemistry.
What does it mean to you to receive the IUPAC
Analytical Chemistry Medal and to be the first toreceive it?
It has been a great surprise and is a great honor. I
have received numerous international awards, and thisis a kind of global recognition. In analytical chemistry
we don’t have a global award, which makes this very
prestigious.
What are current trends in the field of sensors?
There is this trend of moving away from the big
laboratory to smaller and smaller home testing andtowards the body: the lab on the skin or in the mouth.
That’s true for all techniques. This field began benefitting from nanotechnology 10 to 20 years ago.
I’m glad to be part of this revolution of moving tohome testing and towards real-time on-body testing.
So do you think in 50 years’ time we will measure
everything that we are doing right away?
Oh, yes, in 50 years for sure. The future will bringincreasingly smaller sensors. So at some point you will
have a complete lab under your skin. You will swallow
a lab in a capsule—namely swallow a small capsulethat will then analyze your gut. In fact, you will see thatwithin 10 years. We don’t have to wait 40 or 50 years
for that.

IUPAC Wire
Sounds amazing but also scary. You have access to somany sensors, what do you monitor on yourself?
Oh, mainly my steps and sometimes my bloodpressure.
What do you like most about IUPAC and what do you
think could be different?
IUPAC is responsible for somehow standardizing
everything. That is very good. Even in electrochemistry, we have different nomenclatures. Sometimes we
use different names for the same techniques or present
results in different ways. There was also a lot of confusion in the beginning about what exactly a biosensor
is. In my opinion, they did a good job in defining it.
It’s also extremely important to take a global
perspective. In materials, we have MRS as the global
conference for material science; Pittcon is the biggest
international conference in analytical chemistry. IUPAC
needs to have more visibility. I would like to see IUPAC
take a leading role in the top sciences. Merging IUPAC’s
analytical topics and sessions with Pittcon would mean
more visibility for analytical chemistry.
Read full interview in ChemistryViews:
https://doi.org/10.1002/chemv.202100077
ChemistryViews is the online science news magazine ofChemistry Europe, an organization of 16 European chemicalsocieties. It informs about what is happening in the global
chemistry community and has a strong focus on the people behind the science. It covers new ideas, educates, andentertains.

In Memoriam

Gus Somsen

23 July 1932–12 June 2021
Gus Somsen passed away peacefully in Hoogeveen,
Netherlands, while having struggled with Alzheimer’s
for some time. Gus often said that he enjoyed his workfor IUPAC, and his former colleagues on IUPAC Bureau
and Executive Committee remember his optimistic
outlook on life and his problem solving ability. He wasenergetic and creative in his thinking and made significant contributions to the IUPAC organization as his
records show.
Prof. Somsen graduated in chemistry in 1956 after
studying at Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. He
received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry after working
with Jan Coops. After military service as an officer inthe field artillery, in 1958 he joined the faculty of the
Department of Chemistry at VU as an instructor andwas subsequently promoted to associate professor

Gus Somsen (left) accepts the IUPAC service award fromIUPAC President Bryan Henry in 2007 at the General
Assembly opening held in the Aula Magna /Rektorat locatedon the Piazza Castello, in the center of the old city of Torino.

(1964), senior lecturer (1971), and then to professor of physical chemistry in 1980. Somsen served ashead of the Department of Chemistry (1980–1983 and1993–1997), vice rrector of the university (1983–1985),
dean of the faculty of Natural Sciences (1985–1987),
and member of the University Council (1988–1990) at
VU. He became emeritus professor in 1997.
Prof. Somsen’s research interests were inexperimental chemical thermodynamics, physical chemistry of solutions, and liquids and liquid
structures. He authored about 120 publications on
thermochemistry and physical chemistry of solutions.
He held memberships in the Chemistry Committee of
the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences(KNAW), the Royal Dutch Chemical Society (KNCV)
and the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and served
as a member of the editorial advisory boards on several journals.
In IUPAC Prof. Somsen served in numerous positions, starting as a Member (1977–1985) and Chair(1985–1989) of the Commission on Thermodynamics(I.2); Member (1990–1991), Secretary (1992–1993),
Vice President (1994–1995), President (1996–1997),
Past President (1998–1999), and Associate Member
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IUPAC Wireof the Physical (and Biophysical) Chemistry Division(I) Committee (2000–2001). Following his service inDivision I, he was elected on the IUPAC Bureau (1998–
2003); in 1998, he chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on
Project Evaluation Criteria, and continued as member
on the then newly created Project Committee, which
he ended up by chairing from 2004 to 2007.
Somsen won numerous awards and in 1995 he wasdesignated an Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau
from Her Majesty, the Queen of the Netherlands. He
completed his IUPAC tenure in 2007 and was presented his service award by IUPAC President Bryan
Henry during the opening ceremony of the General
Assembly in Torino.
Wij zijn verdrietig maar dankbaar voor alles wat hijvoor IUPAC en anaderen betekend heeft.
He is survived by his wife, Elly, four children, several
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Aubrey Dennis Jenkins

6 September 1927–25 April 2021
A tribute by Dick Jones and Claudio dos Santos
Former friends and colleagues were deeply saddened
to learn of the death of Emeritus Professor Aubrey
Jenkins on 25 April 2021. Aubrey grew to be a distinguished figure within the IUPAC Polymer Division after
joining its forerunner, the Macromolecular Division, as amember in 1975. His distinction was equally recognised
within both industry and academia by the international
polymer community.
Born in London in 1927, he attended Dartford
Grammar School from where he matriculated to the
University of London in 1943. However, this beingat the height of WWII, he needed to take a job, but
undeterred he also enrolled as a part-time student at
the University’s Sir John Cass Technical Institute from
where he progressed to King’s College, graduating
B.Sc. in Special Chemistry with 1st Class Honours in
1948. Awarded the University of London Studentshipin Chemistry for 1948, by 1950 he had gained his PhD.
From 1950 to 1964, Aubrey was an industrial chemist,
firstly with Courtaulds Ltd. at its Fundamental ResearchLaboratory at Maidenhead in Berkshire and thereafterwith Gillette Industries Ltd at Reading. At Courtaulds
he was under the direction of C.H. Bamford. For a year,‘Bam’ had him investigate the dimerization of methyl
ketene before urging a move into the polymer field as
it was clear that this was where the company’s futurewould lie if it was to compete with other chemical
giants such as DuPont. His first task was to determine
the kinetics of the polymerization of acrylonitrile, the26

Chemistry International October-December 2021

monomer that was predicted to constitute 95 % of afuture marketable product. Polyacrylonitrile, however,is one of a very few vinyl addition polymers that are
insoluble in their own monomer and this work led towhat Aubrey told me whilst holidaying together in thesouth of France in 2011, that he considered to be themost scientifically significant discovery of his career,
kinetic evidence of ‘trapped’ radicals, the existence of
which were later to be indisputably proven by EPR.
Between 1956 and ‘62, the team of Bamford,
Jenkins and Johnston also published about ten papers
on the reaction between polymer radicals and transition metal salts and determinations of rates of initiationin vinyl polymerization based on the same chemistry.
It is worth pausing to reflect that were it not for atemperature difference of about 80 °C, atom transfer
radical polymerization might have hit the billboards
many years earlier.
In 1960, the parting of the ways of Bamford andJenkins was inevitable when Aubrey accepted along-standing offer to become Head of Chemistry
at Gillette Industries. This was a managerial role andalthough while at Courtaulds he had already travelledwidely in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe during
the communist era, and in 1959 had accepted an invitation to lecture at a Gordon Conference (his first visit
to the USA), he now had to make many transatlantic
trips. Typically, these were ‘Gillette-focussed’ visits to
Boston, Chicago and ultimately Washington DC where
he was eventually to be seconded for a year. Whilehe was able to recruit excellent scientists of his own
choosing he missed the days of open scientific discussion. Secrecy attached to all his team’s research but atleast it led him into legal work which was to become asource of enjoyment throughout his later career.
To Aubrey, Washington was the most beautiful cityin the US and there is no doubting that Gillette hopedthat he would resettle there. However, from Colin
Eaborn (later Sir Colin) he received an offer he had nowish to refuse: to join the staff of the new University of
Sussex as a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry. He took up
his new post in 1964 and remained at Sussex throughout the rest of his career, ascending to Reader (1968),
Professor of Polymer Science (1971) and serving as
Dean of the School of Molecular Science from 1973–78
before eventually retiring in 1992.
At Sussex, again he built a thriving research teamand thereby consolidated his already notable international research reputation. Free radical polymerization
mechanisms remained a lifelong dominating interest and even after retirement, he picked up on what
he and Bam had started, the “Patterns of Reactivity

IUPAC Wireclassical music in all its expressions, a love that I share.
He frequently attended concerts or operatic/balletproductions wherever he roamed, but particularly in
London and Glyndebourne, the world famous opera
house just a short distance from his home. There ismuch of my friendship with Aubrey that I shall personally miss.
Aubrey is survived by his wife Jitka and two sonsfrom his first marriage, nine grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.
–Richard (Dick) Jones

Aubrey Jenkins

Scheme” for the modelling of radical copolymerization reactions, a development of the Q – e scheme of
Alfrey and Price, first presented to the world at the1959 Gordon Conference. This was the venue that first
opened the door to his getting to know a wealth ofeminent international polymer scientists and resulted
in his receiving many invitations to lecture, each feeding a growing list of lifelong friendships.
In 1975, Aubrey joined the Macromolecular Division
of IUPAC (later the Polymer Division) of which heremained an active member until declining healthled to his retirement in the early 2010s. From 1977 to
1985 he chaired the Commission on MacromolecularNomenclature, refusing to refer to it under any othername even after it became the Subcommittee on
Polymer Terminology following the millennial structural reorganization of the Union. He was also secretary
for the Division from 1985 to 1993. Over the years, hisname has featured as co-author or lead author ofmany of our publications, two of which have notably
received over 500 citations.
IUPAC enabled him to travel even more widely but
amongst all the countries and continents that he visited
during his lifetime; his favourites were Eastern Europe,
New Zealand and South America. He could relate talesof adventure and friendship from everywhere he wentand it is worthy of note that his last research student,
Claudio Gouvea dos Santos from Brazil, is also a present day member of the Subcommittee on Polymer
Terminology, and I take pleasure in asking him to write,
in a more personal vein, a short finale to this tributeto Aubrey’s life and career. However, I cannot end myown contribution without mentioning Aubrey’s love ofThrough correspondence, Aubrey had acceptedme to study for a PhD under his supervision so, armed
with a Brazilian government grant, I arrived at the
University of Sussex in 1988. I did not meet him immediately upon my arrival because he had just remarried
and was still enjoying a round-the-world honeymoon
trip. Two weeks later we met for the first time and I
was soon to realize I was in front of a colossal scientist.
Despite his outstanding scientific reputation,
Aubrey was to me a very approachable person. During
my time at Sussex, apart from delving into the controversies of the various mechanisms proposed forthe then newly discovered group transfer polymerisation, about which Aubrey was very passionate, webuilt a strong relationship and gradually the supervisor
turned into a friend. He was a kind and generous man
and I was to benefit from his deep knowledge of polymer chemistry, his friendship and wider acquaintance.
Perhaps by my being Brazilian or because he knew
I was going to be his last graduate student, I felt acertain affection flowing from him. As Dick has written
above, South America was one of his favourite places
and, before we met, he had already been to Brazil several times as some kind of “ambassador” for the British

