Over 160 delegates from 14 countries signed up for the first International Symposia on Advancing the Chemical Sciences (ISACS) meeting in India to discuss ground-breaking research in organic materials and supramolecular chemistry. Held at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on 19-21 November, with an international scientific committee led by Professor S Ramakrishnan, this was the culmination of the ISACS series in 2015.
Professor Ramakrishnan, Chair of the Scientific Committee, delivers the opening remarks at ISACS18
Focusing on five key topic areas, all the scientific talks were extremely well-received, from engineering interfaces through the assembly of minerals and nutrients with Frank Caruso, to self-assembly and self-healing by molecular recognition with Akira Harada, to stimuli-responsive fluorescent molecular assemblies with Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh, and to rectification in single-molecule junctions with Latha Venkataraman. Exciting discussions also took place on the latest developments in bio-inspired and bio-relevant supramolecular systems, as the participants enjoyed outstanding contributions from Stefan Matile, Sijbren Otto and Jan van Esch, to name a few.
The poster sessions were extremely lively with 84 presenters discussing their work. Three poster prizes were presented, sponsored by Chemical Science, ChemComm and Chemistry World.
Ajith Mallia (L) and Emmanuel Etim won the Chemical Science and Chemistry World poster prizes, respectively
The Chemical Science-sponsored poster prize went to Ajith Ravi Mallia (IISER-Thiruvananthapuram) for his poster on how light-harvesting vesicular donor-acceptor scaffold limits the rate of charge recombination in the presence of an electron donor, while the ChemComm poster prize was won by Pritam Mukhopadhyay (Jawaharlal Nehru University) for his research on highly ambient stable naphthalenediimide-based radicals and radical ions. PhD student Emmanuel Etim received the Chemistry World poster prize (together with the customary mug) for his work on interstellar hydrogen bonding.
A Chemistry World panel discussion on building successful industry-academia collaborations discussed the challenges and advantages of partnerships between these two groups.
Royal Society of Chemistry members and ISACS18 delegates also enjoyed a special reception and conference dinner at the Fairfield Marriott.
View more ISACS18 photos on Chemistry World’s album on Facebook.
The next instalment of the ISACS conference series on the theme of Challenges in Organic Materials and Supramolecular Chemistry will be held in conjuction with the International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry (ISMSC) meeting on 2-6 July 2017 in Cambridge, UK – more details on registration and abstract submission dates to be announced next year.
Chemical Science Executive Editor May Copsey (L) with an ISACS18 poster presenter
Get involved in our upcoming ISACS:
Challenges in Organic Chemistry
20 – 23 March 2016, Irvine, USA
Early bird registration deadline: 18 January 2016
Challenges in Nanoscience
10-13 November 2016, Beijing, China
Oral abstracts deadline: 11 July 2016
Challenges in Inorganic Chemistry and Materials
Chair: Richard Layfield (University of Manchester)
Details to be announced soon
