News & Notices
Minutes of 40th IUPAC Council Meeting
13-14 August 1999, Berlin, Germany
9. Reports of Division Presidents
9.1. Division I - Physical Chemistry
9.2. Division II - Inorganic Chemistry
9.3. Division III - Organic Chemistry
9.4. Division IV - Macromolecular
9.5. Division V - Analytical Chemistry
9.6. Division VI - Chemistry and the Environment
9.7. Division VII - Chemistry and Human Health
9.1. Division I - Physical Chemistry
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 64KB)]
The Physical Chemistry Division is most active in the so-called
core activities of IUPAC involving terminology, symbols, and evaluated
data compilations.
Prof. Cvita� pointed out that some insight into the impact these
core activities have can be seen from the contents of the CRC
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, the most frequently used
handbook by chemists, under the entry IUPAC. The entries are for:
atomic weights, kinetic data for atmospheric chemistry; nomenclature
of carbohydrates, nomenclature for organic substituent groups,
nomenclature for polymers, symbols for physical quantities, and
vapor pressure calibration data.
There are many more places in the Handbook where IUPAC data are
given, but the subject index at the back under IUPAC indicates
roughly how chemists perceive what IUPAC is doing and probably
what it is expected to do. These are the kind of activities we
want to see continued in the future.
Prof. Cvita� then described the status of the projects
currently listed in the IUPAC Handbook for the Physical Chemistry
Division. Of the 55 projects listed, 5 have been closed, 16 will
be completed in 1999, 30 by 2001, and 5 will continue beyond 2001.
A brief review of
publications by the Division was then given.
9.2. Division II - Inorganic Chemistry
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 33KB)]
Prof. Corish pointed out that he had provided a quite comprehensive
written report to Council on the activities of the Division. His
oral report was intended to highlight some particular items, to
describe the outcomes of the Division Committee meeting in Berlin,
and to answer any questions. He then reviewed the current structure
of the Division, including Commissions and Subcommittees. After
describing the activities of the Commissions, Prof. Corish noted
that the Division Committee had followed the proposals of the
Bureau regarding election of new members. This practice had resulted
in five new external members of the Division Committee for 2000-3.
The Division believes that this process will open up the Union
to new ideas and will improve further the quality of its work.
The Division is confident that it will continue and expand its
activities under the new project-driven funding mechanism. This
mechanism provides opportunities, especially for interdivisional
work, which were not there before. The Division has produced an
operational plan for its future, which would see three coordinating
groups assisting the new Division Committee. These groups will
be in the broad general areas of elements, molecular species and
materials. The Division Committee would also like to see new Commissions
established to deal with work on atomic weights and isotopic abundances,
and on nomenclature.
Prof. Corish then briefly described publications from the Division,
including work in progress on "Red Book II", and a revision of
the Red Book. He also described the work by Commission II.4 on
the International Measurements Evaluation Programmes (IMEP), stressing
that the existence of the Commission was essential in bringing
the international expertise together and noting the importance
of the work to the chemical industry. The participation of the
Division in the Strategic Initiative in Materials was also noted.
9.3. Division III - Organic Chemistry
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 11KB)]
Prof. Pandit in his report made the following points:
-
The Division has brought all its activities
under the "project structure" organization.
-
The working groups of the Division have consciously
aligned all their efforts with the goals and thrusts of the
IUPAC Strategic Plan.
-
Two organizational changes have been proposed for the Division.
Consultation with the Commission on Biotechnology has led to the
placement of the activities of the Commission in Division III.
It has been proposed that the name of the Division be changed
to the Division of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.
9.4. Division IV - Macromolecular
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 39KB)]
Prof. Gilbert reviewed the current structure of the Division and
noted the participation of the Division in the Strategic Initiative
in Materials. The Division organizes a World Polymer Congress
every two years with over 1200 participants. He then described
the projects of each Commission and the publications resulting
from the Division's work, as well as various educational initiatives
of the Division. Many Division projects have extensive industry
participation; the resources involved indicate the high value
which the world wide polymer industry places in the Division's
work. The Division has developed a web site that describes its
activities. This web site, which typically receives 500 visits
per month, is now being transferred to the main IUPAC web site
in North Carolina. Prof. Gilbert commented that the Division members
have responded enthusiastically to the new project system and
are developing new projects. The examination of the outcomes of
projects is expected to be an important new aspect of how the
Division operates.
The Division Committee has been restructured. Members act as
coordinators for different areas, i.e. nomenclature, characterization,
education, special projects, strategy and long-range planning,
and conferences.
The Belgian Delegate noted the many activities of the Macromolecular
Division are of interest to industry and commented that all Divisions
should share with COCI what activities they are conducting that
might be of interest to industry. The Delegate from Brazil asked
how members of the Division Committee are chosen to act as coordinators.
Prof. Gilbert replied that this decision is based on the expertise
of the members as much as possible.