Claudio with Jitka and Aubrey in Rio de Janeiro in 1996
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IUPAC Wire
Council. Aubrey loved Brazil and the Brazilian culture. I
remember that, at one of the dinners at his home, withgreat pride and sense of achievement, he surprised mewith a glass of caipirinha he had prepared himself.
Four years after my return to Brazil at the end of
1992, I was delighted to meet up with Aubrey and Jitka
again when they stopped for a few days in Rio on their
way to Argentina. I live about 200 miles away and Rio
is not a place I go to very often. However, Aubrey knew
it like the palm of his hand and gave me several touristic tips that included, not only the best places to visit
but also the names and numbers of the buses to takeyou there! The photo above was taken at the Botanical
Garden, one of the not-to-miss spots suggested by
Aubrey.
In 2000, I spent a few sabbatical months in UK and
had the chance to visit Aubrey and Jitka. Jitka served“duck à l´orange” for dinner; even now I can savour
the taste when I close my eyes. After that, our contact

was mostly by email and through Dick keeping me
posted with news about them. In 2006, Dick invited me
as an observer to attend the IUPAC Polymer Division
Meetings held in conjunction with the IUPAC World
Polymer Congress in Rio de Janeiro, and since then I
have been a member of the Subcommittee on Polymer
Terminology. I was very happy to meet Aubrey in Torino
during the IUPAC General Assembly in the following
year but it was then that I knew I wouldn´t have thechance to welcome them to Brazil again when he told
me that his health prevented him from taking long haul
flights. However, in Glasgow, during the 2009 General
Assembly, I had the pleasure of meeting him for one
last time in person.
Aubrey led me along the most important path of
my scientific career. I feel privileged to have had him
as my supervisor.
–Claudio Gouvea dos Santos

FeatureArticlesWantedContact the editor for more information
at <edit.ci@iupac.org>.

Up for Discussion
Combat Ethical Pollution in theChemical Community
by Leiv K. Sydnes
At the IUPAC General Assembly in the middle ofAugust this year, the Council decided to form a
new standing committee, the Committee on Ethics,
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CEDEI), with the mission to work for the ethical values stated in the Union’s
strategic plan. This is a significant move because it
underlines that international statements and recommendations, outlining ethical guidelines and principles
for scientists, are not enough to guarantee that thescientific community “[strives] for diversity and inclusiveness in all forms, [respects] each other and theUnion, and [upholds] the highest standards of transparent, responsible and ethical behaviour”[1]. In fact,
there are clear indications that the number and natureof violations of the 1979 Vancouver Convention [2],the 2010 Singapore Statement on Research Integrity[3], the 2012 San Francisco Declaration on Research
Assessment (DORA) [4], the 2013 Montreal Statement
on Research Integrity in Cross-Boundary Research
Collaborations [5], and the 2016 ICSU Advisory Noteon Science Communication [6], some of the relevant
documents to abide to, have increased in recent years.
Unethical research practices and behaviour
are nothing new. Publication of “results” based onoutright fraud has been known for centuries andincreasingly harmed the scientific enterprise in recent
decades. But just as worrisome is the growing numberof other dubious practises, which include plagiarism,
gift authorships, unethical refereeing, improper evaluations, and use of defamatory and insulting languagein science-related discussions and debates amongscientists. The purpose with all these acts is the same:
to improve the likelihood for success in competitions
for prestigious positions or appointments, researchfunding, and all sorts of awards, honours, and prizes.
Such activities do indeed contribute to undermine
the credibility of science, and this calls for a broadbased action in the scientific community at large.
International organizations like the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization(UNESCO), International Council of Science (ICSU),
which in 2018 became International Science Council(ISC) have worked with dedication to strengthen
the research integrity globally and nourish science
practices based on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
However, many of the obstacles to achieve this are

To nurture free and responsible practice of science, theresearch community must promote equitable opportunities
and oppose all sorts of discrimination. How to go about inpractice to achieve that is discussed in this booklet, which
can be downloaded from the ISC page https://council.
science/publications/freedom-responsibility-anduniversality-of-science-2014/ or directly council.science/
wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CFRS-brochure-2014.pdf

discipline specific, and therefore it is significant that
IUPAC has formed CEDEI that hopefully aims at
becoming clearly visible and contributing to combat
and prevent the spreading of ethical pollution in the
global chemical community.
I am sure CEDEI will be exposed to all sorts ofchallenges at many levels when the committee starts
its work. At the global level, the first important task
will be to raise the awareness of international guidelines and recommendations, both those mentioned
above and many others, which is lacking in many
countries. But knowledge about their existence is
not enough; the documents and their collective
spirit must be adopted so that research integrityand professional ethical behaviour become an integrated part of every chemist’s professional platform.
In order to reach this goal, strong measures have tobe taken at institutional levels throughout the world
so that staff and, at universities, every student willreflect on research ethics, including diversity, equity,and inclusion, in their work and behave properly.

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Up for Discussion

From left to right: Guido Bertolaso, Ricardo Villalba, Tomáš Hudlický, and Priyamvada Gopal

Here CEDEI can play a vital role if working with dedication. A great start would be to establish a website at
the IUPAC homepage to present relevant documents,
such as declarations, recommendations, books, codesof conduct, and case studies, and to put in place aforum for discussion of relevant issues, good practice,and controversial cases. At www.iupac.org the material will be easily available, and if the quality reaches
the high level one reasonably can expect, the website
should aim at becoming the focal point regarding
ethical issues for the chemical community.
Research integrity and research ethics of highstandard can only become a reality and subsequently
be maintained in open-minded and transparent
communities where a free flow of information and ahealthy and decent exchange of views based on facts
are the norm. A lot of available technology can help
us to uphold this level of professionalism: if accurate
facts are missing, researchers, journals, libraries, andinstitutions can easily be contacted; if research resultsappear strange, dubious, or too good to be true forsome reason, documentation can be requested; andif issues are argued based on misunderstanding offacts and opinions, clarification can be obtained bydirect contact of people and institutions if there isa will to dialogue. The purpose of all this is to makesure that scientific results are reliable and correct, areunderstood and presented correctly, and are usedcorrectly when applied to carry out projects in thereal world. But this does not guarantee that scienceis practiced, communicated, and applied in this way.
That is why it is so important that scientists are willing to be custodians of their disciplines and speak up
when necessary.
But to speak up on scientific matters may indeed
be risky. In recent years colleagues in many scientificdisciplines, including chemistry, have been persecuted, prosecuted, and imprisoned for doing so to
the public and authorities, even when done in an
impeccable way following the ICSU Advisory Note on
Science Communication [6]. A prominent example

30

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October-December 2021

is the prosecution of Guido Bertolaso and six otherscientists after the disastrous earthquake in L’Aquila,
Italy, in 2009; they were put on trial and convicted
to years in prison, but eventually acquitted by Italy’s
Supreme Court at the end of 2016 [7]. Another example is the case against Ricardo Villalba, former directorof the national Argentinian Institute of Snow, Ice andEnvironmental Research, who faced criminal charges
because he applied science-based methods in asurvey of Argentina’s glaciers [8]. To follow up suchcases when chemists are the target should also be atask for the new committee, preferably in close collaboration with the ISC Committee for Freedom andResponsibility in Science (CFRS) [9].
Finally, speaking up or arguing among colleagues
for an opinion that is not mainstream, can also be avery unpleasant experience and result in violation ofrecommended ethical guidelines. An infamous example of this sort in the chemical sciences is the Hudlicky
case, which erupted in the beginning of June last year
when the essay “Organic Synthesis—Where now?” isthirty years old. A reflection on the currents state ofaffairs” was published on the Angewandte-Chemie
website [10,11]. The article resulted immediately in anavalanche of personal attacks, defamatory condemnations, and insults that violated the standards debates
among colleagues in science should abide to [11-13].
The reaction from Wiley and Angewandte Chemie has
been dealt with previously [14,15], but just as bad in
my opinion is the reaction from Thieme Verlag thatcancelled the publication of an issue of Synthesis
in honour of Hudlicky’s outstanding achievements
in organic synthesis just a few days after the essay
appeared [16]. Such a coupling between research-irrelevant opinions and scientific performance andachievements is indeed objectionable and looks likecensorship to me.
This lack of objectivity probably contributed
to trigger the Society for Academic Freedom and
Scholarship (SAFS) [17] in Canada to look thoroughly
into the Hudlicky case at its General Meeting in May

Up for Discussion
this year where Professor Hudlicky gave the 3rd Annual
Chris and John Furedy Lecture entitled “Reflections
on Diversity of Opinions, Inequity, and Exclusion—the
New DIE Initiative”. In the lecture [18], his odyssey
since June last year was put in perspective, and theaudience was exposed to examples of lack of diversity
and inclusiveness, lack of respect of each other, andlack of transparent, responsible and ethical behaviour.
How encouraging then to learn about the Gopal caseat Cambridge University, UK, where rallies to fire her
were met by a strong university defence of its academics’ right to express lawful opinions which others mightfind controversial, followed by her promotion to fullProfessor Chair [19]. No doubt, therefore, that CEDEI
will have an important role to play to combat pollution
in the chemical community from the very beginning.

8.

References

13.

