2011 is the International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011), a worldwide celebration of the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind. ChemComm is marking IYC 2011 by publishing a series of ‘Highlights in Chemistry’.

We have approached some of the most prominent researchers in the chemical sciences to look back over the most significant chemical advances in their areas of research since the millennium and present their outlook for the future in these short, review-style articles.

We hope the Highlights in Chemistry series will appeal to ChemComm’s broad chemistry readership and introduce non-specialists to significant fields that will continue to be important for the next generation of chemists.

Each issue of ChemComm in 2011 will contain a Highlight in Chemistry but we are also collecting together the articles on this page as they are published to promote this significant IYC 2011 activity and make them easy to browse.