Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale XL

The 40th edition of the Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale (CSI XL) was held in Pisa (Italy) 11-16 June 2017, at the Congress Center of Pisa. It is the third time that this prestigious conference on Analytical has been held in Italy, following CSI II (Venice, 1951) and CSI XVII (Florence, 1973). On this occasion, CSI XL took place together with the 9th Euro-Mediterranean Symposium on Laser Induced Breakdown spectroscopy (IX EMSLIBS, chaired by Vincenzo Palleschi), having a positive impact on both conferences by fostering connections among participants of all ages, as well as the level of conference participation, in the stimulating atmosphere of a beautiful Tuscan city of art.

Both conferences were organized by the Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds (S.S. of Pisa) of the National Research Council of Italy (ICCOM-CNR).

In Pisa, more than 500 participants from 45 countries of all continents came together in order to exchange ideas and to present their latest results in various fields of atomic and molecular spectroscopy. The 204 oral presentations were distributed in 25 parallel sessions, Atomic Spectrometry, Fundamental of LIBS, Fundamentals of Mass Spectrometry, Nano-LIBS, Nuclear Applications, Nanotech, Food Analysis, Archelogy & Cultural Heritage, Environment, Geological Applications, Coal and Steel Analysis, LIBS Imaging, LIBS & Raman, Industrial Applications, Biomedical Applications, Materials, Speciation, Proteomics, Fuels, Liquid Analysis, Forensic Applications, Vapor Generation & Sample Introduction Techniques, Chemometrics, Clinical and Pharma, and Underwater LIBS. A special session, Computational Spectroscopy, was organized with the support of Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa and dedicated the EU-ERC Project “Modelling of the spectroscopic properties of molecules and complex systems”, supervised by Vincenzo Barone. A total of 210 poster contributions were displayed for three days.

The participation of young people at the conference was remarkable and a great pleasure for the organizers. Forty grants were assigned to students and young researchers who presented their oral communications in the various scientific sessions. Students and young researchers, including grant recipients, were more than a third of the total participants.

The scientific program was particularly enriched by numerous lectures by renowned scientists who presented the latest advances in the field of spectroscopy. Seven plenary lectures, held by eminent scientists: Javier Laserna (Spain), Marco Aurelio Zezzi Arruda (Brazil), Ove Axner (Sweden), Montserrat Filella (Switzerland), Chris Le (Canada), Annemie Bogaerts (Belgium), and Richard Russo (USA). Nineteen invited lectures and 29 keynote lectures preceded the oral presentations in the different parallel sessions and they were held by outstanding scientists: Heidi Goenaga (UK), Anna Tugarova (Russia), Andreas Karydas (Greece), Roberta Fantoni (Italy), Maria Luisa Carvalho (Portugal), Cristian Parigger (USA), Russel Harmon (USA), Mohamad Sabsabi (Canada), Zhe Wang (China), Asmaa El Hassan (South Arabia), Boris Mizaikoff (Germany), Joanna Szpunar (France), Rainer Bischoff (Netherland), Rosalba Gaudiuso (USA), Maria Careri (Italy), Citlali Sánchez-Aké (Mexico), Vincenzo Barone (Italy), Stanislav Záliš (Czech Republic), Madhavi Martin (USA), Martin Resano (Spain), Claudia Pelosi (Italy), Ilaria Bonaduce (Italy), Marta Manso (Portugal), Patricia Smichowski (Argentina), Zoltan Mester (Canada), Pawel Gasior (Poland), Jörg Hermann (Germany), Carlos Aragón (Spain), Igor Gornushkin (Germany), V.Motto-Ros (France), S. Michael Angel (USA), Sergey Pershin (Russia), Paddy Hayden (Ireland), Alexander Kamnev (Russia), Ryzard Lobinski (France), Margaretha de Loos-Vollebregt (Belgium), Qiuquan Wang (China), Érico Flores (Brazil), Montserrat Hidalgo (Spain), Jun Kawai (Japan), Luigia Sabbatini (Italy), Jiří Dědina (Czech Republic), Jean-Baptiste Sirven (France), Fabio Di Francesco (Italy), Tetsuo Sakka (Japan), Ewa Bulska (Poland), Alessandro De Giacomo (Italy), and Francesco Colao (Italy).