(All web pages were accessed 4 Sep 2021)
1.
Item 15.2 on the 51st IUPAC Council Agenda for thevirtual IUPAC General Assembly based in Montreal,
Canada in August 2021. https://iupac.org/event/council2021/
2. “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting,
Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical
Journals” published by the International Committee ofMedical Journal Editors www.icmje.org/
icmje-recommendations.pdf ; the original known as
the Vancouver document was first published in 1979 as“Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to
Biomedical Journals”.
3. “Singapore Statement on Research Integrity” wcrif.
org/documents/327-singapore-statement-a4size/fileor https://wcrif.org/
4. San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment—
Putting science into the assessment of research,https://sfdora.org/ or www.ascb.org/files/
SFDeclarationFINAL.pdf
5. Montreal Statement on Research Integrity in CrossBoundary Research Collaborations” https://wcrif.org/
documents/354-montreal-statement-english/file
6. Advisory Note on Science Communication, firstdrafted in 2010 by the Committee on Freedom
and Responsibility of ICSU, and last released
in 2016: council.science/publications/sciencecommunication-20102016
7.
”Seven-year legal saga ends as Italian official is clearedof manslaughter in earthquake trial”, Science, 3 OCT
2016, by E. Cartlidge, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.
aah7374 and links therein.

9.

10.

11.
12.

14.
15.
16.

17.
18.

19.

Nature 2017, 552 (6 Dec 2017), 159-160; https://doi.
org/10.1038/d41586-017-08236-y
The ISC Committee for Freedom and Responsibility
in Science, council.science/about-us/governance/
committees/committee-for-freedom-andresponsibility-in-science
Dr. Tomas Hudlicky’s essay appeared with the
DOI:10.1002anie.202006717, but that code does notgive access to the article any longer. However, it isfound on hudlicky.ca [ref 11 below], but also elsewhere(sites.krieger.jhu.edu/chemdna/files/2020/06/10.1002a
nie.202006717.pdf)
See Tomáš Hudlický website https://www.hudlicky.ca,
section “Angewandte essay affair, 2020“
Hudlicky’s Statement on the Angewandte Essay Affair
published in July 2020 on hudlicky.ca [ref 11 above];the 4-page statement documents for the chemicalcommunity at large the maelstrom Dr. Hudlicky
experienced.
A Google search for Hudlicky will give many links tosites substantiating this statement. Some relevant
links are the following: www.safs.ca/issuescases/case.
php?case=brock-chemistry ; www.chemistryworld.
com/4011923.article ; cen.acs.org/research-integrity/
ethics/Essay-criticizing-efforts-increase-diversityin-organic-synthesis-deleted-after-backlash-fromchemists/98/web/2020/06
Leiv K. Sydnes, Chem. Int. 2021, 43(1), 42-44.
Leiv K. Sydnes, Kjemi 2021, 1, 19-23(www.kjemidigital.no/dm/1-2021/18)
Personal communication from Professor Trond V.
Hansen, University of Oslo, Norway, one of the editors
for the Hudlicky issue, who was relieved from his task
in a letter from Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany.
A presentation of the Society for Academic Freedom
and Scholarship (SAFS) is found on https://safs.ca
The Society for Academic Freedom Lecture May 2021
is available on Hudlicky’s website [ref 11 above] in two
parts SAFS-A and SAFS-B under Angewandte essay
affair, 2020
Multiple references about the Gopal case can be foundsimply searching Priyamvada Gopal on Google. Amongthem are two articles in Varsity, the independent
student newspaper for the University of Cambridge,
e.g. www.varsity.co.uk/news/19539 published 24 June
2020 and www.varsity.co.uk/news/19542 published 25
June 2020.

Leiv K. Sydnes <leiv.sydnes@uib.no> is Professor emeritus at University of Bergen,
Norway. He was president of IUPAC 2004-2005 and chaired the CHEMRAWN
committee in 2008-2015. He also chaired the ICSU Committee for Freedom andResponsibility in the Conduct of Science from 2013 to 2018.

Chemistry International

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31

Project Place

Information
Information about
about new,
new, current,
current, andand complete
complete
IUPAC
IUPACprojects
projectsand
andrelated
relatedinitiatives.
initiatives.
See
Seealsoalsowww.iupac.org/projects
www.iupac.org/projects

Safety Training Program e-learning
The IUPAC Safety Training Program (STP), a global
project from the Committee on Chemistry and Industry(COCI), has contributed to Global Chemical Safety forover 20 years. Until now, two main modalities of STP
were developed, both face-to-face: STP Fellowship
Program and STP Latin America (STP-LA). The scopeof both modalities is necessary limited regarding thenumber of trainees and involves relatively high costs(travels, lodging and meals).
In the last years, it was very difficult get companies
willing to host and get partners to financial support
for STP Fellowship Program. Considering the current
COVID-19 pandemic, this situation does not seem likely
to improve. In this context, STP e-learning arises, as
alternative of the face-to-face modalities, but with thesame spirit and objectives of original STP.
The objective of STP e-learning is revitalize the
STP as a whole, broadening the scope regarding thenumber and countries of origin of the trainees. The
STP-learning has four partners: COCI, Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemicals Weapons (OPCW),
Chemical Industries Association of Uruguay (ASIQUR)
and Foreign Affairs Ministry of Uruguay.

For more information and comments, contact Task Group Chair Fabián Benzo
Moreira <fbenzo@vera.com.uy> | https://iupac.org/project/2021-003-1-022

Green Chemistry in Sub-SaharanAfricaTwenty years ago, when the book Green Chemistry inAfrica (IUPAC project 2002-018-1-300) was prepared,
green chemistry was just starting in Africa. Now, it has
taken off in a number of institutions and countries, it
is generally expanding, and sustainability issues are
given increasing attention also at policy-making level.
The collaborative book titled “Green Chemistry in
Sub-Saharan Africa—growth, challenges and perspectives” is the result of this new project. It is meant tooffer a panoramic overview of current achievements,
recognized challenges and envisaged near-future
developments of green chemistry in Sub-SaharanAfrica. The information provided by the overview is
expected to be useful for anybody engaged in the promotion of green chemistry, both in Africa and beyond,and to favor the recognition of shared interests in viewof collaborations and networking aimed at capacity
building strengthening.

32

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

Another recently-published IUPAC-endorsed book
had also focused on Sub-Saharan Africa (L. Mammino,
Biomass Burning in Sub-Saharan Africa: ChemicalIssues and Action Outreach, IUPAC project 2007-0251-300), initiating a tradition of projects concerning
green chemistry and sustainability with specific focus
on Sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information and comments, contact Task Group Chair Liliana
Mammino <sasdestria1@gmail.com>
https://iupac.org/project/2021-005-1-041

Categorizing Interactions Involving
Group 11 Elements
The recent focus on supramolecular/nanostructured
systems drew major attention on chemical interactions
and prompted a flurry of terms indicating specificinteraction subclasses. This is particularly true forinteractions involving group 11 elements. Group 11
elements afford a wide diversity of chemical interactions which differ for the preferentially involved
moieties, the geometric/energetic features, the natureof prevailing attractive forces, etc. Numerous terms
are available in the chemical literature to designate
specific subclasses of these interactions. For instance,
the so-named aurophilic and argentophilic interactions
are typically homonuclear short contacts wherein relativistic effects play an important role while coinage(or regium) bonds can be characterized as heteronuclear short contacts wherein the group 11 element isthe electrophile. Inconsistent use of these and related
terms sometimes occurs, as it is often the case whenseveral terms are employed by different communities
to designate phenomena involving analogous moieties.

For more information and comments, contact Task Group Chair Giuseppe
Resnati <giuseppe.resnati@polimi.it>
https://iupac.org/project/2021-006-2-100

Recommendations for terms relating
to materials characterization: Latin andother introduced terms
Confused about Latin terms in materials characterisation? Having trouble understanding what the conditionsof the sample for a reported characterisation were?
This project has the objective to clarify, as well as
resolve discrepancies and conflict, regarding Latin terms

used to describe the characterization of materials madeunder non-ambient conditions, materials within systems,
and of materials during change. These include terms
such as ex situ, in situ, and (in) operando. The outcomeof the project will be a recommendation for specific
Latin terms to the IUPAC. This objective will benefit thematerials chemistry community and empower IUPAC tomake a decision on recommended terms for these. It is
intended that the terminology will comply with the VIM
and IUPAC Guidelines for Recommendations.
The task group comprises material characterization
experts spanning both diffraction and spectroscopy
and three Latin scholars. The project will make a recommendation for specific Latin terms to the IUPAC,
compliant with IUPAC guidelines.
• Instrumentation & techniques have advanced
faster than terms.
• Consistent language is needed to discuss sample
characterization conditions.
• We need to clarify & resolve discrepancies for
Latin terms describing materials characterization.
Particularlyfor
non-ambientconditions, within systems, and during change.

The task group welcomes input from the broader
research communities on further terms to include,
particularly those used inconsistently or ambiguously. If you are interested in participating or have anexperimental condition or term that you think needs
clarification, email to become involved in the project.

For more information and comments, contact Task Group
Chair Vanessa Peterson <Vanessa.Peterson@ansto.gov.au>
https://iupac.org/project/2021-009-2-500

IUPAC Provisional Recommendations
Provisional Recommendations are preliminary drafts of IUPAC recommendations. These drafts encompass topics
including terminology, nomenclature, and symbols. Following approval, the final recommendations are published
in IUPAC’s journal Pure and Applied Chemistry (PAC) or in IUPAC books. During the commentary period for
Provisional Recommendations, interested parties are encouraged to suggest revisions to the recommendation’s
author. https://iupac.org/recommendations/under-review-by-the-public/

Terminology and the naming of
conjugates based on polymers
or other substrates
A number of human activities require that certain complex molecules, referred to as active species (drugs,
dyes, peptides, proteins, genes, radioactive labels, etc.),
be combined with substrates, often a macromolecule, toform temporary or permanent conjugates. The existing
IUPAC organic, polymer, and inorganic nomenclatureprinciples can be applied to name such conjugates
but it is not always appropriate. These nomenclatures
have two major shortcomings: 1) the resulting names
are often excessively long and 2) identification of thecomponents (substrate, active species, and link) canbe difficult. The new IUPAC naming system elaborates

rules for unambiguous and facile naming of any conjugate. This naming system is not intended to replace theexisting nomenclature but to provide a suitable alternative when dictated by necessity. Although the rules
are intended to be primarily applicable to the namingof polymer conjugates, they are also applicable to naming conjugates with other substrates, which include
micelles, particles, minerals, surfaces, pores, etc. The
naming system should be used when recognition of thesubstrate and active substance is essential and will also
be useful when constraints of name length make theotherwise preferred IUPAC nomenclatures untenable.
The proposed rules for the new naming system arecomplemented by a glossary of relevant terms.

