Volume 39, Issue 4

The Past President has an opportunity to write a column for Chemistry International near the end of his or her term, looking back on six years of service as an Officer of the Union and taking stock of the Union’s accomplishments during that time. It is a particular pleasure for me to do this because all of our volunteers, leaders and staff have accomplished an outstanding number of important achievements that have strengthened and vitalized IUPAC in that time. I would like to take a look at what everyone has accomplished during the last six years—we have come a long way—and what lies ahead.

For most of us, history is marked by significant anniversaries following from recognisable start or end dates: birthdays, wedding anniversaries, monarchical reigns, wars. So it is that this year we are celebrating the 50 th anniversary of the formal inception of the Polymer Division under its former name as the IUPAC Macromolecular Division. However, the Division has a significant pre-history that essentially maps the development of polymer chemistry to a mature discipline in its own right. By the 1920s, through the efforts of individuals who recognized the need, a common language of communication was already in the offing. These people formed committees to consider the development of systematic nomenclature, terminology and definitions, symbols, and other matters of importance in polymer science. All of this work became the foundations on which IUPAC built its growing interest in macromolecules, of which I would know very little if it were not for the excellent History of IUPAC 1919-1987 [1] and History of IUPAC 1988-1999 [2] upon which I have been able to draw.

The last decades witnessed significant progress in the synthesis of macromolecules with precisely controlled architectures.

When all is said and done, the IUPAC Polymer Division is a group of people. So here we all are, well, a good number of us anyway.

The reaction at the heart of radical polymerization is: Termed propagation, it now occurs to the tune of a stupendous 100 million tons per annum. It is therefore no surprise that right from the moment the mechanism of radical polymerization was first elucidated, which was in the late 1930s, there has been strong interest in determining propagation rate coefficients, k p . After 50 years of mortal toil, the state of play in this regard was captured by Fig. 1, which presents bulk polymerization values of k p for methyl methacrylate (Y = CH 3 , X = CO–O–CH 3 ) from the 1989 edition of the Polymer Handbook [1], a compendium of polymer-related data.

For as long as the Polymer Division of IUPAC has existed, it has put a high priority on education. In 1996, it first supported a dedicated educational project in the form of the UNESCO/IUPAC Postgraduate Course in Polymer Science, which continues to be organised annually by the Institute of Macromolecular Science in the Czech Republic and supported by the Polymer Division. In 2005, the Division IV Subcommittee on Polymer Education (SPEd) was established “to bring existing educational activities under one roof, to emphasise the importance of polymer education as well as the dedication of the IUPAC Polymer Division to this important field” [1]. Since then, educational projects have been the focus of this subcommittee. It has provided a forum for exchange of practice in polymer education worldwide, supported workshops in polymer science for undergraduates and postgraduate students on most continents, developed its own educational resources for free distribution to the world, and provided a website linking to other groups active in polymer education and other education resources.

It is now almost 100 years since Staudinger’s pioneering work that can be taken as the start of polymer science [1]. However, it took more than another 10 years until the concept of macromolecules began slowly to be accepted by the scientific community, and the Nobel Prize was not awarded to Staudinger until 1953. The first IUPAC publication about nomenclature of macromolecules [2] was published by the Sub-Commission on Nomenclature of the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecules (Chair H. F. Mark) in 1952. The Macromolecular Division, the 50th birthday of which we celebrate this year, was founded in 1967. Within this IUPAC Division IV there was also founded a Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature in 1968 with Kurt Loening as its Chair. However, the division goal always was clearly defined by the principles upon which to this day the Union is founded:

My favorite statistic concerning risk is that one 60-year-old out of a million will die every twenty minutes [1]. If I am not mistaken, this equates to 26 300 deaths per million per annum—just from living.

IUPAC, the globally-recognized authority on chemical nomenclature and terminology, will celebrate its 100th anniversary on 28 July 2019. The anniversary theme is  A Common Language for Chemistry , and while the celebration will recognize the successes of IUPAC’s first one hundred years, its purpose is not to solely dwell upon the past. It will also look what this international community of chemists, working closely together, can contribute in meeting the world’s needs, now and in the future, through chemical research.

