Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No.2, March 1999

1999, Vol. 21
No. 2 (March)
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Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No. 2

March 1999

News and Notices from Other Societies and Unions

Present Status of Science in Cuba: Focus on Chemistry

Post-Revolutionary Development of Cuban Science
After the Cuban revolution in 1959, the new Government assigned science a high priority within the national development program. As early as January 15, 1960, at the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Cuban Speleological Society, Fidel Castro declared, "El futuro de Cuba tiene que ser un futuro de hombres de Ciencia." (The future of Cuba has to be a future of men of science.) Since 1991, January 15 is commemorated as the National Day of Science, and the highest award for the most distinguished Cuban scientists, the Medal "Carlos J. Finlay", is given by the Council of State. Those laureate scientists have included several chemists.

Present Status of Chemistry in Cuba
The beginning of the present status of chemistry in Cuba must be placed in 1961, when a major campaign against illiteracy was undertaken and more than 1 million Cubans learned to read and write in one year. Today, chemistry lessons start in the 8th degree (high schools); 28 university faculties graduate B.Sc. chemists (Licenciados en Química), chemical engineers, or chemistry teachers for high schools and colleges; and 3 Polytechnic Institutes in Chemistry graduate chemical technicians to work in factories and laboratories. In the last 35 years, more than 160,000 students have been graduated from these educational facilities as chemists.

The first research institutions created in 1963, after 1959's revolution, were based on the development of chemistry for the exploitation of Cuban natural resources. These include the Instituto Cubano de Investigaciones de Derivados de la Caña de Az�car (Cuban Research Institute of Sugar Cane Derivatives), founded to develop high value-added products from sugar cane by-products, and the Laboratorios de Investigación de Minerales "Isaac del Corral" (Research Laboratories of Minerals), with the purpose of exploring and chemically analyzing Cuban ores. Sugar cane crops and nickel ores were and are the most abundant natural resources in Cuba and were taken as the main basis for R&D efforts for a sustainable national development. Also in 1962, the Academy of Sciences of Cuba adopted a new organization and became a national body to support native scientific development.

In the 1960s and 1970s, emphasis was placed on the creation of new research and development facilities, where chemistry deserved a large investment. The modern era of chemical development in Cuba started with the inauguration of the National Scientific Research Center (1965) and the acquisition of the first mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers. Most of the chemists and biotechnologists working in Cuba at present took their initial steps in chemical research at that institution, where the monthly Revista de Ciencias Químicas (Journal of Chemical Sciences) is edited today. The other present-day Cuban chemical journal is the Revista Cubana de Química (Cuban Journal of Chemistry), edited at the University of Oriente and sponsored by the Cuban Chemical Society.

The biotechnological revolution came upon the world scene in the 1980s, and it provided an opportunity for the Cuban scientific community to be present at the forefront of science. Chemists have been involved in the production of alpha interferon from leukocytes since 1981, and a contagious working fever started with the acquisition and structural elucidation of recombinant proteins (via new mass and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers from Japan), development of diagnostic and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, production of restriction enzymes, etc. Several new research centers with well-equipped chemical laboratories were built, including the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (1986), Center of Immunoassay (1987), Institute Finlay (research, development, and production of vaccines, 1989), Center of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (1989), and Center of Molecular Immunology (1994). The support given to biotechnology led to the improvement of R&D in chemistry and a larger presence of chemists in national programs of decisive importance for the social and economic development of the country. Chemical R&D is present in 12 of the 14 National Programs in Science and Technology managed by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment, as independent or related projects in basic and applied research. At present, there are more than 220 scientific institutions in Cuba, without considering university faculties, and 40 of them (18%) are devoted, entirely or partially, to R&D in different fields of chemistry, including medicine, agriculture, oil, mining, textiles, heavy and light industries, sugar, food, cosmetics, etc. Today, Cuba spends 1.2% of its GDP on the development of science and has 1.7 scientists and engineers per 1000 inhabitants, figures that are very close to those of Canada and several times above those of most nondeveloped countries.

