I  U  P  A  C






News & Notices

Organizations & People

Standing Committees

Divisions

Projects

Reports

Publications

Symposia

AMP

Links of Interest

Search the Site

Home Page

 

 

Report of IUPAC Activities
1999

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. MEMBERSHIP
  3. VITAL STATISTICS
  4. ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS
    • 4.1. MEETINGS
    • 4.2. FINANCES
    • 4.3. SECRETARIAT
  5. ACTIVTIES UNDERTAKEN DURING 1999
    • 5.1. SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
    • 5.2. EDUCATION/TRAINING ACTIVITIES
    • 5.3. PUBLICATIONS
    • 5.4. SPECIAL PROJECTS
    • 5.5. NEW AREAS OF INTEREST
  6. BRIEF REPORT OF USE OF 1999 ICSU GRANT AND UNESCO SUBVENTION
  7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PLANS

1. INTRODUCTION
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) was formed in 1919 by chemists from industry and academia. Over eight decades, the Union has succeeded in fostering worldwide communications in the chemical sciences and in uniting chemistry - academic, industrial and governmental - in a common language. IUPAC has long been recognized as the world authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized methods for measurement, atomic weights, and many other critically evaluated data. The Union has long sponsored major international meetings that range from specialized scientific symposia to CHEMRAWN meetings with societal impact.

At the 1999 General Assembly the IUPAC Council approved a major change in the management of the Union's scientific work. The current structure of Commissions responsible for specific areas of chemistry will be replaced by Task Groups working on limited duration projects. This new organization is intended enable the scientific work of IUPAC to better address the needs of the global chemical community and to lead to more rapid completion of projects. The new structure will take effect after the next General Assembly in 2001, however, the new project approval system has already been put in place and is functioning.

> read Minutes of 40th IUPAC Council Meeting, Aug. 1999, Berlin, Germany

2. MEMBERSHIP
The members of IUPAC are National Adhering Organizations. These are either National Academies of Science, National Chemical Societies, or associations of Chemical Societies. The NAOs pay National Subscriptions and can name delegates to the IUPAC Council, the Union's highest governing body. In addition, IUPAC has Associate National Adhering Organizations, Associated Organizations, Affiliate Members, and Company Associates.

3. VITAL STATISTICS
IUPAC has 45 National Adhering Organizations, 16 Associate National Adhering Organizations, 32 Associated Organizations, 4525 Affiliate Members, and 117 Company Associates.

Two new NAOs were admitted in 1999, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Turkish Chemical Society. The Tanzania Chemical Society was added as an ANAO. Over 1000 chemists participated in the work of IUPAC bodies. IUPAC sponsored 20 scientific meetings in 1999.

IUPAC publishes a newsmagazine, Chemistry International, a journal, Pure and Applied Chemistry, and books. It also maintains a web site, http://www.iupac.org. The newsmagazine is published bimonthly and is sent to approximately 6000 subscribers, including 400 free copies to chemists in developing and economically disadvantaged countries. It is available free on the IUPAC web site. Pure and Applied Chemistry is published monthly and contains lectures from IUPAC sponsored conferences and reports and recommendations from IUPAC bodies. Over 800 copies of PAC are printed each month. In 1999 the lectures of 14 conferences and 18 reports and recommendations were published in PAC. Nine reports were published in CI and three in other publications. Four reports in the Solubility Data Series were printed in the Journal of Chemical and Physical Reference Data. Eight books were published in 1999.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

4.1. MEETINGS
The IUPAC General Assembly is held biennially. The 40th General Assembly was held 7-14 August 1999 in Berlin, Germany. There were approximately 642 registered participants. The 37th biennial IUPAC Congress was held 14-19 August 1999 in Berlin, Germany. The theme of the Congress was Frontiers in Chemistry: Molecular Basis of the Life Sciences. The Congress was held jointly with the General Meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker. 1999 marked the 80th Anniversary of IUPAC and the 50th anniversary of the refounding of the GDCh. More than 2400 participants from 55 countries attended the Congress.

4.2. FINANCES
IUPAC's operating income for 1999 was approximately USD 1.3 million, operating expenses were approximately USD 1.3 million. There was a small operating surplus of USD 46 000. Income is mainly derived from National Subscriptions paid by the NAOs and from publications. Expenses are for operation of the Secretariat, expenses associated with the work of various IUPAC bodies, and the General Assembly.

4.3. SECRETARIAT
The IUPAC Secretariat is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. The staff of five provides support for the IUPAC officers, IUPAC bodies, and manages the Union's publication activities and its web site.

5. ACTIVTIES UNDERTAKEN DURING 1999
> A report summarizing IUPAC's activities in relation to its Strategic Plan is available >download Biennial Report, 98-99 (pdf 490KB)

Descriptions of IUPAC activities relating to the categories requested by ICSU are given below.