Corresponding Author: Michel Vert <michel.vert@umontpellier.fr>
Chemistry International

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33

Making
an imPACt
Hed
Glossary and tutorial of xenobiotic
metabolism terms used during small
molecule drug discovery and development (IUPAC Technical Report)
Paul Erhardt, Kenneth Bachmann, et al.
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021
Volume 93, Issue 3, pp. 273-403
https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2018-0208
This project originated more than 15 years ago with
the intent to produce a glossary of drug metabolism
terms having definitions especially applicable for use
by practicing medicinal chemists. A first-draft version
underwent extensive beta-testing that, fortuitously,
engaged international audiences in a wide range of
disciplines involved in drug discovery and development. It became clear that the inclusion of information
to enhance discussions among this mix of participants
would be even more valuable. The present version
retains a chemical structure theme while expanding
tutorial comments that aim to bridge the various
perspectives that may arise during interdisciplinary
communications about a given term. This glossary isintended to be educational for early stage researchers,
as well as useful for investigators at various levels who
participate on today’s highly multidisciplinary, collaborative small molecule drug discovery teams.

Recent IUPAC technical reports andrecommendations that affect the many fields
of pure and applied chemistry.
See also www.iupac.org/what-we-do/journals/
use of standard atomic weights with the law of propagation of uncertainty and the Monte Carlo method
are described. Furthermore, methods are provided for
calculating uncertainties of relative molecular massesof substances and their mixtures. Methods are also
outlined to compute material-specific atomic weights
whose associated uncertainty may be smaller thanthe uncertainty associated with the standard atomic
weights.

https://iupac.org/project/2013-032-1-200

Glossary of methods and terms usedin analytical spectroscopy (IUPAC
Recommendations 2019)
Heidi Goenaga Infante, John Warren, et al.
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021
Volume 93, Issue 6, pp. 647-776
https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0203
Recommendations are given concerning the terminology of concepts and methods used in spectroscopy
in analytical chemistry, covering nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy, atomic spectroscopy, andvibrational spectroscopy.

https://iupac.org/project/2017-027-1-500
https://iupac.org/project/2000-009-1-700

Interpretation and use of standard
atomic weights (IUPAC Technical Report)

The Gender Gap in Science:
PAC Special Topics Issue

Adriann M.H. van der Veen, Juris Meija, Antonio
Possolo, and David Brynn Hibbert
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021
Volume 93, Issue 5, pp. 629-646
https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2017-1002

Mark Cesa and Mei-Hung Chiu, co-editors
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021
Volume 93, Issue 8, pp. 829-961

Many calculations for science or trade require the evaluation and propagation of measurement uncertainty.
Although relative atomic masses (standard atomic
weights) of elements in normal terrestrial materials andchemicals are widely used in science, the uncertainties
associated with these values are not well understood.
In this technical report, guidelines for the use ofstandard atomic weights are given. This use involves
the derivation of a value and a standard uncertainty
from a standard atomic weight, which is explained inaccordance with the requirements of the Guide to theExpression of Uncertainty in Measurement. Both the34

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

In a recent article in Chemistry International (Chiuand Cesa, Chem. Int. 2020, 42(3), 16-21; https://doi.
org/10.1515/ci-2020-0306) we reported on the resultsof the Gender Gap Project. The project, entitled, “AGlobal Approach to the Gender Gap in Mathematical,
Computing, and Natural Sciences: How to Measure It,
How to Reduce It?” (https://gender-gap-in-science.
org/), was funded by the International Science Council(ISC, formerly ICSU) and was co-led by IUPAC and theInternational Mathematical Union, IMU. The results ofthe project clearly showed that women continue tohave less positive experiences than men in educationand employment across scientific disciplines, geographic regions, and levels of economic development

(https://gender-gap-in-science.org/2020/06/25/
gender-gap-in-science-book/). At the final project
conference at the International Center for Theoretical
Physics, ICTP, in Trieste, Italy, a series of recommendations for improving gender awareness for scientificunions, local organizations, and instructors and parents
was prepared and disseminated (https://gender-gapin-science.org/project-book-booklet/).
The project partners and participants at the final
conference contributed a range of approaches toreducing the gender gap in science and improving
gender equity in their fields. To raise awareness amongchemists about these perspectives, we invited sixteen
persons from a range of scientific, mathematical andcomputing disciplines to prepare articles for a special
topics issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry. This issue
explores the results of the Global Survey; describes
initiatives to reduce the gender gap in astronomy,
biology, chemistry, computing machinery, mathematics, ocean science, and physics; includes regional
approaches to reducing the gender gap, particularlyin the developing world; and proposes new and innovative approaches that include networking initiatives
and collections of good practices around the world forencouraging girls and young women to pursue careersin science.
Work in IUPAC on the reducing the gender gap inscience continues. In 2020 the Standing Committee
for Gender Equality in Science, SCGES (https://
gender-equality-in-science.org/),
was
instituted,
with IUPAC is a founding member along with fifteen
other international partners. A current IUPAC project(https://iupac.org/project/2020-016-3-020) includes
analysis of the Gender Gap project survey data specificto the chemical science, a compilation of good practices in reducing the gender gap, and participating in
an initiative by several scientific publishers to examine
gender trends.

Reference materials for phase equilibrium studies. 1. Liquid–liquid equilibria(IUPAC Technical Report)
Ala Bazyleva, William E. Acree, et al.
Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2021
Volume 93, Issue 7, pp. 811-827
https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0905
This article is the first of three projected IUPAC
Technical Reports resulting from IUPAC Project 2011037-2-100 (Reference Materials for Phase Equilibrium

Studies). The goal of this project is to select reference
systems with critically evaluated property values forthe validation of instruments and techniques usedin phase equilibrium studies of mixtures. This report
proposes seven systems for liquid–liquid equilibrium
studies, covering the four most common categories ofbinary mixtures: aqueous systems of moderate solubility, non-aqueous systems, systems with low solubility,
and systems with ionic liquids. For each system, theavailable literature sources, accepted data, smoothing
equations, and estimated uncertainties are given.

https://iupac.org/project/2011-037-2-100

Special CTI on Polymer Sciences
A special issue of Chemistry Teacher International has
been released, resulting of a collaboration project
between the Sub-committee on Polymer Education
part of the IUPAC Polymer Division, and the IUPAC
Committee on Chemistry Education.
CTI, Volume 3, Issue 2
June 30, 2021; https://www.degruyter.com/journal/
key/CTI/3/2/html
This special issue, co-edited by Chin Han Chan and Jan
Apotheker, contains articles which are intended tobridge the gap between research and education. The
idea is to share the good practices for some topics
in polymer sciences for educational purposes. We
hope that lecturers at the universities may refer tothese articles as the references to teach or lecture
young researchers. Another purpose is to inform thehigh-school/pre-university teachers about recent
developments in polymer chemistry, so that they may
introduce some of the topics in this issue to students.
The articles are based on the lecture notes presented at IUPAC Education Workshops in Polymer
Sciences (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020+) and educational materials in polymer sciences covering topics ofpolymer synthesis (three articles), polymer characterization (five articles), polymer processing (two articles)
and polymer applications and others (three articles).
The educational materials shared in this special issue
have been previously used by researchers with the aimof promoting polymer sciences.

Issue preface published Online April 2; 2021 https://doi.org/10.1515/
cti-2021-0008

Chemistry International

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35

Successful Drug Discovery
Series Editors:
J. Fischer, Richter Plc., Budapest, Hungary
D. P. Rotella, Montclair State University, USA
W. E. Childers, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
C. Klein, Roche Pharma AG, Schlieren, Switzerland
Volume 1
2015. 256 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN: 978-3-527-33685-2

This series highlights the discovery
and development of recently
introduced drugs of all kinds,
including small-molecule-, peptide-,and protein-based drugs.
Inventors and primary developersof successful drugs from bothindustry and academia tell thestory of the drug's discovery anddescribe the sometimes twistedroute from the first drug candidate
molecule to the final marketed
drug. The five volumes containalmost 40 case histories that
describe recent drugs ranging
across many therapeutic fields

and provide a representative crosssection of present-day drug
developments. Backed by plenty ofdata and chemical information, theinsight and experience of today's
top drug creators makes this one of
the most useful suite of training
manuals that a junior medicinal
chemist may hope to find.
The International Union of Pureand Applied Chemistry has
endorsed and sponsored thisproject because of its higheducational merit.

Volume 22016. 364 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN: 978-3-527-34115-3

Volume 3
2018. 472 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN: 978-3-527-34303-4

36

Chemistry International

Volume 4

Volume 5

2019. 256 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN: 978-3-527-34468-0

2021. 336 pages. Hardcover.
ISBN: 978-3-527-34754-4

October-December 2021

Stamps
Hed International

See also www.iupac.org/
publications/ci/indexes/stamps.html

One Hundred Years of InsulinT

he 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
was awarded jointly to Canadian physician
Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) and
Scottish biochemist and physiologist John James
Macleod (1876-1935) “for the discovery of insulin”. It
was a remarkable finding since diabetes mellitus wasan untreatable and often lethal disease until then.
Much has been written about Banting and Macleod’s
breakthrough research conducted at the University ofToronto starting in November 1920, including the key
roles played by their trustworthy assistants, medical
student Charles Best and biochemist James Collip. On
the other hand, much less has been written about thepioneering research of Romanian physiologist Nicolae
Paulescu (1869-1931), whose work on the metabolic
effects of canine pancreatic extracts predates that of
Banting and Macleod but was interrupted by WorldWar I. Should Best, Collip, or Paulescu have also
shared the Nobel Prize?
Notwithstanding some well-known controversies
regarding their Nobel prize, it is remarkable that
Banting and Macleod were honored in such a way
based on their first nomination and less than two years
after the first publications describing the hypoglycemic action of purified pancreas extracts on blood
sugar appeared early in 1922.
The structural elucidation of insulin is also a fascinating story.
The British biochemist Frederick
Sanger (1918-2013), the only scientist to have twice
won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (in 1958 and 1980),
established the amino acid sequence (i.e., the primarystructure) of the two polypeptide chains of bovine
insulin in the early 1950’s.
Later on, in 1969, the renowned British chemist
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1984) determined
the molecular structure of insulin using X-ray crystallography, five years after receiving the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry “for her determinations by X-ray techniquesof the structures of important biochemical substances”,
which included cholesterol, penicillin, and vitamin B12.
The centennial of the discovery of insulin has beencommemorated so far this year by the postal services of five countries, namely Switzerland, Canada,
North Macedonia, Pakistan, and Brazil, and the postage stamps from the first four are illustrated in thisnote. The Swiss stamp is perhaps the most visuallyappealing and depicts a ribbon diagram of the A- andB-chains of amino acids that make up insulin, whereas
the one from Pakistan features Banting, Best, and partof the front page of the 22 March 1922 edition of The
Toronto Daily Star that announces the discovery of
insulin (“Toronto doctors on track of diabetes cure”).