Success of the Third International Congress in Chemistry
The Cuban Chemical Society, CCS (an IUPAC Observer), was reorganized in 1978 after several decades of inactivity. CCS is one of the most active scientific societies in Cuba today, with more than 1000 affiliates, a number that significantly increased after the Third International Congress in Chemistry (1-4 December 1998), organized by CCS and sponsored by IUPAC, the Latin American Network in Chemical Science (RELAQ), and several foreign companies and Cuban scientific and industrial institutions. The Congress hosted around 700 participants from 19 countries, and 645 papers were presented as lectures, oral communications, or posters. The Congress demonstrated how chemistry is present today in all strategic plans for national development and showcased the high creativity of Cuban chemists in solving complex problems. Sessions devoted to chemistry education and the history of chemistry also attracted a large audience.

The aim of the Congress was to present and discuss, in a broad cultural and social atmosphere, recent scientific, industrial, and educational advances in all fields of chemistry. The significance and contribution of the Congress to international chemistry was underscored by the opportunities it provided for participants to have discourse with chemists from all parts of the world, taking into account the "transfer of knowledge" from developed to nondeveloped countries, mainly those from Latin America.

Plenary lectures included talks by Dr. Herbert Hauptman (Buffalo, NY, USA), Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1985), who presented his work on direct methods for determining crystal structures from X-ray diffraction data; Professor Rene Roy (Ottawa, Canada), who discussed his work on the design and synthesis of multivalent neoglycoconjugates for the study of nanoscale carbohydrate-lectin interactions; Professor Lester Mitscher (Lawrence, KS, USA), who discussed his experience with the use of combinatorial chemistry to develop new therapeutic agents; Professor Adamo Fini (Bologna, Italy), who discussed fundamentals and applications of microwave energy in several fields of chemistry, mainly organic synthesis; Dr. Julio San Roman (Madrid, Spain), who talked about his contributions to the development of natural and synthetic polymers for therapeutics; Professor Ernest Eliel (Chapel Hill, NC, USA), also IUPAC Representative at the Congress, who provided insights about chemistry teaching in high schools and colleges in the USA; Professor Jose Fernández (Havana, Cuba), who focused on his recent experience in mechanochemistry; and Dr. Rolando Pellón (Havana, Cuba), who presented his work about innovations on the Ullman-Goldberg reaction using water as a solvent. These last two lecturers were awarded the National Award in Chemistry, given for the first time in Cuba by the Cuban Chemical Society. The Opening Lecture about the present situation of science and chemistry in Cuba was delivered by the author, and has been summarized above in this article. CCS is working now to have worldwide participation in its International Congresses (programmed every three years). The Fourth International Congress in Chemistry is scheduled for 17-21 April 2001, at the Conventions Palace, Havana.

Future of Chemistry in Cuba
Cuban chemists are focused now on a more competitive chemistry and R&D to obtain products of social and economic importance for national development, such as new vaccines against AIDS, cancer, cholera, and dengue hemorrhagic fever; new therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and immune diseases; development of low-energy consumption technologies; studies of Cuban biodiversity for the exploitation of natural resources in terms of candidates to become new drugs; development of new materials for both medical and building applications; diversification of nickel production for high value-added products, and continuous evaluation of environmental impact for new investments, especially in the tourism area, as the main priorities.

Chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering are among those disciplines, according to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment, in which Cuba has to maintain or reach a level of excellence in R&D in order to apply scientific results to industrial technologies. This work is severely hampered by the restrictions of the U.S. trade and financial blockade, which imposes upon Cuban chemists austere limitations in terms of chemicals, equipment, and spare parts supplies, which have to be bought from Europe or Asia, whenever possible, at even fivefold times the current prices in the United States. Cuban chemists are meeting such challenges as the dawn of the Third Millennium approaches.


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