Vol. 28 No. 3
May-June 2006

Chemical Thermodynamics

by Andrey Ya. Borshchevsky and Svetlana S. Melkhanova

The Russian International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics (RCCT-2005) was held at Moscow State University from 27 June to 2 July 2005. This international meeting covered new developments in physical chemistry, including general topics of chemical thermodynamics, individual substances, solutions and melts, heterogeneous systems, and complex thermodynamic systems. RCCT-2005 attracted 476 participants from 27 different countries. The meeting was held under the auspices of IUPAC, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the D.I. Mendeleev Chemical Society. The scientific program embraced all aspects of modern chemical thermodynamics. Among the 15 plenary lectures were the following:

• “Thermodynamic Approaches in Material Chemistry," Y.D. Tretyakov (Moscow State University, Russia)
• "Lattice Vibration and Phase Transition of Quasicrystals and the Related Crystals," A. Inaba (Osaka University, Japan)
• "Thermodynamic Properties and Phase Equilibria of Alloy Systems Relevant for Lead-Free Soldering," H. Ipser, H. Flandorfer (University of Vienna, Austria)
• "The Swelling of Nonionic and Ionic Arcylamide Hydrogels in Aqueous Solutions," G. Maurer (University of Kaiserslautern, Germany)
• "Technical Features and Unique Features of the Modern Heat Flux DSC," J. Schawe, S.V. Averkiev (Mettler Toledo GmbH, Switzerland)
• "Thermodynamic Modeling of Multicomponent Ionic Melts," S.A. Degterev (École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada)
• "A New Field of Modern Thermodynamics—Nonequilibrium Nondissipative Thermodynamics," Ji-Tao Wang (Fudan University, China)
• "Progresses in Polymer Thermodynamics by Scanning Transitiometry," J.P.E. Grolier (Blaise Pascal University)

The head of the thermochemistry lab of Moscow State University, Prof. Lev. N. Sidorov (center), with a group of students who assisted with organizing the conference.

In addition, 155 oral and 488 poster contributions were presented in five parallel sessions. About 100 participants also took part in two round-tables: "Nanothermodynamics" and "Development of Thermochemistry in M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University."

During the closing ceremony, doctorate awards, sponsored by Elsevier, were presented by the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics to Alexey Popov (Lomonosov State University, Moscow, Russia) and Giuseppe Lazzara (University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy).

The conference program was released in the form of a book of abstracts (two volumes) and also on CD. Publications related to the conference will appear in a special issue of the Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry. The next conference in this series will be held in July 2007 in Suzdal, an inviting historical town situated about 400 km east of Moscow. Prof. Yuri Tretyakov is chair of the conference. See <www.isc-ras.ru/RCCT2007> for details.

Dr. Andrey Ya. Borshchevsky <[email protected]>, vice chair of the conference, is a professor in the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University.