The last day’s session was dedicated to awards and poster prizes. The CSI Award was presented to Bernhard Welz for “His outstanding contribution on the development of atomic absorption spectrometry. In particular, the important role on training young students and the essential impact on the management of centers of strength in spectrochemical analysis in Brazil and Latin America, where the future generations can continue to develop research on advanced Analytical Chemistry”.

The 1st LIBS Award was presented to Nicolò Omenetto for “His essential experimental and theoretical contributions to the development of LIBS and his continuous encouragement and support given to the LIBS community since the First International LIBS Conference in year 2000”.

The JAAS, Emerging Investigator Lectureship, “Awarded to a researcher working in atomic spectrometry within the scope of JAAS who is at an early stage of their independent career”, was presented to Sohail Musthaq.

The session was concluded by the OSA Lecture of Mohamed Abdel Harith, “Evolution of EMSLIBS from regional meeting to an inclusive global event”.

Nine poster prizes were presented to young scientists for their valuable contributions. Three of the prizes were sponsored by Spectrochimica Acta Part A (SAA) (Elsevier):

1. Yong Liang et al. (China) “Biospecific Metabolism Based and Click Chemistry Mediated Europium Tagging Enable the Determination of D-Alanine Density of Bacterial Cell Wall Peptidoglycan Layers Using ICP-MS”

2. Jan Kratzer et al. (Czech Republic) “Atomization Mechanism of Hydride Forming Elements in Heated Quartz Tube and Dielectric Barrier Discharge Atomizers”

3. Samuel Moncayo et al. (France) “Evaluation of compact VUV spectrometer for elemental imaging by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy”

Three additional prizes were presented by Spectrochimica Acta Part B (SAB) (Elsevier):

1. Konstantinos Marmatakis et al. (Greece) “LIBS-SSI-MS: Simultaneous elemental and molecular analysis of metal containing biomolecules”

2. Carlos Sánchez-Rodríguez et al. “Removing interferences in organic solvents and petroleum products by hTISIS-ICP-MS/MS”

3. David Prochazka et al. (Czech Rep.) “Enhancement of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy signal by means of combination of pre-ablation and re-heating laser pulses."

The opening of the works of CSI XL and IX EMSLIBS.

Three more poster prizes were sponsored by the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (Royal Society of Chemistry):

1. Candace Harris et al. “Partial Least Squares Calibration models toward the determination of the LOD in 90Zr and 94Zr generated by zirconium metallic particles on silica substrates via Laser Ablation Molecular Isotopic Spectroscopy (LAMIS)”

2. Nil Ozbek et al. Formation Mechanisms of Calcium Monofluoride in Graphite Furnace Molecular Absorption Spectrometry and Interactions with Competitive Elements”

3. Zhenli Zhu et al. “New vapor generation methods based on plasma chemical/electrochemical processes."

Concerning recreational and cultural activities, conference participants were able to enjoy numerous events that took place in the week that celebrates the patron saint of Pisa, “Saint Ranieri”, and culminates with the “Luminara” and the fireworks on the night of 16 June. In addition, as a tradition, the CSI also offered a social program, including a welcome cocktail and wine tasting party at the Conference Center, an organ concert in the magnificent Cathedral of Pisa in Miracles’ Square, and guided excursions to historical parts of Pisa, as well as a Gala Dinner held at the Old Railway Station “Leopolda”.

The success of the conference was completed by the participation of 24 vendors and sponsors, to whom we give our most grateful thanks for their financial support.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of the International Advisory Board and to all the colleagues of the Organizing Committee and the Local Organizing Committee for their great work and effort. A special thanks to Stefano Legnaioli (Secretary CSI XL) and all volunteers, without the help of which it would not have been possible to successfully organize the CSI XL and IX-EMS-LIBS in a single event.

Finally, a warm thanks to all the participants who contributed to the success of the conference with their presence and with their oral and poster scientific presentations.

The next Conferences will be held in 2019 in Mexico (Mexico City, CSI XLI) and in 2021 in Spain (Gijón, CSI XLII).