10th Asia Congress on Chemistry, Hanoi, Vietnam

by

Dr.Narayanan Kannan,

KORDI, SSI, Republic of Korea

The recent conference that I attended in Hanoi, Vietnam was unique in some sense. The Chemical society of Vietnam that wanted to have its annual meeting coupled the bi-annual meeting of Asian Chemical Society and the Eurasia Chemical Society. The result was a three-in-one conference in Daewoo Hotel, Hanoi during Oct.21-24, 2003. This three-in-one meeting was unique in having talks from three nobel laureates as well. It was a good chance for me to listen to these three inspiring lectures in Hanoi. It is not usual for an Environmental Analytical Chemist like me to see and talk to Nobel laureates. You don't see them in Environmental Chemistry Conferences!

The three Nobel laureates who participated in the meeting are

Prof.RYOJI NOYORI of Japan

Prof.YUAN T. LEE of Taiwan and

JEAN-MARIE LEHN of France

Prof.Noyori talked about Practical asymmetric catalysis technology that has given rise to enormous economic potential in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, animal health products, agrochemicals, fungicides, pheramones, flavors and fragnances. He impressed the audience with the potential of this technology which approximates or sometimes even exceeds that of natural biological processes. This is indeed apt for a Japanese whose country pay enormous importance to technology. His talk was on Oct.21,2003 at 10:00.

Every macroscopic chemical transformation, whether it is atmospheric ozone depletion or the burning of a candle, consists of millions of microscopic chemical events which involve collisions between molecules. It has been the dream of scientists for a long time to observe and understand the details of molecular collisions which transform reactant molecules into product molecules with our naked eyes. However, recent advances in experimental methods have made it possible to 'visualize' the exact details of how chemical reactions take place! That was what Prof.Yuan T. Lee of Taiwan spoke about. Typical for Taiwan that survives on technological innovation, Prof.Lee's team has designed a new laser technique with which you can visualize the chemical reaction. He promised the young graduate students of Chemistry who struggle to finish his/her PhD in three years to join his team for a promising degree within three years! His talk was on Oct.22, 2003 at 08.30. The same day I gave my keynote address on "Recent advancement in deep water sampling and analysis of environmental chemicals" at 10:30.

Prof.Jean-Marie Lehn of France, spoke about Supramolecular chemistry that has paved the way towards apprehending chemistry as an information science. He further elaborated that a most basic and far-reaching contribution of supramolecular chemistry is the introduction and implementation in chemical science of the concept of molecular information and its corollaries, instructions and programmed chemical systems, with the aim of gaining progressive control over the organization of matter. In his impressive talk which was 'Darwinean' in nature he elaborated further that the combination of the features of supramolecular systems: - information and programmability, - dynamics and reversibility, - combinatorics and structural diversity, points towards the emergence of the concept of adaptive chemistry, which implements both design and selection. Together with the corresponding fields of physics and biology, it constitutes a science of informed matter, of organized, adaptive, complex matter. His talk was on Thursday, Oct.23, 2003 at 08:30. Prof.Lehn has even time for a casual chat and photograph with other chemists after his talk.

From left to right: Prof.P.H.Viet (Vietnam), Prof.H.S.Thoang (Vietnam), Prof.J.Lehn (France), Prof.I.Bertini (Italy), Prof.H.V.Trung (Vietnam), Dr.N.Kannan [(Korea) - behind] and two other participants.