Vol. 28 No. 2
March-April 2006

Macromolecule-Metal Complexes

by Francesco Ciardelli and Giacomo Ruggeri

Francesco Ciardelli, MCC-11 cochairman (right), and Giacomo Ruggeri, a member of the local organizing committee

The 11th International Symposium on Macromolecule-Metal Complexes (MMC-11), sponsored by IUPAC, was held in Tirrenia (Pisa, Italy) 10–13 September 2005, chaired by R. Barbucci, of Siena, and F. Ciardelli, of Pisa. The symposium was part of the series of regular biennial meetings of the MMC group sponsored by IUPAC Polymer Division.

Approximately 170 participants from 30 countries demonstrated the increasing interest and exciting progress in the field of macromolecule-metal systems and complexes, which is devoted to the synthesis of artificial combinations of metal ions/metals, ligands, and macromolecules and has the aim of creating new materials with a variety of properties.

The meeting was organized by the University of Pisa and University of Siena with the sponsorship of the European Polymer Federation; AIM (Associazione Italiana di Scienza e Tecnologia delle Macromolecole); The Society of Polymer Science, Japan; and the Chemical Society of Japan.

Scientific topics debated during the symposium included:

• biological aspects
• synthesis, formation, and characterization
• environmental applications
• binding of small molecules, sensors
• catalysis and photocatalysis
• conductivity, photoconductivity, and ionic conductivity
• electronic, optical, and magnetic applications
• alternative processes of energy conversion

As invited speakers, a number of specialists covered both basic areas and new developments. The founder and honorary chairman of MMC, Professor Tsuchida (Waseda University, Japan), gave an opening lecture on “Safety of Oxygen-Infusion and Efficacy as Artificial Red Blood Cells,” followed by invited speakers from 13 countries. All lectures and titles of conferences are available at <www.dcci.unipi.it/~bea/mmc-11>, along with information about poster sessions and poster awards. Nearly 100 other participants made oral or poster presentations.

Proceedings of this conference will appear in an upcoming issue of Macromolecular Symposia. > see vol. 235, 1-236 (2006)

Francesco Ciardelli <[email protected]> is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Pisa in Italy and was cochairman of the symposium with Rolando Barbucci, professor at the University of Siena. Giacomo Ruggeri, also professor at the University of Pisa, was a member of the conference’s local committee.