While there is no actual cure for diabetes, it istoday an easily treatable disease and there are multiple
organizations that organize awareness campaigns topromote various diagnostic and therapeutic options.
And, since 1991, the International Diabetes Federationand the World Health Organization celebrate World
Diabetes Day each year on November 14th, the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting. It is finally worth notingthat this past August, a special symposium entitled“Celebrating 100 years of Insulin: Preserving andSharing the Memory of Chemical Past” was organized by Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Christopher Rutty, andElizabeth Neswald during the IUPAC Congress, on
August 16th.

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

37

Hed
Conference Call

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

Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation,
Aerosols: Chemistry and Climate
by N. Ianchenko, A. Sinitskaya, and I. Ognev
The third Baikal International Scientific Conference“Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation, Aerosols:
Chemistry and Climate” was organized by the Irkutsk
National Research Technical University (INRTU https://www.istu.edu/news/61545/) and endorsed by IUPAC.
The conference was planned to be held on 23-27 March
2020 in Listvyanka, but due to quarantine restrictions,
it was postponed a year and took place 11-12 May 2021
The first Baikal International Scientific and Practical
Conference, “Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation,
Aerosols: Climate and Ecology of Northern Territories
and the Baikal Region” was dedicated to the Year of
Ecology 2017 in Russia (26-29 June 2017). The second
conference, “Snow Cover, Atmospheric Precipitation,
Aerosols: Technology, Climate and Ecology” was held
25-30 June 2018. Both were held in the village ofKhuzhir, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, Irkutsk region.
Since 2018, the Federal State Budgetary Institution
Zapovednoye Pribaikalye (Irkutsk) has been providing
active sponsorship, as well as scientific and organizational support for the conference. The industrial partnerof INRTU and the conference is RUSAL - Bratsk.
The scientific and organizational goal of the conference was the creation of a platform at INRTU for
discussing modern knowledge about the chemistry ofsnow cover, precipitation and aerosols under the influence of climate change; search for ways of cooperation.
It is known that about one-sixth of the world’s population depends on snow melt water for agriculture andhuman consumption, while virtually the entire world’s
population benefits from maintaining the planet’s heatbalance, which is provided by the cryosphere. The studyof snow cover is relevant for Russia, since for almost
half a year, vast territories are covered with snow.
The main scientific directions of the conference
were determined as: methods, means, methodology
for studying the physical and chemical properties
and composition of snow cover, atmospheric precipitation, aerosols; the influence of climate change,
physical and chemical processes in the atmosphereand anthropogenic activity on the chemical composition of snow cover, precipitation, aerosols; modelingthe study of climate change, chemical compositionand physicochemical properties of snow cover, atmospheric precipitation, aerosols; the role of snow cover,atmospheric precipitation, aerosols in biogeochemical cycles and the cryosphere; chemical interactionof the oceans, the earth’s surface and the biosphere

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Chemistry International

October-December 2021

with snow cover, atmospheric precipitation, aerosols;
assessment of the impact of snow cover, atmosphericprecipitation, aerosols on natural, socio-economic systems and human health. (http://snow-baikal.tw1.ru)
The chemical composition of the snow cover isdetermined by the influence of conjugated media, primarily atmospheric air, and the snow cover also affects
the composition of the air.
Before the start of the conference, in March 2020,a collection of manuscripts was published. It contained
37 articles submitted by 63 authors. Among the conference participants there are scientists-researchersof the Russian Federation (Moscow, Arkhangelsk,
Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Obninsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, St.
Petersburg) and other countries, including Kazakhstan,
China, and Japan.
The majority of articles are devoted to snow cover,followed by publications on precipitation and aerosols(http://snow-baikal.tw1.ru). The study of the chemicalcomposition of the snow cover, atmospheric precipitation and aerosols, allows us to assume the compositionof atmospheric air during the year and the factors
affecting its composition.
At the opening ceremony on 11 May 2021, the representatives of the administration of INRTU, the sponsor,
representatives of the organizing committee and theprogram committee, participants of the 2017 and 2018conferences spoke. The conference was opened by the
director of the Institute of High Technologies, Ph.D.,
Evgenii Antsiferov. In his greeting he emphasized
the relevance of the topic, the need for cooperation
between INRTU and other organizations, and wishedthe participants fruitful work. Evgenii Antsiferov spoke
about the university’s mission in the field of wintertechnologies, because the study of the phenomenonof winter and all accompanying, warning and subsequent events and processes affects the lives of people.
The next speaker was Shuhei Takahashi, Directorof the Okhotsk Drifting Ice Museum (Hokkaido,
Mombetsu, Japan), retired professor at the Kitami
Institute of Technology (Japan), and former president of the Japan Snow and Ice Society. Takahashi
thanked the Ministry of Science and Higher Educationof the Russian Federation, the administration of
INRTU, spoke about meetings with Russian scientists
in 2018, announced the upcoming 36th International
Symposium on the Okhotsk Sea & Polar Oceans 2022 inMombetzu (http://okhotsk-mombetsu.jp/okhsympo/
sympo-eng/top-page.html), and also wished goodluck to the conference participants.
Head of the Program Committee and leading
researcher Natalia Ianchenko made a short welcomingpresentation. She said that this conference was held
due to the support of the administration of INRTU(rector Mikhail Korniacov https://www.istu.edu/
eng/ob_irnitu/upravlenie), the work of the programcommittee, organizing committee and conference participants. The conference is dedicated to the chemistryof atmospheric precipitation, snow cover, aerosols
under conditions of changing climate. She notedthat the participants of previous conferences gave
us a confidence in our interest in subsequent meetings, joint research and publications, in the mutual
exchange of experience, knowledge and skills. It is
possible that the conferences of INRTU will be relevant, like other long-term conferences of the RussianFederation with similar topics, such as the XVIII MNK“Aerosols of Siberia” (Tomsk), and the III International
Symposium “Physics, Chemistry and Mechanics ofSnow” (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk).
Anatolii Baranov spoke on behalf of the programand organizing committees of INRTU. Baranov notedthat highly qualified specialists with many years ofexperience in researching the chemical composition of
the snow cover carried out research work on grants forindustrial enterprises at INRTU.
Svetlana Babina, Deputy Director for Research of
the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Zapovednoye
Pribaikalye,” as an active participant and co-organizerof the conference and a sponsor, greeted the conference participants.
Alexander Cherednichenko from Kazakhstan(KazNU, Almaty) said that “despite the current situation, the conference still took place, which speaksof our common desire to continue our research and,most importantly, share the results obtained with yourcolleagues, transfer our knowledge to students and allinterested people. The geographical coverage of scientists from different countries shows a great interestin the topic of the conference. The existing challenges
faced by humanity at the turn of the millennium cannot

be solved without deep and high-quality scientificwork that requires competent specialists, equipment
and funds. It is not in vain that the conference is held
within the walls of the university, allowing symbolictransfer of our knowledge to new researchers who
study here. Ecology is inconceivable without the joint
participation of all parties and all countries. And events
like this conference can provide a worthy platform forcommunication and exchange of their research. Thisis one of the most important components of solving aproblem, the ability to hear each other, understand andtake a step to solve problems.”
Greetings and wishes were heard from Kazakhstanscientist Azamat Madibekov (Institute of Geography
and Water Safety, Almaty) and from Vladimir Makarov(Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University). Makarov
said: “The topic of the work is a continuation of thework carried out in the Nizhny Novgorod Scientificand Practical School of Transport Snow Science. We
trace our history since 1929. We recently celebrated
our 90th anniversary. During the entire existence of
our school, more than 1000 samples of transport andtechnological machines and complexes for moving
on snow have been developed, ice, snow and frozen
ground are being researched.”On the same day, eight scientific reports were
presented:• The Role of Green Chemistry in Solving
Environmental Problems: Responses to Global
Challenges Natalia Tarasova, Russian Academyof Sciences; IPUR RCTU; International ScientificCouncil (ISC). (The report can be viewed athttps://scientificrussia.ru/articles/osnovopolagayushchij-zakon. Starts at 2 hours 56 minutes);• Contribution of Scientific Results to Societies froma Lecture in the U-Arctic Course in Greenland,
2019. Shuhei Takahashi, Director of the Okhotsk
Drifting Ice Museum (Hokkaido, Japan);• Chemical snow science Ianchenko, INRTU, Irkutsk;
Chemistry International

October-December 2021

39

Conference Call
•

•

•

•

Process of Snow and Ice Tourism Creation,
Takafumi Fukuyama, Center for Advanced Tourism
Studies, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan;
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the snowof Tyumen D. Moskovchenko, Tyumen ScientificCenter of the SB RAS, Tyumen;
Characteristics of the snow cover in Moscow, inthe second half of the winter season 2020-2021(on the example of Sokolniki Park) A. Novikov,
E. Kuznetsov, V. Litvinenko, Moscow State
Pedagogical University, Moscow;
Experimental study of the physical and mechanical properties of snow-sand mixtures as a track
bed for transport and technological machines,
V. Makarov, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical
University, Nizhny Novgorod.

On the second day of the conference, the moderators were N. Ianchenko and I. Ognev. On this day, 11
reports were presented:• International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
IUPAC, Ekaterina Lokteva, IUPAC Representative in
the Russian Federation; Moscow State University,
Moscow;• Determination of the dynamics and state of snow
cover according to the NDSI and NDVI indices on
the example of the Lipetsk region, M. Movchan, V.
Litvinenko, Moscow State Pedagogical University,
Moscow;• Monitoring of snow cover and tendencies ofchanges in its characteristics on the territory of
Russia, N. Korshunova, RIHMI-WDC, Obninsk;• Chemical composition of atmospheric dust in winter as an indicator of the ecological state of urban
areas (Western Siberia) A. Talovskaya, Tomsk
Polytechnic University, Tomsk;• Ionic composition of winter atmospheric precipitation in the city of Barnaul T. Noskova, Instituteof Water and Environmental Problems SB RAS,
Barnaul;• Results of AAS measurements of atmosphericdeposition of copper and lead in the snow coverof the Almaty agglomeration L. Ismukhanova,
Institute of Geography and Water Safety, Almaty,
Kazakhstan;• The balance of hydrochemical and biological indicators in the under-ice water of Lake Baikal in the spring
Yu. Bukin, Limnological Institute SB RAS, Irkutsk;• Analysis and modeling of some characteristics ofclimatic changes in Central SiberiaI. Ognev, INRTU,
Irkutsk;• Conjugate analysis of the particle size distribution

40

Chemistry International October-December 2021

Working group of the organizing committee of the III conference: (from left to right) Yu Bukin, a university postgrad,
A. Sinitskaya, V. Arshinsky, N. Ianchenko, E. Antsiferov, and A.
Baranov••

of aerosol matter in the surface air and snow
cover of the Tom-Obsk interfluve (observatory“Fonovaya”) in the winter of 2018-19: the effect of
air masses on the distribution of aerosol particleD.
Simonenkov, Institute of Atmospheric Optics SB
RAS, Tomsk;
The elemental composition of dust aerosols in thevicinity of cement production based on the studyof samples of the solid phase of the snow cover in
Tomsk D. Volodina, Tomsk Polytechnic University,
Tomsk;
Atmospheric suspensions of the cities of the Far
East A. Kholodov, Far East Geological Institute,
Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, Vladivostok.

