Exceeding all expectations: The enthusiasm for chemistry brought together more than 200 senior chemists from all professional fields in Hanau to listen to high-calibre presentations and use the meeting for lively discussions.
The organising committee, in particular Prof. Henning Hopf, Prof. Axel Kleemann and Prof. Heribert Offermanns, had put together a programme for the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Senior Expert Chemists of the CDCh in Hanau from 7 to 9 May that attracted more than twice as many participants as in 2007. The venue - the esscom on the grounds of the Wolfgang Industrial Park - was used to the last seat.
On the welcome evening, the participants accepted Materials Valley's gracious invitation. In the packed Heraeus Casino, Dr Wulf Brämer gave an introduction to the world of materials and precious metals and thus to the global significance of Hanau. In his presentation, the fortunes of companies such as Heraeus, Siebert, Vakuumschmelze, Degussa and Leybold were casually combined to form a network of world-leading expertise. The subsequent meal at the invitation of Materials Valley e.V. provided an opportunity to discuss what had been heard in greater depth.After the opening speech by Prof Horst Altenburg, the first lecture the next day - at the Wolfgang Industrial Park - was an informal continuation of the previous evening. Dr Karl-Gerhard Seifert reported on the metamorphosis of Hoechst: exciting and at the same time thought-provoking, because it was from the perspective of a former Hoechst board member.The following lectures covered a wide range of topics from global nutrition to stem cell therapy and natural product chemistry.
Prof. Friedrich Berschauer showed that targeted and adapted plant protection, fertilisation and the development of plants with improved resistance and, for example, short growing seasons are necessary to feed the growing world population. In an engaging lecture, Prof Stefanie Dimmeier reported on the potency and safety of current stem cell therapy.
Prof. Heinz Langhals showed how chemists successfully made the colour of the terracotta army of the first Chinese emperor "survivable" in light and air. Prof. Wilhelm Boland then spoke about protective substances that colourful leaf beetles use to defend themselves against enemies in both the larval and imago stages.
Before an extensive panel discussion on the topic of "Chemistry and energy - what comes after oil and gas?", which, as expected, left many questions unanswered, Dr Herbert Otteneder, a wine expert, gave an excellent overview of how modern and "classic" processes are gaining acceptance in this traditional industry in order to eliminate wine defects or support certain wine characteristics. Particularly informative were the explanations on the detection of adulteration, determining the origin of wine and checking the grape variety.
So that it didn't stop at theory, Prof Offermanns and Prof Kleemann then invited the students to a tasting of carefully selected wines from nearby Franconia. After the wine tasting, there was a "Hessian buffet" at the invitation of Wolfgang Industrial Park.
A special treat of a different kind was the "After Dinner Speech" by Prof Theo Dingermann "Freddie Mercury - Living with Aids". Introduced musically by "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen), the speaker gave an impressive account of the tragedy of the pop star's AIDS illness, the state of treatment options at the time and the spectacular progress made in diagnostics and treatment.On Saturday morning, Prof. Wolfgang Steglich presented "Remarkable facts from fungal chemistry", including the mechanism of some striking colour reactions of fungi with common laboratory chemicals. Fungal ingredients such as fungicidal strobilurins now protect stored grain in the form of UV-stable analogues. Prof Wolfgang Fratzscher then commemorated "Wilhelm Ostwald: 100 years of the Nobel Prize". In the award certificate, contributions to catalysis, chemical equilibria and reaction kinetics are mentioned as achievements of the great, but also unconventional researcher. Finally, Dr Joachim Schummer gave "an introduction to the philosophy of chemistry" and commented on the limits and ethical responsibility of chemical research.A discussion with GDCh President Prof Klaus Müllen and GDCh Managing Director Prof Wolfram Koch concluded the conference.
"Definitely continue!" was the result of a survey of 99 participants. In their overall assessment, 92% rated the 2nd SEC Annual Meeting as very good to good. The participants particularly praised the outstanding quality of the presentations as well as the variety and successful selection of topics.
"Will there be a sequel?" asked the report on the first annual meeting in 2007. This year, the question is rather "Can we build on the success of the second annual meeting at the third annual meeting?" The 3rd annual meeting of the SEC will take place in Bitterfeld-Wolfen in 2010. Thursday, 7 May | |
| Many, but not all presentations are available as PDFs. If you are interested, please send an email to Wolfgang Gerhartz | |
| Dr Wulf Brämer, Head of "Innovation Management" at Heraeus Holding GmbH, Managing Director of "Materials Valley e.V.", Hanau |
| Dr. Karl-Gerhard Seifert, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AllessaChemie GmbH, Frankfurt |
| Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Friedrich Berschauer, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer Crop Science |
| Prof. Dr Stefanie Dimmeler, Member of the German Ethics Council, Medical Clinic III, Hospital of the J. W. Goethe University Hospital |
| Prof. Dr. Heinz Langhals Department of Chemistry at LMU Munich Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry |
| Prof. Dr Wilhelm Boland, Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Jena |
| Dr Herbert Otteneder, Ltd. chem.Director (ret.); Lecturer, University of Kaiserslautern |
| Prof. Dr Theo Dingermann, Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, J. W. Goethe University Frankfurt |
Saturday, 9. May | |
| Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Steglich Department of Chemistry at LMU Munich |
| Prof. Dr Ing. habil. Wolfgang Fratzscher Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Member of acatech |
| Dr. phil. habil. Joachim Schummer, Berlin Chemist and philosopher, editor of HYLE - International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry |