Vol. 32 No. 1
January-February 2010

From the Editor

There are many ways to close a year and to begin a new one. This year, I chose to walk down memory lane by instituting my own miniupac awards. In looking back at 2009, I tried to recall a few simple, lasting things that made up my IUPAC year.

In the meeting category, the winner is the Bit Group, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; none of you have met these folks, but they are the web guys/girls who designed the IYC website. I had a great time working with them all year round. (If you have not visited www.chemistry2011.org recently, check it out for yourself!)

In the conference category, the ’09 miniupac award goes to the IUPAC Congress in Glasgow, UK; our colleagues at the RSC did everything they could and more to make that event memorable. Most of you were there, but if you want more of Glasgow, just plan to go to Macro2010!

In the not-so-easy topic category, I give the award to the mole and its porte-parole, Professor Ian Mills. This effort started with Mills’ feature in the March-April 2009 CI issue and was followed up in Glasgow with his presentation at the meeting of the Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and Symbols. For the next chapter in the story, turn to the article "What is a Mole: Old Concepts and New" (on page 6 in print).

In the keeps-getting-better category, I will put PAC under the spotlight. The journal Pure and Applied Chemistry continues to undergo changes and to transform itself into a contemporary scientific journal with both a timely online release and traditional printed version. Since 2009, the journal has been publishing “As Soon as Publishable” articles online before they appear in the print version—one of numerous new features to be found in PAC.

In the he-is-ready category, I give the award to incoming Division VIII President Richard Hartshorn, most likely the youngest-ever DP in IUPAC history (fact not checked). Regardless, he has already shown he is well suited for the job—see him all geared-up in the March-April 2009 CI (page 28 in print). Good luck Richard!

In the most-used-TLA (three-letter acronym) category, there was no contest: IYC is the absolute winner and likely to be again this year and next.

Now, the last of the miniupac ’09 awards is for the coolest and simplest online tool: The award goes to goldify. Despite the name, this is not one of James Bond’s latest gadgets. It is simply a pure and applied IUPAC product based on the Gold Book. Paste your text into the magic box and voilà, in return your text appears with all Gold Book terms underlined and linked to their definitions. Try it at <http://goldbook.iupac.org/goldify.py>.

This tool was developed by Bedrich Kosata and among various uses, it is applied automatically to all abstracts of PAC. So, enhance your online content by transforming your text into gold!
With that, I hope to see you in CI (or in Boston), and have a pure and happy chemistryear!

Fabienne Meyers
[email protected]