Igor Ognev reported brief results of the conference
and presented the composition of the working groupof the organizing committee.
In total, 19 reports/presentations in Russian andEnglish languages were presented, 23 participated,
including 10 women. 41 co-authors contributed
reports/presentations. Three countries participated in
the 14 hours of live broadcast over two days. 20 organizations took part in face-to-face reports, including
universities, research institutes and organizations. The
Program Committee included eight men and eight
women from three countries.

Conference Call
The participants presented their results by givinga presentation to other participants, received a participant certificate, diplomas for young researchers,
published materials in the collection of 2020, sent
papers in English to the IUPAC journal (papers were
accepted until March 22, 2021).
The conference adopted a draft resolution containing the main decision: to hold the next IV conferencein 2022.
The organizing committee of IRKUTSK NATIONALRESEARCH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY invites you andyour organization’s staff to take part in the preparation and work of the IV conference “Snow Cover,Atmosphetic Precipitation, Aerosols” in 2022.
The third conference was prepared for two years, initially as a visiting face-to-face, and then online, and washeld thanks to the creativity of the main working groupof the organizing committee: E. Antsiferov, N. Ianchenko(project curator, chairman of the program committee),A. Baranov, I. Ognev, A. Sinitskaya, V. Arshinsky, and Yu.
Bukin.
The conference site http://snow-baikal.tw1.ru wasdeveloped by the Center for Software Engineering of
INRTU. The site is maintained and supported by its
head—V. Arshinsky.
The conference was held in the videoconferencemode on the Zoom platform, with the technical support of the E-Learning Center of INRTU (headed by N.
Lukyanov) and A. Podkorytov.

a hybrid conference, the pre-recorded educational
workshop was structured. The participants left comments / questions on the workshop webpage andthe instructors provided response on the webpage
throughout the MACRO2020+ conference.
All lecture notes and videos are accessible fromhttps://iupac.org/project/2019-022-1-400

Pre-recorded lectures

Holger Schönherr, University of Siegen, Germany,
Polymers for applications—The long way from an idea
and work in the academic lab towards a productPlease address on questions of training, cooperation and participation:snow-baikal@mail.ru; fduecn@bk.ru http://snow-baikal.tw1.ru/index-eng

Educational Workshop in Polymer
Sciences 2020+
by Melissa Chan Chin Han, Chris Fellows, Holger
Schönherr, Per Zetterlund, and Jinhwan Yoon
This interactive educational workshop on polymers
for applications was organized for the first time using
a virtual format in conjunction with MACRO2020+,
Jeju Island. It was the fourth in a projected series offour workshops, covering synthesis, characterization,
processing, and applications of polymers. All threelectures touched on the understanding of the basic
science, terms and concepts that are critical to polymers for applications from designing the polymers forindustrial applications. Thought-provoking insights
into the optimization of molecular structures in relation to the properties and the potential / commercial
applications were presented. Since MACRO2020+ was

Myung-Han Yoon, Gwangju Institute of Science andTechnology, Korea, Polymers for future electronics

Per Zetterlund, The University of New South Wales,
Australia, Engineering of polymer nanoparticle
morphology for paint applications
Chemistry International

October-December 2021

41

Where 2B & Y

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

CHEMRAWN in Action—This Time with
E-waste in Focus
For years, electronic waste (e-waste) has been thewaste stream growing the fastest globally. Considering
the valuable metals this sort of waste contains, it would
be natural to think that a bustling modern industry tookcare of its recycling in a sustainable way, but that is far
from the case. In fact, no other waste is so much outof control as e-waste; globally, more than 50% of thiswaste just disappears and much of it pops up in several African countries, particularly in Nigeria. Here thewaste is handled in various ways, but a common feature is that a lot of the handling is primitive and takes
place under dubious and substandard working conditions. The result is that the e-waste recycling in thesecountries has had and continues to have a significant
environmental impact. In this way, much fertile land has
become useless, and tremendous clean-up operations
must be carried out before the land again can be used
for pasture and other agricultural purposes.
This inconsolable situation has been caused bymany contributing factors, which collectively havegenerated entangled challenges that have been unsatisfactorily handled. The problems are basically causedby complex chemical processes that many chemists
are not familiar with, but they are complicated by thelack of implementation of international conventions
regulating transboundary movements of hazardous
waste, for instance the Basel Convention from 1989 [1].
Additionaly, many other environmental challenges ofglobal proportions that e-waste issues have not reachedproper attention. The resulting situation is very welldescribed in many documents [see for instance 2-5],
and what should to be done to solve the problem has
been outlined in abundance [see text box]. Time foraction is therefore overdue.

Both lecturers and participants at these conferences
have quite a varied background, just like the citizens
that suffer from problem(s) under consideration.
The CHEMRAWN committee and an internationalteam of specialists have worked for quite some timeto prepare a conference on e-waste. Early on it wassuggested that the meeting ought to be held in oneof the African countries suffering the most fromdubious and illegal dumping of such waste, and aftersome discussion, Nigeria was proposed. When theChemical Society of Nigeria (CSN) was approached,
the request to host CHEMRAWN XXII E-waste in Africa
was very well received. Since then, the CHEMRAWNXXII task group and CSN have worked hard together
to develop the conference program, make necessary
venue preparations, and secure financial support. The
work has been challenging for various reasons, themost important one being the corona pandemic, which
spread a fair amount of pessimism and led to several
postponements. However, toward the end of last year,
the miserable future prospects resulted in an important
decision: Instead of running a traditional conference,a hybrid meeting would be held at the end of 2021,
November 9-11, in connection with the 44th Annual
International Conference of the Chemical Societyof Nigeria (https://iupac.org/event/chemrawn-xxiie-waste-in-africa/). The physical part will be held in
Lagos, Nigeria, while the virtual will be by either Zoom,
Teams, or Skype. This removed a lot of the uncertainty
related to travel and COVID-related restrictions, lowered the number of participants present in Lagos sothat a more economic venue could be used, and madeit possible to reduce travel costs significantly by opting
for virtual delivery of the invited lectures. This will be
the first CHEMRAWN conference in the hybrid format,
and if successful, it will open future scientific meetingsin countries where IUPAC has been totally absent for
more than 100 years.

IUPAC on the move

CHEMRAWN XXII

Complex problems of the sort e-waste represents
are challenges IUPAC has worked with since the middleof the 1970s, primarily through the CHEMRAWN committee (Chemical Research Applied to World Needs[6]). The committee works with major, multidisciplinarysocietal problems where chemical aspects are instrumental to understand and study to find a solution.
The tool used to address the problems is to organize
so-called CHEMRAWN conferences where relevant
chemical aspects are presented and discussed, taking
into consideration other challenges that have to beresolved to find an integrated way toward a solution [6].

If the e-waste problem is going to be solved,
coordinated efforts involving scientists from several disciplines, politicians at regional and natioinal levels, andrepresentatives from international organizations haveto be put in place and executed in close collaboration
with relevant industries, national non-governmentalorganizations. and media. The conference will include
representatives from all these groups, and they will
be involved in the lecture program, group discussions,poster sessions, roundtable discussions, and a field trip
(physical for the participants in Lagos and by drone forthe virtual participants).

by Leiv K. Sydnes

42

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

E-waste handling undersub-standard conditions near
Lagos, Nigeria (photo: Leiv K.
Sydnes).

Since the reasons for and the solution of the e-waste
problems are chemical in nature, the conference willbasically be a chemical congress, but the chemicalactions and initiatives will be put in a wider perspective
to understand the importance of implementing a number of significant measures at the same time.
Several lectures will focus on the dynamics of thee-waste market and present the environmental andhealth damages caused by the lack of control of thehandling of the waste. Special attention will be paid
to the situation in Africa where the impact of e-waste

going astray in other parts of the world, particularly inEurope and the Middle East, is appalling.
Other lectures will present new technologies thatare continually introduced to obtain purer and more
useful products from the e-waste under cleaner, safer,and healthier conditions. Some technologies are applied
to remove toxic organic chemicals safely, others to separate precious metals more efficiently, and finally, someto utilize residual waste to make new products. This
will generate opportunities to establish new industries,
which indeed will be needed to find employment for

The global impact of e-waste: Addressing the challenge (extract from reference 5)“Within the informal economy of such countries [China,
India, Ghana and Nigeria], it is recycled for its many
valuable materials by recyclers using rudimentary
techniques. Such globalization of e-waste has adverse
environmental and health implications. Furthermore,developing countries are shouldering a disproportionate burden of a global problem without having
the technology to deal with it. In addition, developing
countries themselves are increasingly generating significant quantities of e-waste.
It is clear that the future of e-waste management
depends not only on the effectiveness of local government authorities working with the operators ofrecycling services but also on community participation,
together with national, regional and global initiatives.
The solution to the e-waste problem is not simply
the banning of transboundary movements of e-waste,
as domestic generation accounts for a significant
proportion of e-waste in all countries. Fundamental
to a sustainable solution will be tackling the fact thatcurrent practices and the illegal trade provide economic stimulus. It is important to recognize local andregional contexts and the social implications of theissue; implementing a high-tech, capital-intensive recycling process will not be appropriate in every country
or region. Effective regulation must be combinedwith incentives for recyclers in the informal sector
not to engage in destructive processes. Cheap, safe,

and simple processing methods for introduction into
the informal sector are currently lacking; hence, it isnecessary to create a financial incentive for recyclers
operating in the informal sector to deliver recovered
parts to central collection sites rather than process
them themselves. Multidisciplinary solutions are vitalin addition to technical solutions, as is addressing theunderlying social inequities inherent in the e-waste
business.
Recycling operations in the informal sector of theeconomy enable employment for hundreds of thousands of people in poverty. A possible entry point toaddress their negative impacts is to address occupational risks, targeting poverty as the root causeof hazardous work and, in the process, developing
decent working conditions. More generally, solutions
to the global e-waste problem involve awarenessraising among both consumers and e-waste recyclers
in the informal economy, integration of the informal
sector with the formal, creating green jobs, enforcing legislation and labour standards, and eliminating
practices, which are harmful to human health andthe environment. It is also imperative to target electrical and electronics manufacturers by introducing
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislationand encouraging initial designs to be green, long lived,
upgradeable and built for recycling.”

