Division Roundups

IUPAC in Beijing

Division Roundups

- Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

- Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

-- Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

- Division IV. Polymer

- Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

- CHEMRAWN

CHEMRAWN

John M. Malin, Chairman

At the CHEMRAWN Committee meeting, 10 committee members and one observer participated. In addition, IUPAC Vice President Bryan Henry attended one session to explain some strategy issues of the Union and to participate in discussions.

The committee reviewed the results of the last conference, CHEMRAWN XV: Chemistry for Water, evaluating in particular the Bangladesh Workshop on water arsenic pollution that was carried out as a post-conference activity. Committee members stressed that CHEMRAWN should consider working with other divisions on future projects in this area because similar situations exist in many countries. The committee expressed appreciation for Raymond Hamelin’s work in initiating and organizing this conference.

The committee also discussed upcoming conferences. In preparation for CHEMRAWN XII, a successful Workshop on Soil Fertility and African Food Supplies was held in Tanzania on 7 August 2004. The committee discussed the fact that CHEMRAWN XII still needs a clear financial supporter and that cooperation with other Union bodies is necessary to make the conference a success.

It was also announced that the location of CHEMRAWN XIII: Cleaner Energy has been changed from India to China. Given the present energy situation, the committee is eager to organize this conference. In addition, the proposed CHEMRAWN XVII: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies is planned for 8–12 July 2007 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The scientific committee (composed of 16 scientists) has started to prepare a detailed agenda, substantial preparatory work has already been completed, and some financial support has already been obtained.

Part 2 of the Divisions Roundups from the 2005 GA will appear in the next issue of CI (Jan.-Feb. 2006)

Page last modified 28 October 2005.

Copyright © 2003-2005 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org

IUPAC in Beijing

Division Roundups

- Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

- Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

-- Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

- Division IV. Polymer

- Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

- CHEMRAWN

Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

Anthony R. West, President

Division II reported it had a successful two-day meeting in which members were optimistic about the future and determined to put behind them a tumultuous period in which the division had “bottomed out.” Average attendance at the meetings was 16, with several young observers who stayed throughout and contributed significantly to the discussions.

Five new project proposals were discussed; two are ready for submission and should effectively use up the remainder of the division allocation for this biennium. Three more need working up, two in molecules and one in materials, for the next biennium. One of the molecules projects may become a joint project with the Committee on Chemistry Education. Several of the young observers (Russia, UK, USA) are keen to become involved with this project. A sixth project proposal is being presented by a former young observer, now the German national representative, to the interdivisional subcommittee on materials chemistry. This is likely to become a cross-division project on terminology in nanomaterials and nanotechnology and may still be submitted within this biennium.

With elections taking place in September 2005 for four titular members, the division is poised to move in new directions. During his presentation to the Council, Division President Tony West exclaimed, “We are just scratching the surface of materials chemistry. IUPAC can do much more.”

Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

Michael E. Wieser, Secretary

The Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights met for two days of evaluations and discussions under the chairmanship of Prof. Tiping Ding. As well as the normal scientific work of the commission, considerable discussion also took place on ways to make the information produced by the commission of greater value to the wider chemical and scientific community.

As presented in detail in the Wire section (in print on page 18), the standard atomic weights of 16 chemical elements have been revised based on new determinations of isotopic abundances and reviews of previous isotopic abundances and atomic masses.

The Subcommittee on Isotopic Abundance Measurements (SIAM) evaluated published isotope abundance data in order to determine the “best measurements.” This task has become increasingly important with the emergence of new analytical techniques that enable the analyst to produce isotope-amount ratio measurements to very high precision. The challenge is to ensure that the uncertainty calculations that lead to the standard atomic weights are consistent. Therefore, members of the isotopic composition of selected elements project are developing systematic and comprehensive evaluation criteria to account for systematic uncertainties during sample preparation and measurement. SIAM also recognizes that the user community is in need of isotopic composition data. In response, project members are developing a database that presents the evaluated isotopic compositions, range of variation of isotopic composition, and the atomic weight as decided by the commission. These evaluation tools are of immediate use to SIAM and will be a fundamental component of its work as the subcommittee incorporates the outcomes of the report on the isotopic compositions of the elements project.

Differences in measured isotope-amount ratios of stable carbon isotopes (¹³C/¹²C), commonly called delta carbon-13 values, are used to understand processes in oceanography, atmospheric sciences, biology, paleoclimatology, geology, environmental sciences, and food and drug authentication. Progress in these fields requires smaller measurement uncertainties to be achieved. Advances in instrumentation enable increasingly precise measurements. Nevertheless, laboratories measuring the same specimen often disagree by 10 times their reported “uncertainty” of measurement.

The commission recommends that delta carbon-13 values of all carbon-bearing materials be measured and expressed relative to the VPDB on a scale normalized by assigning values of -46.6 parts per thousand relative to L-SVEC lithium carbonate and +1.95 parts per thousand relative to NBS 19 calcium carbonate, and authors should clearly state so in their reports.

Authors are encouraged to report their delta measurement results for the carbon-13 values of NBS 22 oil, USGS41 L-glutamic acid, IAEA CH 6 sucrose, or other internationally distributed reference materials, as appropriate for the measurement method concerned. Adoption of these guidelines should enable laboratories worldwide that are measuring the same sample to report delta carbon-13 values that agree with one another to within the measurement uncertainty.

The commission also formally recognized the significant contributions made by past commission members Dr. Steffen Peiser and Dr. John Gramlich, who both passed away in the past year.

> next

Part 2 of the Divisions Roundups from the 2005 GA will appear in the next issue of CI (Jan.-Feb. 2006)

Page last modified 28 October 2005.