9.5. Division V - Analytical Chemistry
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 20KB)]
Prof. Ingman began by describing the structure of the Division
Committee. He noted that the inclusion of the Commission Chairmen
in the Division Committee had greatly facilitated discussions
within the Division about moving into a new modus operandi.
At this General Assembly, the Commissions have taken steps to
ensure that present projects are completed during the next biennium
in order to be ready to adapt to a project-driven system in the
year 2001. Different bodies of the Division have already successfully
gone through the new process of handling project proposals.
Since the last General Assembly, the Working Party on revision
of the Compendium of Analytical Nomenclature (the "Orange Book")
has completed its work and been terminated. The task of keeping
the Orange Book up to date has been given to Commission V.1.
The Interdivisional Working Party on Redefinition of pH Scales
includes members from IUPAC Divisions I and V as well as from
National Metrological Institutes, BAM (Germany), NIST (USA), and
NPL (UK). It will have successfully completed its work by the
end of September and will then be terminated. The Working Party
will then have succeeded in establishing a link between pH and
the SI system of units, making pH measurements traceable to SI.
The Interdivisional Working Party on Harmonization of Quality
Assurance Schemes is a continuously ongoing activity coordinating
work being performed in IUPAC, ISO, IAEA, and EURACHEM, to give
but a few examples. The Working Party has published three projects
during the past biennium. Notable among them are:
Commission V.6, in cooperation with Academic Software, has successfully
completed a project resulting in a
series of Teaching Tutorials on CD-ROM, utilizing the IUPAC
databases, and making it possible to demonstrate - graphically
and in numbers - in real time the effects of changing conditions
in the system under study. Among the new projects, Prof. Ingman
highlighted the following:
The Working Party on Harmonization of Quality Assurance Schemes
has initiated three new projects:
-
Updated Harmonized Protocol for Proficiency
Testing
-
New structure of the information system on Certified
Reference Materials (COMAR)
-
Traceability concept in chemical measurement
Commission V.8 has initiated a project on the use of solubility
in the teaching of chemical concepts (with CTC)
A joint project, Nomenclature of hyphenated techniques, has been
initiated in cooperation with, at least Commissions V.2, V.3,
V.4, V.5, and IV.
In addition, the Division is aiming to become increasingly active
in Bioanalytical Chemistry and in submicro-analytical techniques.
Prof. Ingman concluded his presentation by saying that the Division
members have responded in a very constructive way to the propositions
to take up targeted, mission-driven projects of global importance,
and are ready to respond to future propositions from Council and
Bureau in an interactive way.
9.6. Division VI - Chemistry and the Environment
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 23KB)]
Dr. Miyamoto described the current organization of the Division
and noted that Commissions VI.5 and VI.6 will be combined into
a new Commission on Food Chemistry. He then noted that the Division
has an active program of collaboration with international organizations
such as the International Forum for Chemical Safety (IFCS), ISG-3,
the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), the
International Programme for Chemical Safety (WHO-IPCS), CICAD,
OECD/BIAC (Sustainable Chemistry), and ICSU/SCOPE.
The participation of the Division in the preparation of the special
issue on Environmental Oestrogens was noted as a major activity
in the past biennium.
The Division Committee felt that there were many positive aspects
to the proposed changes to the management of IUPAC's scientific
work. It was felt that these should be emphasized and the possible
drawbacks could be overcome by careful planning. To help in the
transition to the new structure, the Commission Chairmen have
been added to the Division Committee for the period 2000-2001.
Dr. Miyamoto then reviewed
the numerous publications of the Division in the past biennium.
9.7. Division VII - Chemistry and Human
Health
[Documentation in Council Agenda (pdf
file - 13KB)]
Prof. Wermuth described the plans of the Division to expand its
activities beyond the traditional areas of Clinical Chemistry
and Medicinal Chemistry. The work of the Division is to be divided
into seven program areas with 3-7 projects in each area.
-
Comtox: Toxicological exposures (food, environment);
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Nomenclature, Publications, Units, Guidelines;
-
Emerging Technologies: Combinatorial and automated
syntheses, nanotechnologies, robotics, artificial materials
and health;
-
Pharmaceutics: Drug metabolites, pharmaceutical
salts, chemical aspects of drug formulation;
-
Nutraceuticals and Self-Medication: Assessment
of pharmaceutical and toxicological properties of nutraceuticals
and self-medications;
-
Biomarkers; Markers for receptors, enzymes,
proteins, and mycotoxins; and
-
Bioinformatics: Drug design, modeling, and monitoring.
These programs will require the recruitment of new members from
disciplines not currently represented in the Division. It is felt
that the new project system lends itself to the development of
these interdisciplinary programs.
The delegate from Portugal suggested that all Divisions should
use a common report format, which should include fundamental information
such as publications, web site, etc.
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