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Vol.
27 No. 2
March-April 2005
Phosphorus Chemistry
by Pascal Metivier
The 16th
International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry
was held 4–9 July 2004 in Birmingham, England, UK. This
tri-annual conference provides a forum for the scientific
community to discuss the latest results in the field as well
as potential future developments.
The conference, which attracted 480 delegates from 35 countries, offered 156 oral presentations and 240 posters. An important part of the conference has been devoted to the application side of phosphorus chemistry, which has encouraged strong industry participation. This conference was sponsored by Rhodia, one of the major phosphorus chemical manufacturers.
The major trends that can be drawn from this conference are the following:
- Phosphorus chemistry is one field where innovative and “non classical” type structures can be obtained. Most of these structures present very specific electronic properties, which opens new horizons in terms of potential applications.
- Research into polymers containing phosphorus moiety is an important emerging area, with potential implications for surface science and biochemistry.
- There is a clear shift in phosphorus chemistry toward catalysis and surface science. In turn, there is diminishing interest in research and development for some of the more classical applications such as agrochemicals or flame-retardants.
- Biological and medicinal chemistry remains one of the key fields for phosphorus chemistry, with the continuing development of oligonucleotides and their use as antisense drugs and the use of phosphorous for antiviral applications and treating bone related diseases.
Full abstracts of oral and poster presentations, as well as photos, are available at the conference Web site <www.icpc2004.com>.
The next conference will be held in Xiamen, China, in 2007. Professor Yufen Zhao will be the conference chairman.
Pascal Metivier <[email protected]> is the director of research and development for Phosphorus and Performance Derivatives at Rhodia. He served as the chairman of ICPC 2004.
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last modified 2 March 2005.
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