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Vol.
29 No. 2
March-April 2007
Eurasia Conference on Chemical Sciences
by U.K. Pandit
The 9th event in the series of EURASIA
Conferences on Chemical Sciences was organized
from 9–13 September 2006, in Antalya, Turkey, by the
Society of Biological Diversity, Ankara. The National Organizing
Committee was chaired by Bilge Sener and Hitoshi Ohtaki. The
choice of Turkey as a venue was especially appropriate in
view of its special location and character as a bridge between
Europe and Asia.
The conference, which was IUPAC sponsored, was attended by 268 participants from 35 countries. The participation of a large group of active young Turkish chemists was made possible by the financial support of the national organization TUBITAK.
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Bilge Sener (left) and Hitoshi Ohtaki, chairpersons of the 9th Eurasia Conference on Chemical Sciences, during the closing ceremony on 13 September 2006. |
The scientific program consisted of 10 plenary lectures, including one by a Nobel laureate, 35 invited lectures, 12 session lectures, 24 oral presentations, and 128 poster presentations. Topics covered in the conference program included biodiversity and natural product chemistry, biomolecular chemistry, catalysis and nanotechnology, computational chemistry, coordination chemistry (mini-symposium), environmental and analytical chemistry, and materials science and solution chemistry. The following lectures give a sense of the overall quality of the conference:
- “Search for Cytotoxic Compounds from Thai Medicinal Plants,” HRH Princess C. Mahidol
- “Molecular Machines for Protein Degradation,” R. Huber
- “Chemical Evolution Towards the Origin of Life,” B.M. Rode
- “Semiochemicals for Insect Pest Management,” T. Norin
- “Bioorganic and Chemical Biological Chemistry on the Basis of Organic Synthesis,” M. Isobe
- “Chemistry and Applications of Porous Coordination Polymers,” S. Kitagawa
- “Chemistry in Asia with the Cooperation of European Countries,” H. Ohtaki
At
the closing ceremony, prizes were awarded for the three best
oral presentations and the three best posters.
Before
this report went to press, news was received of the sudden
and untimely death, on 5 November 2006, of Hitoshi Ohtaki.
Professor Ohtaki was a much admired personality, both
within IUPAC and on the international chemical scene.
He enthusiastically promoted international cooperation
and took it upon himself to publicize Japanese science
to the wider world.His plenary lecture at EURASIA 9 will
serve as a memorable contribution to that goal. Professor
Ohtaki will be missed by all those who came to know him
over the years. |
Upendra
K. Pandit <[email protected]>
is a professor at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
He is a long-time member of IUPAC and was president of the
Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Division.
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last modified 9 April 2007.
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