The Periodic Table is the most representative icon of chemistry, because it contains all the chemical elements currently known, which constitute the true bricks of the universe. In 1869 the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleyev published his first periodic table, placing in order the 63 elements known at the time. On 28 November 2016 IUPAC announced the official names and the symbols of four elements, defining the current Periodic Table with 118 elements.

IUPAC and its publishing partner, De Gruyter, are pleased to announce that subscribers to Pure and Applied Chemistry  (PAC) can purchase the IUPAC Standards Online database at a special discount of 70 % off the list price. This offer is guaranteed until 31 December 2017.

The 2018 IUPAC-SOLVAY International Award for Young Chemists is intended to encourage outstanding young research scientists at the beginning of their careers. The awards are given for the most outstanding Ph.D. theses in the general area of the chemical sciences, as described in a 1000-word essay. The award is generously sponsored by Solvay.

Thieme Chemistry, IUPAC, and the Editors of SYNTHESIS, SYNLETT, SYNFACTS, and Science of Synthesis announce the Thieme–IUPAC Prize for 2018.

IUPAC and Gedeon Richter, Plc. are pleased to announce the 2018 IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry. The prize was established in 2006 by a generous gift from the Chemical Works of Gedeon Richter, Plc. (Budapest, Hungary) to acknowledge the key role that medicinal chemistry plays toward improving human health. The prize—USD 10 000—is to be awarded to an internationally recognized scientist, preferably a medicinal chemist, whose activities or published accounts have made an outstanding contribution to the practice of medicinal chemistry or to an outstanding example of new drug discovery.

The IUPAC International Award for Advances in Harmonized Approaches to Crop Protection Chemistry recognizes individuals in government, intergovernmental organizations, industry, and academia who have exercised personal leadership for outstanding contributions to international harmonization for the regulation of crop protection chemistry.

The Executive Editorial Board of Polymer International and the IUPAC Polymer Division are pleased to announce the 6th award for creativity in applied polymer science or polymer technology. This award celebrates the achievements of young researchers in the polymer community.

IUPAC is seeking nominations for the 2018 CHEMRAWN VII Prize for Green Chemistry. The CHEMRAWN VII Prize was first announced in August 2008 and since, has been awarded every two years at the IUPAC International Conference on Green Chemistry. The Prize of USD 5000 is granted to a young investigator (less than 45 years of age) from an emerging region who is actively contributing to research in Green Chemistry. The Prize has been awarded to Noureddine Yassaa (Algeria) in 2010, Rashimi Sanghi (India) in 2012, Vania G. Zuin (Brazil) in 2014, and Ali Maleki (Iran) in 2016.

The IUPAC Council met in São Paulo, Brazil 12-13 July, and the Bureau met on 11-14 July 2017. The following actions were taken:

IYCN, the International Younger Chemists Network is now an Associated Organization of the Union. The relationship is more than a formality and both organizations are committed to partner together; while IYCN seeks to growas a global network helping to advance the voice and concerns of younger chemists worldwide, IUPAC wishes to facilitate the participation of younger chemists in IUPAC through the active integration of IYCN members into IUPAC activities. This includes programs such as conferences, committee activities, divisions, and projects.

For many years, IUPAC has opened its doors to the younger chemists as observers to its activities, welcoming them in the midst of their General Assemblies. This is a unique opportunity for younger chemists to acquaint themselves with the work of the Divisions and Committees at an early stage and with limited commitment. In an article published in 2002, the Young Observers (YOs) program was characterized as “a way to seek innovative scientists” and “bring new expertise to IUPAC” [1]. Since 2013, the World Chemistry Leadership Meeting (WCLM) has invited all young observers to its symposium. In 2017, with a clever combination of “speed-networking” round tables, brainstorming and projects-crafting during the symposium, there is strong hope that a significant proportion of young observers will return as IUPAC active members during future meetings in Paris (2019) and Montréal (2021).

I recently looked back at all the notes I’ve written for Chemistry International during the past decade or so, and polymer chemistry seems to be a recurrent theme, with a range of topics that underscores the multifarious applications of polymeric materials, both natural and synthetic. For example, the common polypropylene stacking chair, created in 1962 by Robin Day, one of the most influential furniture designers of the 20th century, was featured on a British stamp used to illustrate a Stamps International article published in 2011.