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

43

Where 2B & Y
named the Future Action Committee. This group connects before the conference to plan its activity, it meets
every day during the conference to discuss what has
been presented, and after the conference it develops
ideas and projects for subsequent implementation. In
this way a range of projects have been generated basedon CHEMRAWN conferences over the years, and among
their outcomes are scientific publications, books, technical reports, educational material, the CHEMRAWN VII
Prize for Green Chemistry, and plans for establishing acenter for herbal medicine in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Through the years, I have participated in quite afew CHEMRAWN conferences, and it has always beeninteresting to experience how chemical problems areunderstood by audiences that reflect the civil society
much better than groups of chemists gathered to discuss chemistry. I therefore recommend CHEMRAWNXXII, which I am sure will give up-to-date knowledge
about a tremendous global problem that can only besolved by a strong involvement from the chemicalcommunity.
Typical handling of waste from computers and televisions in
Ghana (from https://www.wired.com/story/internationalelectronic-waste-photographs).

all the people that will be out of work when e-waste
handling becomes much better controlled. In order tostimulate such a shift, a course in entrepreneurship will
be held, mainly for young chemists and experienced
students in chemistry and environmental sciences.
In general, the knowledge about chemical problems
related to the e-waste recycling is rather low even amongwell-educated chemists. This is primarily due to the factthat educational programmes in chemistry at university
level include little or nothing about the topic. However,in some countries, university chemistry courses cover
e-waste handling to some extent, and some of them will
be presented and discussed in break-out groups.
If the problems associated with e-waste are going
to be reduced and eventually solved, a strong involvement by a well-informed public is required. An active
education of the public is therefore necessary, and astrong outreach program, dealing with the impact ofe-waste on nature, people, and climate, has therefore
to be developed and implemented. A lot of excellent
material is already available on the web, and inspired bythis, ideas for future IUPAC activities will be discussed
planned.
Before closing, a special feature of the CHEMRAWN
conferences should be mentioned, viz. a working group44

Chemistry International October-December 2021

References
1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

6.

The name of the convention is the Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal, which came into effect
5 May 1992. http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/
Overview/TextoftheConvention/tabid/1275/Default.aspx
United Nations Environment Management Group(2017), United Nations System-wide Response to
Tackling E-waste, https://unemg.org/images/emgdocs/
ewaste/E-Waste-EMG-FINAL.pdf
A New Circular Vision for Electronics, http://www3.
weforum.org/docs/WEF_A_New_Circular_Vision_for_
Electronics.pdf
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/burning-truth-behind-e-waste-dump-africa-180957597/
From the abstract of the International Labor Office (ILO)
report “The global impact of e-waste; Addressing thechallenge”, published by Karin Lundgren (2012) ( https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/--sector/documents/publication/wcms_196105.pdf).
On an average, there has been a CHEMRAWN
conference about central issues every second year
since the committee was established in 1974. A
thorough presentation of the committee’s workand the CHEMRAWN conferences was recently
published in the IUPAC chemical magazine Chemistry
International April 2021, 43(2), pp. 20-26; https://doi.
org/10.1515/ci-2021-0205

Leiv K. Sydnes is professor emeritus at Department of Chemistry, Universityof Bergen, Norway. He was president of IUPAC 2004-2005 and chaired the
CHEMRAWN committee from 2008-2015.

Poetic Science
An Ode to IUPAC
by Jeremy G. Frey
Current world conditions
Nicely demonstrate the needStart to nurture and grow the seed
Lively response to take the lead
Supporting chemical collaborations
Enabled by the digital computer age
setting, refining, redefining standards
help in solving the global hazards energy, water, health and feed,
we must not be bystanders
Setting chemists front of stage
All invested in AI, not just from the tin basic, fair, unbiased, explainable techniques begin
decidedly changing our discipline
a new variety for our digital orchard

AI - theory, computation and experiments allied
to train the next generation,
people and facilities, from sciences,
arts and humanities—all crucial
to inform the digital native of their chemistry
Without continued effort ideas wither
dramatic short-term gains from individual drums
others balanced by the longer-term outcomes
collaboration, academic, industrial hums
the whole community come hither
Chemistry, creative science,
The future is bright
Digital is the novel way to decide what to make and measure
Doing all this together
Success? Yes!—and IUPAC has its part to play

Jeremy Frey is a Professor of
Physical Chemistry at the University ofSouthampton, and is involved in IUPAC
activities through Division I, Commission
I.1 and CPCDS and several projects for
the Green and Gold Books.
This poem represents Jeremy’s callto action to modernise the Union of Pureand Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). It waspresented at Poetic Science on 11 March
2021; see more details at https://jhg.
art/events/poetic-science/ The Poetry
Night @JHG is also available at: https://
youtu.be/AcysRMF0bWw
Photo by Luke Richardson (https://
unsplash.com/@lukealrich)

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

45

From the CoverThe Shrike, by Stephanie Gallant

The Temptation of Prostaglandin F Receptor,
by Brendan Burkett

Quinine: the Bite is in the Bark,by Adam Cook

Putting the A(rt) in STEM
There has long been a notion that art and science are
separated by a vast and impassable gulf. Science is seen
as objective and driven by quantitative facts, whereas
art is subjective, emotional, and guided by aesthetics.
This view reduces both endeavours to caricatures, andleaves little room for dialogue, let alone the possibility
for scientists-as-artists or artists-as-scientists.
Practicing chemists have long known that thisdichotomy is too simplistic; many are captivated by
the tangible and conceptual beauty of the chemical world. While not a carefully guarded secret, until
recently, this isn’t something we’ve been shouting fromthe rooftops.
Organized/curated by Louise Dawe, Brian Wagner,
and Vance Williams, ChemiSTEAM – putting the “A” in
STEM is an Art of Science competition aims to show
the artistic side of chemistry and chemists. The various
submissions to “ChemiSTEAM” – the photos, drawings,
and even tea towels – showed that in the end it’s allabout the stories behind the art.
Read/see more in the organizers blogpost @https://blog.degruyter.com/bridging-chemistry-with-art-howwe-put-the-a-in-stem/ (DeGruyter Conversations,13.08.2021)
This year 3rd edition was coordinated aroundthe IUPAC World Congress & Canadian Chemistry
Conference and Exhibition, organized as a virtual event46

Chemistry International October-December 2021

in August. An online exhibit was on display during theCongress and a special session was organized to meet
the artists and learn the stories behind the award winning entries for ChemiSTEAM2021. The celebration of
the beauty of chemistry featured the juried exhibitionof original chemistry-inspired art from this year’s competition, including the following winning entries andhonorable mentions:• First—Quinine: the Bite is in the Bark, by Adam
Cook
• Second—The Shrike, by Stephanie Gallant• Third—The Temptation of Prostaglandin F
Receptor, by Brendan Burkett
Honourable Mentions• Silver Crystal Fern, by Andres Tretiakov• A Journey to Obtain Pure Hexagonal Crystals, byVictor Quezada-Novoa• I’m Picking Up Bad Vibrations, by Ashley
Elgersma• Microscopic Kaleidoscope, by Zvart Ajoyan
While IUPAC publisher DeGruyter offered various
book prizes, Chemistry International salutes the initiative by presenting a rendition of the three winning
entries on this issue cover.

For past and future stories, search ‘ChemiSTEAM’ on the website of the
Chemical Institute of Canada: https://www.cheminst.ca/?s=ChemiSTEAM

Index 2021
Bookworm
EuroMedChemTalents reviewed by Gerd Schnorrenber
44(2)Glossary of Terms Used in Molecular Toxicology 40(1)The Period System, a history of shaping and sharing
reviewed by Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Annette
Lykknes 44(3)The Periodic System: The (Multiple) Values of an Icon
reviewed by Annette Lykknes and Brigitte Van
Tiggelen 42(2)The Periodic Table: Past, Present, and Future reviewed
by Jan Reedijk 43(2)Conference Call
Bioinspired and Biobased Chemistry & Materials (N.I.C.E.
2020): Hybrid Conference Model by Hernando S.
Salapare III, Sonia Amigoni, Thierry Darmanin, andFrédéric Guittard 45(2)ChemiSTEAM - Putting the A(rt) in STEM 46(4)Frontiers in Chemical Technology 45(1)Green Chemistry Postgraduate Summer School Online
47(1)International Polymer Characterization Conference—
POLY-CHAR 2020 (Venice) 46(3)IUPAC/CITAC Webinar “Metrology, quality assurance andchemometrics—Correlation of test results and massbalance influence on conformity assessment” 45(3)OPCW Convenes International Experts to Develop
Strategy 47(1)Polymers for applications in conjunction with
MACRO2020+ 41(4)Research and Innovations in Chemical Science: Paving
the Way Forward by Lydia Rhyman, Hanusha
Bhakhoa, Nandini Savoo, and Ponnadurai Ramasami
48(2)Snow cover, atmospheric precipitation, aerosols: chemistry and climate 38(4)Features
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning by Bonnie
Lawlor 8(1)Challenges for Evaluation of the Safety of Engineered
Nanomaterials by Linda J. Johnston, Norma GonzalezRojano, Kevin J. Wilkinson, and Baoshan Xing 4(1)COMEST: Ethical Advice across Scientific andGeographic Borders by Leiv K. Sydnes 22(3)Diffusion Research with Nanoporous Material by Jörg
Kärger, Douglas M. Ruthven, and Rustem Valiullin
25(3)Diversity in Science at the Global Women’s Breakfast
Network by Mary J. Garson, Laura L. McConnell, and
Lynn M. Soby 8(3)Early Industrial Roots of Green Chemistry by Mark A.
Murphy 21(1)FAIR and Open Data in Science: The Opportunity for
IUPAC by Ian Bruno, Simon Coles, Wolfram Koch,
Leah McEwen, Fabienne Meyers, and Shelley Stall12(3)Feeding the World in a Time of Climate Change by GaryW. vanLoon and Atanu Sarkar 14(1)IOCD Turns 40: The future of the chemistry for sustain-page(issue)
able development by Federico Rosei and Stephen A.
Matlin 11(4)IUPAC Focus on Digital Health by Helle Møller
Johannessen and Ulla Magdal Petersen 17(3)IUPAC Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021
- Breakthroughs for a circular, climate neutral future
by Fernando Gomollón-Bel 13(4)Macromolecular Science Turns 100 by Christine K.
Luscombe and Gregory T. Russell 4(2)Malta X Anniversary and COVID-19 by Emma Zajdela andZafra Lerman 16(2)NAO-CNR: The Italian voice at IUPAC by Matteo Guidotti,
Augusta Maria Paci, and Maurizio Peruzzini 10(2)Polymer Science Language to Public through Arts, by
Jan Merna and Jan Prazan 9(2)Restructuring IUPAC at the turn of the 20th century by
Edwin D. Becker interviewed by Brigitte Van Tiggelen2(4)Strategies for Success as an Industrial Chemist by
Carolyn Ribes 4(3)Systems Thinking and Sustainability: Converging
on chemistry’s role in the 21st Century by Peter
Mahaffy, Stephen Matlin, Marietjie Potgieter, Bipul
Saha, Aurelia, Visa, Sarah Cornell, Felix Ho, Vicente,
Talanquer, Jane Wissinger and VaniaZuin 6(4)The Continued Need for CHEMRAWN within IUPAC:
A Personal Account by Leiv K. Sydnes 20(2)—A Response by Christopher Brett 25(2)IUPAC Provisional Recommendations
Glossary of Physical Organic Chemistry 43(3)Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic andmagnetic properties of polymers 43(3)Henry’s law constants 41(2)Terminology and the naming of conjugates based onpolymers or other substrates 33(4)IUPAC Wire
2021 Nominees for Election of IUPAC Officers andBureau Members 35(3)2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize—Call for Nominations 23(4)An Interview with Joseph Wang 24(4)Awardees of the 2021 IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU InternationalAward for Advancements in Green Chemistry 23(4)Awardees of the IUPAC 2021 Distinguished Women in
Chemistry or Chemical Engineering 27(2)Chemistry International—Freely-Available across theWorld by Colin Humphris 21(4)Climate Change 2021—The Physical Science Basis 22(4)CPCDS Shorts 29(1)Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members—Call for
Nominations 26(1)Feed for Thought 29(1)Huizhen Liu and Banothile Makhubela have been
awarded the 2020 IUPAC-CHEMRAWN VII for Green
Chemistry 29(2)In Memoriam—Aubrey Dennis Jenkins 26(4)In Memoriam—Gus Somsen 25(4)In Memoriam—Alexander Lawson 30(1)IUPAC Announces the 2021 Top Ten Emerging
Technologies in Chemistry21(4)Chemistry International

