Volume 43, Issue 4

Around the turn of the century IUPAC undertook a major restructuring. Commissions, which had been the heart of IUPAC’s scientific work for most of its 80-year history, were virtually eliminated and largely replaced with a system of peer-reviewed projects [1, 2, 3]. Brigitte Van Tiggelen asked Ted Becker, Secretary General in that key transition period (1996-2003) and a central figure in the restructuring effort, to reflect on the rationale for this significant change and to describe just what was done.

A 3-year IUPAC project Systems Thinking in Chemistry for Sustainability: Toward 2030 and Beyond (STCS 2030+, IUPAC Project #2020-014-3-050) [1] launched in late 2020 is breaking important new ground in addressing chemistry’s orientations, roles, and responsibilities in the 21 st Century and helping to map out implications for chemistry education, research, and practice. In taking on this ambitious task, STCS 2030+ draws on expertise available within IUPAC’s own structures, as a project co-sponsored by three IUPAC standing committees: the Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE), the Committee on Chemistry and Industry (COCI) and the Interdivisional Committee on Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development (ICGCSD). The project is also working with other organizations, such as the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), which is a co-supporter, and involves collaborators with individuals from organizations that include the Stockholm Resilience Centre [2], the American Chemical Society (ACS) Green Chemistry Institute [3], the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD 2022-23) [4], and chemistry educators and chemical industry from around the world.

The International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD) passes an important milestone in 2021, as 1 July marked the 40 th anniversary of its launch at a meeting hosted by UNESCO in Paris in 1981. Registered in Belgium, IOCD was originally established as the first non-governmental organization to focus on the need to develop opportunities for chemists in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) to progress professionally and work on projects of relevance to the development of their countries and regions [1].

IUPAC thrives to boost the impact of chemistry around the world. Recently, it established a new initiative—the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry—to showcase the tremendous importance of the chemical sciences by highlighting developments on the verge of becoming game-changing commercial breakthroughs [1]. Some have been truly transformational for our society, such as RNA vaccines and rapid tests, both key technologies to enable a smooth transition to the new normal after the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the Top Ten efforts continue—featuring a brand-new logo and further actions to disseminate and promote the project beyond this publication. The new selection of emerging technologies gathers both well-established, high-technology readiness level (TRL) applications and ground-breaking opportunities for the chemical industry. Of course, many of them still address the ongoing coronavirus crisis, focusing on new pharmaceutical solutions to prevent the spread of pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, many tackle the climate crisis and provide new roadmaps to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2]. The consequences of global warming are here—heatwaves, floods, and wildfires devastate our planet constantly. Chemistry will provide pivotal tools towards a sustainable future [3], many included in this singular selection. IUPAC experts have selected the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry 2021—ten ideas to catalyse industrial innovations and transform our world.

From January 2022 Chemistry International will be freely-available to all in electronic form and will no longer be available in print. The objective is to make it readily-available to a much broader audience. It will still be published four times a year and whilst retaining its familiar layout, will be web based in a page-turning format from both the De Gruyter and IUPAC websites.

IUPAC has released the results of its 2021 search for the Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry. The goal of this project is to showcase the transformative value of Chemistry and to inform the general public on the potential of the chemical sciences to foster the well-being of Society and the sustainability of our Planet. Following the same guidance as it did last year, the Jury The Jury was an international group of objective and unbiased experts who reviewed and discussed a pool of nominations, and ultimately selected the final top ten. The following comprised the panel of judges for the 2021 Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry: Chair, Michael Droescher, (German Association for the Advancement of Science and Medicine), Jorge Alegre-Cebollada (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, Spain), Sophie Carenco (French National Center for Scientific Research, France), Javier García Martínez (Universidad de Alicante, Spain), Ehud Keinan (Technion, Israel), Rai Kookana (CSIRO Land & Water, Australia), Greg Russell (University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Ken Sakai (Kyushu University, Japan), Natalia P. Tarasova (D. I. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Russia), and Bernard West (Life Sciences Ontario, Canada). , a selection of international experts, identified different emerging technologies, scientific advances in between a discovery and a fully-commercialized ideas, with outstanding capacity to open new opportunities in chemistry, sustainability, and beyond. The 2021 finalists are (in alphabetical order):

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change. The Sixth Report from IPCC Working Group 1 published in August 2021 paints a very sombre picture for the future. This report was commented on in a news item by the International Science Council (ISC) on behalf of its members, of which IUPAC is a founding member.

IUPAC and Gedeon Richter, Plc. are pleased to announce the 2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry.

We are delighted to announce the 2021 recipients of the established IUPAC-Zhejiang NHU International Award for Advancements in Green Chemistry. We congratulate  Gabriele Laudadio  from the Scripps Research Institute,  Lichen Liu  from Tsinghua University, and  Jingxiang Low  from University of Science and Technology of China as the early career award winners, and  David Milstein  from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel for the experienced chemist award.

Professor Joseph Wang of the University of California San Diego (UCSD), USA, is the first to be awarded the IUPAC Analytical Chemistry Medal—an award that recognizes a significant lifetime contribution to analytical chemistry and for researchers who have a substantial record of achievements demonstrated by the number and quality of their publications, by being actively involved in international partnerships as well as by their commitment in the training of the next generation of analytical chemists.

Provisional Recommendations are preliminary drafts of IUPAC recommendations. These drafts encompass topics including terminology, nomenclature, and symbols. Following approval, the final recommendations are published in IUPAC’s journal Pure and Applied Chemistry (PAC) or in IUPAC books. During the commentary period for Provisional Recommendations, interested parties are encouraged to suggest revisions to the recommendation’s author. https://iupac.org/recommendations/under-review-by-the-public/

The 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Canadian physician Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) and Scottish biochemist and physiologist John James Macleod (1876-1935) “for the discovery of insulin”. It was a remarkable finding since diabetes mellitus was an untreatable and often lethal disease until then. Much has been written about Banting and Macleod’s breakthrough research conducted at the University of Toronto starting in November 1920, including the key roles played by their trustworthy assistants, medical student Charles Best and biochemist James Collip. On the other hand, much less has been written about the pioneering research of Romanian physiologist Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931), whose work on the metabolic effects of canine pancreatic extracts predates that of Banting and Macleod but was interrupted by World War I. Should Best, Collip, or Paulescu have also shared the Nobel Prize?