Connecting Chemical Worlds – IUPAC General Assembly and IUPAC World Chemistry Congress at The Hague

Opening Ceremony

The joint opening ceremony was held on 20 August at the “World Forum,” The Hague. IUPAC President Javier Garcia Martinez welcomed the participants and gave an overview of IUPAC. In this inaugural session, the IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists was presented. The winners of the 2023 IUPAC-Solvay International Award for Young Chemists, for the best Ph.D. theses in the chemical sciences are:

1. Eduard Bobylev (Ukraine, Netherlands), Ph.D., University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

2. Craig Day (Canada, Spain), Ph.D., Rovira i Virgili University, Spain

3. Nikita Hanikel (Germany, USA), Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, USA

4. Apurva Panjla (India), Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

5. Yu Zheng (China/Beijing/USA) Ph.D., Stanford University, USA

The IUPAC 2023 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Awards were also presented in this opening session. Through this award, women are recognized for their distinction and excellence in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, whether in research, teaching, industry, government, academia or whatever work sector in which women are engaged. The awardees of the IUPAC 2023 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering are:

1. Lidia Armelao, National Research Council and University of Padova, Italy

2. Annette G. Beck-Sickinger, Leipzig University, Germany

3. Chunying Chen, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, Beijing, China

4. Bin Liu, National University of Singapore, Singapore

5. Laura McConnell, Bayer U.S., Crop Science Division, USA

6. Marcia Foster Mesko, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil

7. Jyotirmayee Mohanty, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India

8. Tatjana Parac-Vogt, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

9. Gill Reid, University of Southampton, UK

10. Mikiko Sodeoka, RIKEN, Japan

11. Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh, University College London, UK

12. Marinda Wu, Dow (retired), USA

In the inaugural session, a plenary lecture was delivered by Molly Stevens of Imperial College, London on the topic “Healing the Body and Detecting Diseases earlier through New Materials.” She has created a broad portfolio of designer biomaterials for applications in disease diagnostics and regenerative medicine.

IUPAC Committee on Chemistry and Industry led Workshop and Training Program

The IUPAC Committee on Chemistry and Industryconducted (a) “Safety Training Workshop” and (b) “Safety Training Program” for the International Young Chemist Network. IUPAC has been organizing Safety Training Program, both online and off line. Participants from all over the world have undergone the training program. In this program at the Hague, speakers included Anna Makarova (Russia), Fabian Benzo (Uruguay), Bipul Saha (India), Christine Ashaolu (Nigeria), Gracia Maria Romero (Honduras), Daniela Brunso Welkar (Spain). Daniela Brunso Welkar, Product Stewardship Manager, BASF, Spain discussed the EHS Management process of BASF from corporate governance level to operation level. She also spoke about “Green Deal” of Europe which will transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. Daniela Brunso Welkar mentioned that “Chemical Strategy for Sustainability” has two clear objectives: (a) Improve the protection of human health (b) Drive innovation to enable the transition to safe and sustainable chemicals.

World Chemistry Leadership Meeting on the “Future of Chemistry”

In the last few years, IUPAC has published the “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” based on a Global Survey. This has led to discussion on the future in the fields of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Organizers of the Congress arranged a World Chemistry Leadership Meeting on “Future of Chemistry.”

In this session, Nessa Carson of AstraZeneca spoke on a “Digital Transformation of Chemistry.” With the advent of Big Data and Digitalization, modern Chemistry is on the threshold of a transformative change. She said that to realize the full potential of Chemistry research, it is time for digitalization and this will require a global effort.

Laura McConnell, Science Fellow at Bayer Crop Science, spoke about “Feeding the Planet.” With the increase of population and decrease in arable land, the challenge is how to feed the planet. McConnell said that Chemistry is going to be a key driver of increased productivity and sustainability. Digital revolution and tools like A.I. , Machine Learning are going to play a key role in future.

Svetlana Tsogoeva delivered speech on “New Methods for Drug Discovery.” She discussed how drug discovery and development processes can be accelerated with cutting edge technologies.

Alejandro Franco of France talked about new fuels. He said that for clean and sustainable energy, batteries are emerging as an important technology for the future. Optimization of the battery production process is complex as there are a large number of factors. Artificial Intelligence and many digital tools can accelerate optimization and improved design by simulating the manufacturing process and predicting performance through multiscale modeling.

Nobel Laureate Ben Feringa, Jacobus H. van’t Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Honorary Chair of IUPAC/CHAINS 2023 World Chemistry Congress, delivered a speech “Reinventing Chemistry.” He said that Chemistry has contributed significantly to shape modern society. However, we now face major challenges like developing sustainable processes and integrating Information Technology with Chemistry. In this context, we now require new approaches to teach Chemistry which includes a “Systems Thinking” approach.

