Since 2006, IUPAC has promoted the biennial International Conferences on Green Chemistry (ICGC) series through the former Subcommittee on Green Chemistry.[1] These conferences, which attract several hundred scientists and technologists from all over the world, bring together representatives from academia, research institutes, and industries to exchange and disseminate new ideas, discoveries, and projects on Green Chemistry and sustainable development. Following successful meetings in Dresden, Moscow, Ottawa, Foz do Iguaçu, and Durban, the conference traveled to Venice, Italy for 5 days from 4 to 8 September 2016.[2] The event was held at the Centro Culturale Candiani and the Teatro Toniolo of Venezia Mestre in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Rich in history and culture, each year Venice welcomes more than 20 million visitors from all over the world.
The 6th International IUPAC Conference on Green Chemistry (ICGC-6) was managed by Prof. Pietro Tundo, from Ca’ Foscari University of Venezia, alongside the Organizing Committee of Venezia, composed of Prof. Fabio Aricó, Prof. Lucio Ronchin, and Prof. Andrea Vavasori from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, as well as the Secretary of the Conference, Dr. Emilia G. Pasta. The Organizing Committee was supported by the Web Manager, Mr. Roberto Dallocchio, from CNR Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare – Sassari, Italy.
The Conference was divided into five topics:
Green Materials;
Green Industrial Processes and Molecular Innovation;
Green Bioprocesses;
Green Energy; and
Green Policy and Education.
The theme of the 6th International IUPAC Conference on Green Chemistry was Sustainability through Green Chemistry, a clear imperative nowadays and for the future generations as highlighted by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, in her address on the occasion of the PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Award-Giving Ceremony in St Petersburg, 2 June 2017:[3]
“We need chemistry to move forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
We need chemistry to eradicate poverty.
We need chemistry to bolster health.
We need chemistry to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
In a word, we need chemistry for human rights and dignity, to leave no one behind.
Not just any chemistry …
We need Green Chemistry ... sustainable chemistry … chemistry that respects the boundaries of the planet ... chemistry that is inclusive, that works for the benefit of all … Indeed, the modern world, as never before, needs Green Chemistry”.
The Conference was endorsed by UNESCO and was sponsored by diamond sponsors PhosAgro and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); platinum sponsor Milestone; gold sponsors Mapei, Cefic, L’Oréal and Ecopneus; silver sponsors Nemo Glass and Perkin Elmer; and bronze sponsors Biogest and Pirelli.
The success of ICGC-6 is reflected in the numbers: 580 registrations from 76 countries, 400 active participants, four daily parallel sessions, six plenary lectures, 20 keynote speeches, two symposia, three roundtable discussions and about 250 original scientific reports.
Schedule of the 6th IUPAC Conference on Green Chemistry
ICGC-6 kicked off on Monday, the 4th of September at the Teatro Toniolo of Venezia Mestre with Prof. Tundo’s welcome message.
A number of prestigious awards were presented: the CHEMRAWN Award for Green and Atmospheric Chemistry and the PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC awards. The winner of the 2016 IUPAC – CHEMRAWN VII prize for Green Chemistry was Dr. Ali Maleki, from the Iran University of Science and Technology. After Dr. Maleki’s award was conferred, Prof. John Corish, Trinity College, University of Dublin (Ireland) took the floor to oversee the presentation of awards to the six winners of the 3rd edition of the PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC “Green Chemistry for life” award. The six winners were: A. Akhmetshina (Russia), I. Carrera (Uruguay), M. Ismail (Pakistan), E. Ravera (Italy), A. S. Elsayed Sayed (Egypt) and W.C. Wanyonyi (Kenya). The Opening Ceremony was moderated by the journalist Gloria Bertasi.
During the Conference two symposia of international relevance took place: “Green Chemistry for Sustainable growth: Challenges and Returns” organized by UNESCO, PhosAgro and IUPAC and a second sponsored by OPCW, in which delegates considered Green Chemistry as a principle and a means to oppose military usage of chemical compounds. With UNESCO support new ideas arose from the application of Green Chemistry to restoration and cultural values conservation, while the pharmaceutical industry brought experiences and data on chemical reaction performed by using water in place of chemical solvents.
Three open round table discussions provided attendees with the opportunity to engage in in-depth discussion on key issues. The first was dedicated to Green Chemistry in industry. Indeed, the massive participation of industries and companies, both Italian and international, was one of the great successes of ICGC-6. Representatives of companies from a variety of sectors agreed on future industrial strategies proposed by IUPAC, which is seen as a scientifically authoritative, independent and trustworthy institution. Examples of some of the topics covered by speakers drawn from industry included: a detailed presentation from ENI on the technical aspects of the Marghera hydrogenation plant; Mapei showcased the use of recycled materials in the building industry; and a speaker from Pirelli talked about innovative production arising from the use of renewable materials.
As the Conference Secretariat received many scientific proposals concerning the analysis, structure, utilization, and exploitation of chemicals and materials from plants in Africa and India, the Conference Organizing Committee decided to organize a second round table to provide a forum for scientists from these regions as, huge geographical dispersion means that it can often be challenging for experts in these regions to meet each other.
The theme of the third round table topic was education and this took place on September 8th after the education-dedicated session. It was an interesting opportunity for comparison and dialogue as many young researchers, students and representatives of international organisations gave their opinion on the best way to teach, to learn and to share knowledge.
The Closing Ceremony saw the award lecture of Dr. Ali Maleki, who gave a detailed exposition of the project that allowed him to win the CHEMRAWN prize. The title of his lecture was “Green Reaction Media Protocols: From Solvent-Free to Catalysis State-of- the-Art”.
Poster prizes were also awarded during the closing ceremony and were based on the selections of a group of judges, expert in diverse areas of Green Chemistry, who evaluated the posters and questioned the presenters in the poster sessions held on Monday and Tuesday. The poster sessions could be considered one of the greatest successes of ICGC-6, for the originality and the high scientific value of the contributions, for the significant number of young people that shared their interesting research and for the enthusiasm demonstrated by the participants in the session – the organisers considered this to be the most diverse and richest (both with regards to science and engagement) poster session at any ICGC to date – a record was undoubtedly established. The winners of the poster prize certificates were: Daichi Nakayama, Muroran Institute of Technology (Japan); Yuki Takada, Nagoya University (Japan); and Klara Čebular, Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia). The winners of the poster prize publications were: Stefan B. Lawrenson, University of York (UK); Stefania Trita, TU Kaiserslautern (Germany); and Roxanne Brion-Roby, Université du Québec à Rimouski (Canada).
The expectations of the ICGC-6 Organizing Committee were completely met. Issues of (inter)national relevance were discussed in several sessions. New challenges in different sectors were considered by the 400 scientists that gathered in Venice, including: restoration and cultural values conservation, chemical weapons prohibition, innovative pharmaceutical production processes, and environmental protection. Evidence was presented that suggests that chemical industry is transitioning from the “twentieth century monster” responsible both for development and environmental and health issues for mankind, to become a leading force for sustainable development and that decades of research in thousands of universities and laboratories around the world is providing new opportunities for development while maintaining resources and environmental protection providing hope for populations all around the world.
The Conference Papers arising from the 6th International IUPAC Conference on Green Chemistry has led to two full Special Issues of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Twenty-nine original scientific articles have been selected from the most outstanding contributions at the Conference.
The Series of IUPAC Conferences on Green Chemistry has become a key event in the field: the 7th ICGC was recently held in Moscow[4] and the 8th will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in September 2018.[5]
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Elena Griguol for her professional work in drafting this paper.
©2018 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
