Renewable carbon and eco-efficient processes

The 2^nd International Symposium of Green Chemistry: Renewable Carbon and Eco-Efficient Processes (ISGC-2) took place in La Rochelle (France) from May 21^st to May 24^th 2013 (http://www.isgc2013.com). This international event was organized by the Institute of Chemistry of Poitiers (a joint laboratory between the CNRS and the University of Poitiers) with support from Green Chemistry, among many others. ISGC-2 was a great success with more than 550 participants (including 21% from industry) from 37 different countries and received fantastic media coverage. This issue of Green Chemistry contains selected highlights of the research presented at ISGC-2.

ISGC-2 was opened by Paul T. Anastas and Ségolène Royal (Président of the Poitou-Charentes Region and Honorary MP, ex-minister) who pointed out ISGC-2 as one of the major international rendezvous for green chemistry in 2013.

ISGC-2 focused on broad topics such as conversion of renewable carbon (biomass, waste, CO₂), eco-efficient processes, catalytic materials and environmental impact of chemicals and processes. The articles in this themed issue demonstrate the cutting edge developments being made in these areas. All topics were opened by 9 invited lectures from academia and industry. Apart from the lectures, ISGC2 presented three parallel sessions (including 15 invited keynotes and more than 130 oral communications), 330 posters, a round table and an exhibition area. Two ISGC2 posters were selected and awarded by Green Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry), represented at ISGC2 by Sarah Ruthven (Editor) and Walter Leitner (Editorial Board Chair).

One of the initial key objectives of ISGC2 was to provide an environment that facilitated widespread interdisciplinary communication between scientists from academia and industry with the aim of identifying the future and challenges of green chemistry. In this context, the valorization of waste (especially food wastes) and the recycling of co-products, the design of multifunctional catalysts compatible with the composition and structural variability of renewable raw materials, the emergence of novel technologies and reaction media for catalysis (activation at low temperature), the development of new tools for the elucidation and prediction of reaction mechanism (modelization, real-time in situ characterization, etc.) were pointed out as top priorities at ISGC2.

Due to the success of ISGC2, we are pleased to announce that we are organizing a third edition of ISGC that will be held on May 3^rd–7^th 2015 in La Rochelle (France). All information will be posted shortly on our website.

On behalf of the local organizing committee, we would like to address a special thanks to all speakers and participants for the quality of their presentations and all fruitful scientific discussions we had during this scientific event. We also thank all our sponsors, partners and the international scientific board who largely contributed to the success of this wonderful symposium.

---