IUPAC Council Meeting and Election

During IUPAC General Assembly, IUPAC Council meeting and elections were held. The IUPAC Council consisting of representatives of 56 Countries discussed various issues and elected Officers and Board members. Mary Garson (Australia) was elected as Vice President and Zoltan Mester (Canada) as Secretary General. The following members were elected as member of IUPAC Executive Board: Bipul Saha (India), Hemda Garelick (UK), Richard Hartshorn (New Zealand), Bonnie Lawlor (USA), Christine Luscombe (Japan), and Zhigang Shuai (China). The following members have been elected to the Science Board: Lidia Armelao (Italy), Derek Craston (UK), Igor Lacík (Slovakia), Michelle Rogers (USA), Frances Separovic (Australia), Eva Åkesson (Sweden), Pierre Braunstein (France), Alejandra Palermo (UK), Peter Schreiner (Germany), Chi-Huey Wong (China/Taipei). Starting in 2024 Ehud Keinan (Israel) will be President for two years and Javier Garcia-Martinez (Spain) will continue as past President, while Wolfram Koch (Germany) will continue as Treasurer.

The Council approved membership of Jordan and Honduras with effect from 1 January 2024. It also approved incorporation of the International Younger Chemists’ Network as an IUPAC Committee. The Czech Republic and Slovakia’s joint bid for Prague as host of the 55^th General Assembly and the 52^nd World Chemistry Congress from 18-24 August 2029 was also approved.

Plenary Lectures

A number of plenary lectures were organized during the World Chemistry Congress. Marc Koper of Leiden University and President of the International Society of Electrochemistry made a presentation on “How to make Green Hydrogen.” Jennifer Thomson of the University of Cape Town and President of the Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World spoke on “GM Crops and New Agricultural Improvements.” Charlotte K. Williams of the University of Oxford spoke on her work on “Sustainable Polymer Chemistry using Catalysis to make polymers from renewables and in chemical recycling.” She is particularly focused on carbon dioxide utilization by copolymerization and on the production of bio-derived polyesters, polycarbonates, and block polymers. Bartosz Grzybowski, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at UNIST and Polish Academy of Sciences spoke on “Synthesis, processes and reaction discovery in the age of computers.” His primary research interest is “Computer-driven Synthesis.” Nicola Spaldin of ETH Zurich made a presentation on “Materials Chemistry and the Future of Human Civilization.” She is best known for her research work on the class of materials known as “Multiferoics,” which are simultaneously Ferromagnetic and Ferroelectric. Timothy Caulfield of University of Alberta delivered a popular lecture on “Science and the Misinformation Crisis.” Hiroaki Suga of the University of Tokyo delivered the van’t Hoff lecture on the topic “De novo discovery of pseudo-natural peptides and products.” Chad Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University spoke on “Exploring the Matterverse with Nanomaterial Megalibraries.” He is a world-renowned nanoscience expert with more than 400 approved patents and founded multiple companies.

IUPAC/CHAINS 2023 World Chemistry Congress Themes:

IUPAC/CHAINS 2023 World Chemistry Congress was organized under five themes:

1. Chemistry at the Molecular Frontiers

2. Chemistry related to Health

3. Chemistry related to Sustainability

4. Smart and Energy Materials

5. Ethics, Education and Society

Diferent symposiums were organized under each of the above themes. For example:

Chemistry at the Molecular Frontiers

1. Quantum Chemical (+ AI) Elucidation of Organic Reactivity

2. DNA Nanostructures in Biology

3. Mechanochemical applications for sustainable synthesis

Chemistry related to Health

1. Addressing antibiotic resistance—the silent pandemic

2. Targeting toxic proteins for detection and destruction

3. Are we prepared for the next pandemic?

4. The role of computational chemistry in the mitigation of infectious diseases from characterization of emerging pathogens to drug development

Chemistry related to Sustainability

1. Development of new reaction pathways towards Green Chemistry

2. Prospects of CO2 capture & activation for a circular chemical industry

3. Electrocatalysis and the synthesis of high-value chemicals

4. New plastics circular by design

5. A Sustainable Planet and Society

6. Chemistry and AI

Smart and Energy Materials

1. Complex metal oxides for energy applications

2. Materials and interfaces for next-generation batteries

3. Dynamical molecular systems for brain-inspired computing

4. Ethics, Education and Society

5. Crafting an ethical framework for global chemistry

6. Make the good choice! Ethics and dual use in chemistry

7. Meeting the modern challenges of chemical weapons

8. Systems thinking as a linchpin in chemistry education

Apart from oral presentations, there were large number of posters.

The organizers also made other program to make the whole event interesting. It included a quiz, a Chemistry Party, a Meet and Greet with Nobel Laureate Ben Feringa and other eminent scientists, a Tour of the Office of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and a Beer and Cheese Factory tour.

After 7 days of hectic activities, the program came to an end. At the closing ceremony, the baton was passed from The Netherlands to Malaysia. The next Congress will be held in Kuala Lumpur in 2025.

See https://iupac2023.org/ for photos albums and aftermovie.