5.1. SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
IUPAC sponsored conferences have been mentioned above. Meetings of the Union's bodies were held both at the General Assembly and at other times and places. The results of the work of the Union's Commissions and Committees can be seen from the appended list of reports and recommendations published in PAC and other journals.

5.2. EDUCATION/TRAINING ACTIVITIES
In addition to the long-established programs of trying to improve the teaching of chemistry at the primary and secondary levels, particularly in developing countries, IUPAC bodies are engaged in educational activities at other levels. Plans are being drawn for CHEMRAWN X: The Globalization of Chemical Education: Preparing Chemical Scientists and Engineers for Transnational Industries. At intermediate levels, a report giving details of twenty-one tested and evaluated "Teaching Experiments in Solid State Chemistry" will shortly be made available to interested users on the web through the IUPAC web site. This educational resource is complemented by a bibliography on solid state chemistry to aid faculty seeking to add material on the solid state to introductory and inorganic chemistry courses.

Some specific recent projects relevant to education include a series of computer-based teaching tutorials of solution equilibria with contributions from analytical chemists in many countries, the creation of standard curricula and recommendations for minimum topics for lecture courses in polymer science; and a book on the Principles of Nomenclature that provides an easy-to-understand and usable overview of official IUPAC recommendations across the length and breadth of chemistry. IUPAC's current educational activities and potential initiatives in education are being examined by the recently appointed Education Strategy Development Committee (ESDC), which will recommend future program directions.

5.3. PUBLICATIONS
In addition to the publication activities already described, IUPAC assumed the role of publisher for its newsmagazine, Chemistry International, in 1999. This change has been successful, with the magazine appearing on a more timely schedule. The magazine's content has also changed, with more articles of general interest being published, in addition to the usual news of the work of IUPAC bodies. Pure and Applied Chemistry will be published by IUPAC, rather than by a commercial publisher, in 2000. This change has allowed the Union to keep the subscription price of PAC unchanged for 2000 from 1999.

5.4. SPECIAL PROJECTS
Two ad hoc committees were created in 1999 to study two areas of special interest. They are: the ad hoc Committee on IUPAC/ Industry Relations and the Education Strategy Development Committee. In addition, an IUPAC Roundtable on Nomenclature was organized and was held in March 2000. There were 41 participants representing diverse groups interested in nomenclature and the description of chemical structure.

5.5. NEW AREAS OF INTEREST
The areas of biotechnology and materials have been emphasized by the addition of the Commission on Biotechnology to the renamed Division of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry and by formation of an interdivisional task force on materials.

6. BRIEF REPORT OF USE OF 1999 ICSU GRANT AND UNESCO SUBVENTION
IUPAC had two projects supported by ICSU funds in 1999. They are briefly described below.

Cost effective chemistry in primary schools
A complete system for doing practical work from grade 4 to grade 7 in science has been carefully designed. The system consists of a pupil's pack, a facilitator's pack, and a chemicals pack and has the capacity to serve as a solution to lack of equipment and laboratories, safety problems, and even to limited teacher knowledge and skills in primary school science. In South Africa, the system has been exposed to more than 400 teachers who gave positive responses regarding its merits. It was also tried out extensively in three different schools at the four grades. The results of the study are highly positive in favor of the system. Because of lack of funds, the system has not yet been evaluated in other African countries; however, it has been extensively presented and exposed to quite a number of educators from different countries. This undertaking has been achieved partly with the support of UNESCO and IUPAC. Through support from PCBS, the kit was also presented at the ICSU-PCBS conference held in Budapest 24-25 June 1999. The presentation was well received, with many seeing it as a possible solution to the problems of practical work in science education.

Development of teaching materials for solution equilibria
During this period, the four-year writing stage of the tutorials has been completed and the advertising/ promotion/ distribution and review process has begun. It is this latter process that was covered by the grant from ICSU.
The SolEq tutorials on Solution Equilibria were completed in August 1999. The median target group is university senior undergraduates. The set of 27 tutorials and 8 supportive software packages are being produced on a CD. Leading up to this milestone, writing contributions were made by members of IUPAC Commission V.6, representing Sweden, New Zealand, USA, UK, Hungary, Australia, Russia, France, Japan and Portugal. Over 2-3 years the tutorials have been tested with student groups in Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, Russia, and Brazil. A new member has been added to the project team, with responsibility for preparing the Manual text files. The SolEq CD was officially 'launched' at the Berlin meeting of the IUPAC General Assembly.

7. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PLANS
The Union is in the midst of major changes in the way it manages its scientific work as well as how it handles its publications. The effects of these changes will become apparent over the next few years. It is expected that the result will be a more vibrant organization, better able to meet the needs of the global chemical community in both its traditional areas and in new areas of importance to developing and economically disadvantaged countries.

John W. Jost
IUPAC Excecutive Director

> View 2000 Report


Page last modified 16 June 2000.
Copyright ©1997-2000 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions or comments about IUPAC, please contact, the Secretariat.
Questions regarding the website, please contact web manager.