3^rd International Symposium on Green Chemistry

The 2015 edition of the International Symposium of Green Chemistry was held in La Rochelle (France) from May 3^rd to May 7^th (http://www.isgc2015.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 other sponsors. ISGC-2015 was one of the major international rendez-vous in the field of green chemistry and gathered more than 800 participants (including 30% from industry) from 46 different countries. Furthermore, ISGC-2015 also welcomed two satellite events: (1) the European Training School on Green Chemistry chaired by Prof. R. Luque and (2) a satellite event organized by L'OREAL and co-chaired by Dr M. Dalko and Prof. M. Lakshmi Kantam.

ISGC-2015 was the place to gain knowledge on recent scientific breakthroughs and to share research and innovation in the field of green chemistry. To stimulate discussions and creativity, ISGC-2015 was an interdisciplinary platform with attendees not only from different scientific disciplines but also from different horizons (academia, industry, education, networking, investors, etc.).

ISGC-2015 focused on broad topics such as biomass, alternative solvents, atom economical synthesis, waste, eco-technology, environmental and ethical assessments, predictive methods, clean hydrogen production and polymers/materials. The articles in the Green Chemistry web collection highlighting research presented at ISGC-2015 demonstrate the cutting edge developments being made in these areas. The web collection can be found online here: http://rsc.li/isgc-2015.

All topics were opened by 9 invited lectures given by eminent scientists of the field. Apart from the lectures, ISGC-2015 presented six parallel sessions (including 18 invited keynotes and more than 260 oral communications), 360 posters and a debate on “how green chemistry is integrated in a strategy of sustainable development”.

During ISGC-2015, a number of awards were delivered: (1) a young researcher award (<35 year old) given by the Global Network of Green Chemistry Centers, (2) two “green chemistry awards” given to two senior scientists and sponsored by the CNRS and the Poitou-Charentes region and (3) two poster prizes awarded by Green Chemistry.

One of the initial key objectives of ISGC is to discuss the future of and challenges facing Green Chemistry. In this context, the valorization of waste, the use of biomass for the production of materials and organic building blocks, multifunctional catalysis, predictive methods, physical technologies, alternative solvents, mechanistic tools and networking/education has particularly emerged during discussions. Collaborative public/private partnership was also pointed out as one of the keys to accelerate innovation in the field of green chemistry.

Due to the growing success of ISGC, we are pleased to announce that we will organize a fourth ISGC that will be held on May 16^th–19^th 2017 in La Rochelle (France). All information will be posted shortly on the ISGC website (http://www.isgcsymposium.com). On behalf of the local organizing committee, we would like to give 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, the international scientific board and our panel of reviewers who greatly contributed to the success of this wonderful symposium.

We look forward to seeing you in 2017 in the beautiful city of La Rochelle.

Footnote

† CNRS: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

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