Asian chemists have found an exciting experience to visit Japan to attend international symposiums and get the chance to discover distinct presentation styles between Asian and European/American scientists and not to underscore interaction with sufficient eminent chemists. The year 2013 marks the first time the Junior International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia held its 3rd Meeting in Chiba, Japan. Renowned for its globally-oriented industry, diverse culture, amazing cuisine, and a populace that brims with vitality, Chiba during November 22 to 25 hosted what is described as region’s one of the most important scientific conferences. The conference provided a valuable opportunity to young Asian chemists to present major advances in organic chemistry research and enabled the exchanging of ideas for possibilities of meaningful collaborations in the future.
A keynote lecture on “Developing Diversity-Generating Synthetic Methodology Based on Metal Catalysis” was also delivered by Prof. Dr. Young Ho Rhee (Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea). Prof. Dr. Chun-Cheng Lin (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan) and Prof. Dr. Ang Li (Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, China) talked about “Chemical and Enzymatic Syntheses of Carbohydrate Oligomers” and “Total Synthesis of Polycyclic Natural Products Using 6π Electrocyclization”, respectively. The event was participated by over 60 students and young researchers from East Asian countries including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Dr. Allan Patrick G. Macabeo of the University of Santo Tomas, Philippines and Dr. Nguyen T. Diep of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology are among the Asian contingent. Dr. Macabeo’s travel and accommodation was made possible through the support of the Asian Core Program (ACP) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
The program kicked off on the second day by an opening ceremony which later was highlighted by 16 oral and 36 poster presentations on various research areas in organic chemistry ranging from total synthesis of biologically active natural products, new synthetic methodologies, cutting-edge catalytic studies, natural products chemistry and chemical biology. Dr. Macabeo presented his paper “Rapid Stereoselective Access of Complex Furanocembranoid Substructures and Arteludovicinolides from Furan-Derived Cyclopropanes.” The awarding and closing ceremonies were followed by a short cultural trip to a stunning view of autumn leaves at the highly popular Naritasan Shinshoji Buddhist Temple.
The 3rd ACP Junior Conference was organized by the faculty and students of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University and chaired by Prof. Dr. Atsushi Nishida (Chiba University, Japan) in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Minoru Isobe (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan).
