Band 40, Heft 4

When I am asked, in a conversation, what I do, I tell them I am a chemist and, if they studied sciences in their final years at school, I may tell them about my activities in IUPAC. The reaction to the first ranges from highly favourable to sceptical, and to the second saying that what they have heard most about IUPAC is the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements and nomenclature. This is symptomatic of the challenges that we all, as scientists working in the field of chemistry, face in order to demonstrate and disseminate the importance of chemical and related sciences. It is what made most of us start connecting with IUPAC, often through the contact from a colleague or through an IUPAC-endorsed workshop or conference.

The fundamental science of materials and life, which has greatly contributed to humanity, lies in atoms and molecules. For two centuries, chemistry focused on synthesizing molecules or “skeletons assembled from atoms.” This approach led to the development of various substances (pharmaceuticals, foods, dyes, pesticides, clothes, plastics, etc. ). In the late 20 th century, this concept evolved into supramolecular chemistry, where molecules were used as constituents and eventually led to the nanoscience field.

As we approach the end of the second decade of the 21 st century, changes in atmospheric chemical composition due to anthropogenic pollution continue to challenge the well-being of society. The IUPAC effort in atmospheric chemistry data evaluation can be traced back over 40 years. Global concerns over potentially catastrophic stratospheric ozone depletion resulting from emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) led to the creation of the CODATA Task Group on Chemical Kinetics in 1977. The task of the CODATA group was to provide the evaluated kinetic data for atmospheric reactions needed to assess the threat to stratospheric ozone. In 1989, sponsorship of the data evaluation effort was transferred to IUPAC, leading to the formation of the IUPAC Task Group on Atmospheric Chemical Kinetic Data Evaluation.

In June 2017, the World Economic Forum published their choice of the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017 [1]. As a chemist who has spent his life in basic and applied research and also many years in innovation and foresight activities, I wanted to know how much chemistry is needed in the future. My first reading of the paper surprised me and made me wonder. Why is chemistry only mentioned once, and then only as an application? So I looked deeper for chemical contributions in the various technologies, and will report in detail here what I found. Direct quotes from the original article [1] are indicated by quotation marks. Illustrations from the original article are used with permission from the World Economic Forum.

In August 2016, the American Chemical Society (ACS) announced its plans to develop a chemistry preprint service, and that it was seeking collaborators as well as input from all stakeholders to ensure that the service met the needs of the chemical community [1]. A year later, nearly to the day, on 14 August 2017, the ACS and its collaborative partners, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the German Chemical Society (GDCh), launched the beta version of ChemRxiv (pronounced ‘chem-archive’), as a non-profit, free service for chemists around the globe. All three partners are supplying financial support. But why chemistry and why now, more than a quarter of a century after the first preprint server, arXiv, was launched to serve the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and computer science? (Coincidentally, arXiv was also launched on August 14th) [2]. To answer these questions, I spoke with Dr. Darla Henderson, ACS’ Assistant Director of Open Access Programs, who brought me up-to-date on the status of ChemRxiv as it approached its first birthday.

Every two years, IUPAC holds an election for its officers and committee members. About 120 individuals are to be elected or reelected either as Titular Members, Associate Members, or National Representatives. Information concerning the voting process and the role of each kind of member is contained in the Union bylaws (see https://iupac.org/who-we-are/organizational-guidelines/)

Mirabbos Hojamberdiev (Uzbekistan) has been awarded the 2018 IUPAC-CHEMRAWN VII for Green Chemistry in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of green chemistry.

The IUPAC Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights (CIAAW) met under the chairmanship of Dr. Juris Meija, at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, in September 2017. Following its meeting, the Commission recommended changes to the standard atomic weights of 14 chemical elements.

The 2019 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.

In celebration of IUPAC 100th anniversary of IUPAC and of the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table, IUPAC and International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) are creating a Periodic Table of Younger Chemists. Beginning in July 2018 and ending in July 2019, a diverse group of 118 outstanding younger chemists from around the world will be honored. The resulting periodic table will highlight the diversity of careers, creativity, and dedication of the young chemists leading this community into the next century. Each ‘Young Chemist Element’ is profiled on the IUPAC100 website.

The American Chemical Society Division of Medicinal Chemistry is pleased to announce that four medicinal chemists, Paul Erhardt, John Katzenellenbogen, Yvonne Connolly Martin, and Emma Parmee, have been inducted into the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame at the Boston ACS meeting. The induction ceremony was held on Tuesday, 21 August 2018. Two of them are IUPAC members.

In 2017, IUPAC completed a very successful General Assembly (GA) and World Chemistry Congress in São Paulo, Brazil. Council decided the 2021 WCC/GA will be held in Montréal, Canada 2021 and The Hague, Netherlands in 2023. In 2019, the IUPAC GA and Congress will be held in Paris, France and will celebrate IUPAC’s Centenary.

In a press release dated 30 December 2015, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) announced that a thorough review by independent experts of the experimental data available for the syntheses of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 has been concluded, and that the discovery of the four elements completing the 7th row of the periodic table was confirmed. The elemental names and symbols proposed shortly thereafter by the corresponding discovery teams met the criteria prescribed by IUPAC for naming new elements, and nihonium (Nh), moscovium (Mc), tennessine (Ts), and oganesson (Og), became permanent within a few months. As such, the ending of the name of element 118 and its location in the periodic table, below radon in group 18, are consistent with the assumption that oganesson could be regarded as a noble gas.