Copyright © 2003-2005 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org

IUPAC in Beijing

Division Roundups

- Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

- Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

-- Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

- Division IV. Polymer

- Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

- CHEMRAWN

Division IV. Polymer

Robert Stepto, President

Division IV had a successful and lively meeting with 35 people from 15 countries attending. It was the first meeting as the so-renamed Polymer Division. The division had last met in Paris in 2004 as the Macromolecular Division and the change of name reflects the expansion of its work to cover new polymer and polymer-based materials as well as the macromolecules used to form them.

Reports were received from the coordinators of various current projects. During this 2004–2005 biennium there were 14 new projects, 17 publications, and 11 conferences sponsored. The reports and the ensuing discussion at the meeting showed clearly that the organization and management of projects under the auspices of subcommittees, introduced gradually over the last four years, has been successful. It was therefore decided to go forward into the 2006-2007 biennium with five subcommittees:

• Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature

• Structure and Properties of Commercial Polymers

• Polymerization Kinetics and Processes

• Developing Polymer Materials

• Polymer Education

In addition to the subcommittees, projects on molecular characterization will continue to be run in an integrated manner and the successful program of actively seeking conferences to sponsor will continue. Amongst these, the memorable World Polymer Congress in Paris last year will be followed by the WPC Macro 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, 2008 in Taipei, and 2010 in Glasgow.

Elections were completed prior to the division meeting. Jung-Il Jin (Korea) was elected to become division president in January 2006, and Chris Ober (USA) was elected vice president.

> next

Part 2 of the Divisions Roundups from the 2005 GA will appear in the next issue of CI (Jan.-Feb. 2006)

Page last modified 28 October 2005.

Copyright © 2003-2005 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org

IUPAC in Beijing

Division Roundups

- Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

- Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

-- Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

- Division IV. Polymer

- Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

- CHEMRAWN

Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

Alan McNaught, President

At its meeting, Division VIII discussed a number of exciting developments. The most high-profile of these is the International Chemical Identifier (InChI), a software implementation of which was released in April 2005 and quickly generated a great deal of interest. The Identifier has been widely adopted by database providers and is being considered for use by patent offices in the UK and USA. A subsequent project for development of additional layers and for promotion is under way. The Identifier is thought to have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate information about chemicals. An article on the project has since appeared in Chemical & Engineering News (22 August 2005 issue). Information about InChI is available at <www.iupac.org/inchi/>.

Take for example alpha-pinene—this compound might be known by its PIN (i.e. Preferred IUPAC Name) (1S,5S)-2,6,6-trimethylbicyclo[3.1.1]hept-2-ene, but our computers will recognize it by its InChI=1/C10H16/c1-7-4-5-8-6-9(7)10(8,2)3/h4,8-9H,5-6H2,1-3H3/t8-,9-/m1/s1.

In other news from the division, a number of publications will be released soon. A revised edition of the Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry should be in print by the end of the year (see Bookworm section, p. 25 in print). A revised edition of the Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry, which also includes recommendations for selection of preferred names for organic compounds, has finished public review and review by ICTNS. Comments are being evaluated and appropriate revisions prepared. These revisions are to be reviewed by means of the division’s webboard. Publication is expected in 2006.

In addition, a publication describing nomenclature recommendations for molecular rotaxanes is in the final stages of preparation and will soon be in the review process. Recommendations for graphical representation of stereochemical configuration have completed public review and are now being finalized. More general recommendations for graphical representation of chemical structures are in preparation.

> next

Part 2 of the Divisions Roundups from the 2005 GA will appear in the next issue of CI (Jan.-Feb. 2006)

Page last modified 28 October 2005.

Copyright © 2003-2005 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org

IUPAC in Beijing

Division Roundups

- Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

- Division II. Inorganic Chemistry

-- Commission II.1. Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights

- Division IV. Polymer

- Division VIII. Chemical Nomenclature and Structure Representation

- CHEMRAWN

Division I. Physical and Biophysical Chemistry

Ron D. Weir, President

Much of the Division I meeting was devoted to reviewing the division’s busy biennium. Of the 30 projects that were active at some point between 2004–2005, 6 have been completed, 7 are interdivisional and continuing, and 17 others are ongoing. The titular members of the division were joined at their meetings by four young observers, two from the UK and two from the USA.

The division’s pilot project on Evaluation of Kinetic Data for Atmospheric Chemistry (1999-037-2-100) has proved to be very successfully and was the focus of extended discussions. The primary objective of this project was to make IUPAC’s evaluated kinetic database available on the Web so that researchers, and any others with an interest in atmospheric pollution, could access it easily. The Web site for the database <www.iupac-kinetic.ch.cam.ac.uk> generates more than 4000 accesses per week and there are now 370 subscribers to the service. These are increasing at the rate of about 10% annually. The success of this project points the way for other databases within the IUPAC project system.

It was pointed out that when the information in the database has appeared in printed journal format, it has resulted in high numbers of references. One such paper that was published in 1997 had 432 references in 89 journals, and a more recent one published in 2000 had 74 references in 26 journals.

Another project reviewed was the revised version of the so-called Green Book, Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, and its various appendices. Arrangements are being made for the finalization of the publication according to IUPAC guidelines, with a plan for publication in 2006.

Following the division elections during spring 2005 and subsequent appointments confirmed at the meetings, there are now 22 division representatives: 10 titular members, 6 associate members, and 6 national representatives. In addition, there are three titular members and seven national representatives on Commission I.1 on Physicochemical Symbols, Terminology, and Units. These scientists and engineers are from 24 different countries and represent almost all of the subject specialities that are the responsibility of Division I.

> next

Part 2 of the Divisions Roundups from the 2005 GA will appear in the next issue of CI (Jan.-Feb. 2006)

Greetings from Beijing - photo page

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Copyright © 2003-2006 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

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