October-December 2021

47

Index 2021

page(issue)

IUPAC Blockchain Technology White Paper—Call for
input 29(1)
IUPAC Congress 2027 27(1)
IUPAC Periodic Table Challenge 2020: Top Schools
Announced 31(3)IYPT 2019—Global Report 28(1)Not an Epilogue, but a Commencement! 30(2)PAC Cheminformatics Special Issue 30(3)PAC60 Celebrations 27(1)Standard Atomic Weight of Lead Revised 30(3)The AsiaChem magazine is born 29(2)Timothy Noel is awarded the 2020 IUPAC-ThalesNano
Prize for Flow Chemistry 27(2)UNESCO-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the
Basic Sciences 28(1)Winners of the 2021 IUPAC-Solvay International AwardFor Young Chemists 31(3)Winners of the Inaugural 2021 IUPAC Analytical
Chemistry Awards 32(3)Making an imPACt
Chemical and biochemical thermodynamics reunification(IUPAC Technical Report) 40(2)Definitions and notations relating to tactic polymers
37(1)End-of-line hyphenation of chemical names (IUPAC
Recommendations 2020) 40(2)Global occurrence, chemical properties, and ecologicalimpacts of e-wastes 36(1)Glossary and tutorial of xenobiotic metabolism terms
used during small molecule drug discovery and development 34(4)Glossary of methods and terms used in analytical spectroscopy 34(4)Glossary of methods and terms used in surface chemical
analysis 36(1)Interpretation and use of standard atomic weights 34(4)IUPAC/CITAC Guide: Evaluation of risks of false decisions in conformity assessment of a multicomponent
material 38(1)On good reporting practices for property measurements
41(3)PAC Jubilee—a manuscript from 1967: Dielectric dispersion in solutions of flexible polymers 38(1)Reference materials for phase equilibrium studies.
Liquid–liquid equilibria 35(4)Special CTI on Polymer Sciences 35(4)Terminology of polymers in advanced lithography 37(1)The Gender Gap in Science—PAC Special Topics Issue
34(4)Variation of lead isotopic composition and atomic
weight in terrestrial materials 36(1)Vocabulary of radioanalytical methods 41(2)Mark Your Calendar
See https://iupac.org/events/
Project Place
A Database of Chemical Structures and Identifiers Usedin the Control of WADA Prohibited Substances 39(2)48

Chemistry International

October-December 2021

Assessment of Absolute Isotope Ratios for theInternational Isotope Delta Measurement Standards
34(1)Categorizing Interactions Involving Group 11 Elements
32(4)Development of a Machine Accessible Kinetic Databankfor Radical Polymerizations 34(1)Development of a Metadata Schema for Critically
Evaluated Solubility Measurement Data 35(1)Examples of the Introduction of Sustainable
Development and Green Industrial Processes for
Secondary School Chemistry and Introductory
Chemistry 39(2)Green Chemistry in Sub-Saharan Africa 32(4)Provisional Report on Discussions on Group 3 of The
Periodic Table by Eric Scerri 31(1)Recommendations for terms relating to materials characterization: Latin and other introduced terms 33(4)Safety Training Program e-learning 32(4)Stakeholders’ Thoughts on the Future of IUPAC by Lori
Ferrins, Ito Chao, and Mark Cesa 36(2)Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability 37(3)Your Basic Polymer Sciences with the Subcommittee on
Polymer Education: From Synthesis to Application!
36(3)Officer’s Columns
Advancing Chemistry Worldwide by Javier GarcíaMartínez 2(2)
IUPAC2021: IUPAC first Virtual World Chemistry
Congress and General Assembly by Neil Burford 2(3)Resilience in Pandemic Time by Christopher Brett 2(1)Stamps International
One Hundred Years of Insulin 37(4)Up for Discussion
A Path to Entrepreneurial Education by Joseph A.
Martino III, James K. Murray, Jr., James Skinner, andMukund S. Chorghade 33(2)Combat Ethical Pollution in the Chemical Community by
Leiv K. Sydnes 29(4)Nomenclature vs. Terminology by Bernardo Herold 31(2)Poetic Science—An Ode to IUPAC by Jeremy G. Frey
45(4)The Challenge to establish a definition by Pavel Karen
38(3)The Hudlicky case—A reflection on the current state ofaffairs by Leiv K. Sydnes 42(1)The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable
Development 2022: We Need It More Than Ever byMichel Spiro 40(3)Where 2B&Y
CHEMRAWN XXII—e-waste in Africa 34(3), 42(4)Global Women's Breakfast 2022 ifc(4)WCLM 2021—Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the
Future of Chemistry 48(3)I U P A CADVANCING THE WORLDWIDE ROLE OF CHEMISTRY FOR THE BENEFIT OF MANKIND
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
is the global organization that provides objective scientific expertiseand develops the essential tools for the application and communication of chemical knowledge for the benefit of humankind and theworld. IUPAC accomplishes its mission by fostering sustainable development, providing a common language for chemistry, and advocating the free exchange of scientific information. In fulfilling this mission,
IUPAC effectively contributes to the worldwide understanding andapplication of the chemical sciences, to the betterment of humankind.

President
Prof. Christopher Brett, Portugal
Vice President
Prof. Javier García-Martínez, Spain
Past President
Prof. Qi-Feng Zhou, China/Beijing
Secretary General
Prof. Richard Hartshorn, New Zealand
Treasurer
Mr. Colin Humphris, United Kingdom

NATIONAL ADHERING ORGANIZATIONS
Australian Academy of Science (Australia)Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austria)
Bangladesh Chemical Society (Bangladesh)
The Royal Academies for the Sciences and Arts of Belgium (Belgium)
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Bulgaria)
National Research Council of Canada (Canada)Sociedad Chilena de Química (Chile)
Chinese Chemical Society (China)
Chemical Society located in Taipei (China)
LANOTEC-CENAT, National Nanotechnology Laboratory (Costa Rica)
Croatian Chemical Society (Croatia)
Czech National Committee for Chemistry (Czech Republic)
Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab (Denmark)
National Committee for IUPAC (Egypt)
Finnish Chemical Society (Finland)
Comité National Français de la Chimie (France)
Deutscher Zentralausschuss für Chemie (Germany)
Association of Greek Chemists (Greece)
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary)
Indian National Science Academy (India)
Royal Irish Academy (Ireland)Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Israel)
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
Caribbean Academy of Sciences—Jamaica (Jamaica)

Science Council of Japan (Japan)
Jordanian Chemical Society (Jordan)
Korean Chemical Society (Korea)
Kuwait Chemical Society (Kuwait)
Institut Kimia Malaysia (Malaysia)
Nepal Polymer Institute (Nepal)
Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging (Netherlands)
Royal Society of New Zealand (New Zealand)
Chemical Society of Nigeria (Nigeria)
Norsk Kjemisk Selskap (Norway)
Polska Akademia Nauk (Poland)Sociedade Portuguesa de Química (Portugal)
Colegio de Químicos de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico)
Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia)
Comité Sénégalais pour la Chimie (Sénégal)Serbian Chemical Society (Serbia)
Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (Singapore)
Slovak National Committee of Chemistry for IUPAC (Slovakia)
Slovenian Chemical Society (Slovenia)
National Research Foundation (South Africa)
Real Sociedad Española de Quimíca (Spain)
Institute of Chemistry, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Svenska Nationalkommittén för Kemi (Sweden)
Swiss Academy of Sciences (Switzerland)
Department of Science Service (Thailand)
Türkiye Kimya Dernegi (Turkey)
Royal Society of Chemistry (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences (USA)PEDECIBA Química (Uruguay)
Version 2/2021, last updated 1 June 2021

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRYCONNECTINGCHEMICAL WORLDSSAVE THE DATE
18 – 25 August 2023, General Assembly“I look forward towelcoming you
to the Netherlands
in 2023!”

20 – 25 August 2023, World Chemistry Congress
World Forum The Hague, The Netherlands

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www.iupac2023.org

I U P A C
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY

Ben Feringa, Honorary Chair