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This conference is the latest in a highly successful series, the
most recent of which have been held in Venice (1998) and Amsterdam
(1996). The Warsaw Conference was held under the auspices of the
Polish Academy of Sciences, the State Committee for Scientific Research,
and the Polish Chemical Society, in addition to IUPAC. The Chairman
of the Organizing Committee was Prof. Mieczyslaw Makosza, and the
Secretary was Dr. Andrzej Konowal. The almost 700 participants were
treated to a wonderful conference, which lived up to the standards
of its predecessors, both in terms of scientific content and social
hospitality.
The scientific program was arranged in four sections covering new
synthetic methods, stereoselective synthesis, metal-mediated synthesis,
and target-oriented synthesis. Eight plenary lectures were given
by Ryoji Noyori, Bernd Giese, Clayton Heathcock, Manfred Reetz,
Alessandro Dondoni, Max Malacria, Janusz Jurczak, and Alan Katritzky,
and there were 26 invited section lectures. (Manuscripts from ICOS-13
appear in the September 2000 issue of PAC, Vol. 72, No. 9.)
The Thieme-IUPAC
Award Lecture was given by Alois Fürstner, and was one
of the highlights of the entire conference. The major contribution
of this award by Thieme has become a central feature of the ICOS
series.
The Fürstner lecture, with its originality, brilliant insight,
and clear exposition, was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by
the large audience. There was also a half-day minisymposium on green
organic synthesis, which comprised 5 interesting and varied lectures
on this fundamentally important area.
A very encouraging aspect of the conference was the presentation
of 65 oral presentations and 215 posters, many by young postgraduate
students. For the first time in this series, poster prizes were
awarded-one for the best poster in each of the two evening sessions.
The standard was extremely high, and the choice was almost impossible.
The panel eventually awarded prizes to Faye Watson (Southampton)
and Mateus Mach (Warsaw), who received the lasting value of a "Gold
Book" from IUPAC, and a more immediately gratifying bottle
of wine from the conference organizers. May these awards become
another tradition!
The conference was held within the impressive and atmospheric Palace
of Culture and Science, visible from most parts of Warsaw, and the
scene of former major political events. The official social program
included a splendid opening reception in the Congress Hall foyer,
a delightful chamber music concert in the Congress Hall, and a very
jolly conference dinner in the Sobieski Hotel. Unofficially, of
course, there was much more. Prof. Makosza and his team are to be
congratulated on the great success of ICOS-13, especially as they
agreed to stage this meeting on rather short notice. The main outcome
of ICOS-13 is that synthetic organic chemistry is clearly a thriving
and vibrant activity. The next meeting in this series, ICOS-14,
is scheduled to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 14-19
July 2002.
Prof. David StC. Black
Secretary, IUPAC Organic and Biomolecular
Chemistry Division III
School of Chemistry
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia