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Overview

41st IUPAC General Assembly - 38th IUPAC Congress
Brisbane, Australia, 29 June - 8 July
2001


more links
Highlights from the Bureau & Council meetings
Nominations & Bios
Council Agenda
GA info
President's report on the State of the Union
Trends in Furture Activities (Chem. Int. Sep 2001)

Overview 's references

> President's State of the Union Report
> Meetings attendance
> Election of IUPAC Vice President
> Election of the Bureau Members
> Approval of a new Division
> Establishment of two Commissions
> ad hoc Membership Development Committee
> A new look for Chem. Int.
> World chemistry Leadership Meeting


The 41st IUPAC General Assembly took place in Brisbane, Australia from 29 June to 8 July 2001. Meetings were held at the Queensland University of Technology (Bureau, Standing Committees, and Commissions) and the Old Customs House Building (Council). The 38th IUPAC Congress was held from 1�6 July at the Brisbane Convention Centre. This year was the first time that the General Assembly and Congress were held simultaneously. The schedule of the General Assembly was arranged to allow most participants to attend the Congress. This occasion was the last General Assembly at which all of the Commissions would meet. As a result of the motion adopted at the Berlin General Assembly in 1999, all existing Commissions will terminate at the end of 2001. IUPAC�s scientific work will now be carried out by Task Groups working on specific projects; these Task Groups will end with the completion of their projects.

The President�s State of the Union Report, the Secretary General�s column, and reports from the Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee follow this report. Reports from the Division Presidents and Chairmen of the Operating Standing Committees and the Committee on Printed and Electronic Publications can be found online at <http://www.iupac.org/news/archives/ 2001/ 41st_council/ agenda.html>.

The total attendance at the General Assembly was 483, as compared to 642 in 1999 at Berlin. Of this total, 384 were members of IUPAC bodies (518 at Berlin), 45 were invited Observers (82 at Berlin), and 94 were Council delegates (100 at Berlin), 40 of whom were also members of IUPAC bodies. The effect of the distance from the bulk of the members of IUPAC�s Commissions can be seen in the reduced participation in this General Assembly compared to that at Berlin.

Major actions taken at the General Assembly are described below, especially the results of the elections for IUPAC officers.

Sydnes Elected IUPAC Vice President
Dr. Leiv K. Sydnes, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bergen, Norway, was elected Vice President (President-elect) by the Council at the General Assembly in Brisbane. Prof. Sydnes will serve two years as Vice President and will assume the Presidency in January 2004.

Prof. Pieter S. Steyn (South Africa), current Vice President, will become President in January 2002.

Six Members of the Bureau were also elected by the Council. Dr. Edwin P. Przybylowicz (USA) and Prof. Gus Somsen (Netherlands) were reelected to second four-year terms. Newly elected to four-year terms were Prof. Chunli Bai (China), Prof. S. Chandrasekaran (India), Prof. Robert G. Gilbert (Australia), and Dr. Alan Smith (UK). Continuing elected members of the Bureau are Prof. Nicole J. Moreau (France), Prof. Oleg M. Nefedov (Russia), Prof. Hitoshi Ohtaki (Japan), and Prof. Gerhard Schneider (Germany). Biographical sketches of the Bureau candidates appeared in the May 2001 issue of CI, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 72�79, and are available online.

In addition, six new Division Presidents joined two continuing Division Presidents as members of the Bureau. Division Presidents beginning 1 January 2002 are

Prof. Nefedov was elected to the Executive Committee by the Bureau at its meeting on 8 July.

New Division and Commissions Established
At the General Assembly in Brisbane, the Council approved the formation of an eighth Division of IUPAC-Systematic Nomenclature and Structure Representation. The new Division will consolidate systematic chemical nomenclature activities in organic, inorganic, and macromolecular chemistry, which were carried out by three separate Commissions, and will assume responsibility for the IUPAC-IUBMB Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature. In addition, a major focus of the Division will be the increasingly important area of computer-based nomenclature and structure representation.

Responsibility for assignment of names to newly created elements remains with the Inorganic Chemistry Division, and all Divisions will continue to deal with terminology relevant to their disciplines.

Council also approved the establishment of a Commission on Physicochemical Symbols, Units, and Terminology and a Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights. These Commissions will continue the work of current Commissions with new and expanded responsibilities. Both were formed only after careful study by special committees, which reported to the Bureau on the desirability of continuing this work at the Commission level.

Ohtaki to Head New Membership Development Committee
An ad hoc Membership Development Committee [MDC] was established by the Executive Committee at the conclusion of the General Assembly. The MDC will encourage expansion in the Membership of the Union by undertaking and coordinating activities aimed at soliciting new National Adhering Organizations and Associate National Adhering Organizations.

Prof. Hitoshi Ohtaki (Japan) has been named by President Alan Hayes to chair the new committee. As a member of the IUPAC Bureau and Executive Committee, Prof. Ohtaki has been particularly concerned about potential expansion of the Union in Asia and will now coordinate aggressive efforts to develop IUPAC�s global character. The other members of the Committee are Prof. Berhanu Abegaz (Botswana), Prof. Robert G. Gilbert (Australia), and Dr. John Malin (USA).

Chemistry International to Get New Look
A redesigned Chemistry International (CI), the IUPAC news magazine, will appear in the coming months under a program approved by the Bureau. (See President�s Report on the State of the Union, Chem. Int. 23(5), 2001, p. 133 > online)

World Chemistry Leadership Meeting
On Monday, 9 July, a World Chemistry Leadership Meeting (WCLM) was held. There were 37 participants from 25 countries, including presidents of chemical societies, regional chemical federations, industry trade associations, representatives of developing countries, and the IUPAC officers. The two half-day meetings addressed two sets of issues. The morning session was devoted to the single topic of "Sharing Responsibility for Our Science - Chemistry Across National Boundaries�. IUPAC was requested to address this subject by a resolution of the meeting of chemical society presidents held in Berlin during the IUPAC General Assembly and Congress in 1999. This session addressed how the chemical societies of the developed countries plan, using the resources available to them, to work with chemists and chemical societies in developing and economically disadvantaged countries, to strengthen chemistry in those countries, and to assist in their development. The afternoon session considered subjects of common interest to the assembled chemical societies and other representatives of the world-wide chemistry community. Most of the session was devoted to a discussion of what various chemical societies and trade federations are doing to improve the public perception of chemistry and how to improve communication among the societies and thereby share information and successful ideas.


> Published in Chem. Int. 23(5), 2001

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