Photochemistry

by Franco Scandola and Silvia Braslavsky

doi:10.1515/ci.2011.33.2.30

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Photochemistry

by Franco Scandola and Silvia Braslavsky

Published/Copyright: March 1, 2011

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From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 33 Issue 2

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Photochemistry

by Franco Scandola and Silvia Braslavsky

View of the Teatro Comunale (Ferrara) during a plenary session.

The XXIII IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry was held 11–16 July 2010 in Ferrara, Italy, in the historic center of the city. Plenary lectures were held in the 18th-century opera theatre Teatro Comunale and the poster sessions in the cellars of the 14th-century Estense Castle. Over 500 participants (including 133 Ph.D. students) from 40 countries attended the symposium, which offered the contrasting mix of an ancient setting with modern science.

Symposium topics covered all fields of photochemistry from organic, inorganic, and physical photochemistry to theory, spectroscopy, photobiology, materials science, microscopy, nanotechnology, and—to a large extent—solar energy. The scientific program consisted of 8 plenary lectures, 23 invited lectures, 97 selected oral presentations in parallel sessions, and 354 posters. The plenary lectures were as follows:

Thomas J. Meyer (University of North Carolina, USA): “Making Solar Fuels at Interfaces”
Rienk van Grondelle (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands): “How Conformational Switching in Plant Light-Harvesting Complexes Regulates Photosynthesis”
Yoshihisa Inoue (Osaka University, Japan): “Supramolecular Photochirogenesis with Biomolecular Hosts”
Massimo Olivucci (University of Siena, Italy): “From Computational Photobiology to the Design of Biomimetic Molecular Devices”
Luisa De Cola (University of Münster, Germany): “Luminescent Metal Complexes and Their Soft Crystalline Assemblies”
Stefan Matile (University of Geneva, Switzerland): “Supramolecular Architectures for Artificial Photosystems”
Devens Gust (Arizona State University, USA): “Controlling Light with Light: From Photosynthesis to Molecule-Based Signal Transduction”

A selection of papers will appear this year in Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Lunch meeting of the IUPAC Subcommittee on Photochemistry in Ferrara.

David Phillips (Imperial College London, UK) received the prestigious Porter Medal, awarded by the three photochemistry societies: InterAmerican Photochemical Society, the European Photochemical Society (EPA), and the Asian Photochemical Society. His award lecture was “Targetted Sensitisers for Photodynamic Therapy.” The EPA Ph.D. prize was given to Anne Kotiaho (Tampere University of Technology, Finland). The EPA/Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences Journal award went to Werner M. Nau (Jacobs University, Bremen).

During the lunch breaks, several committee meetings took place, including that of the IUPAC’s Subcommittee on Photochemistry. The EPA had its general assembly on Monday evening.

Social events included, besides the welcome reception at the Ferrara City Hall, a boat excursion to the Venetian villas over the Brenta River, and a banquet dinner at the Lispida Castle on the Euganean Hills.

All in all, the conference was successful, both scientifically and socially. All the sessions were highly attended and animated by lively discussions. Once more, the photochemistry community showed its strength and vitality.

At the end of the conference, it was announced that the next IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, in July 2012. The scientific chair is Hugh Burrows (Portugal).

Franco Scandola is scientific chair of XXIII Symposium and Silvia Braslavsky is chair of the IUPAC Subcommittee on Photochemistry.

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Published Online: 2011-03-01

Published in Print: 2011-03

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2011.33.2.30