The Official Website of Intermational Conference on Solution Chemistry
The original idea of a meeting to discuss the widely diverse subject areas encompassed by solution chemistry was floated about 1965/6 by Professors Ron Gillespie (McMaster University, Ontario, Canada), Cliff Addison (Nottingham University, England), Viktor Gutmann (Technische Hochschule, Vienna, Austria), and Alex Popov (Michigan State University, USA). These founding fathers decided to arrange a Summer School on Non-Aqueous Solutions but firstly funding assistance had to be obtained. Eventually excellent support for the whole venture came from the scientific branch of NATO. 109 scientists, including ca. 90 graduate students, were gathered for a two weeks’ course of lectures in the pleasant semi-rural campus of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in late May 1967. Although not named as a conference on non-aqueous solutions such in 1967 it has always counted that this Symposium at McMaster University as the first of a series of Conferences which became known as ICNAS, International Conferences on Non-Aqueous Solutions.
The 2nd ICNAS was organized in Manchester, England, in 1970 where 149 participants were gathered together with Profs. Ken Bagnall and Cliff Addison as organising hosts. There was no turning back after 2nd ICNAS, the continuation was secured. This ICNAS conference was sponsored by IUPAC, as well as all future conferences. The series of ICNAS conferences was thereafter organized as biennially until 1986, see list below for venues and organizing host.
Not long after the establishment of ICNAS a group of like-minded people formed another group concerning itself with solution chemistry: the International Society for the Study of Solute-Solute-Solvent Interactions. This idea was first floated by Professor George Carpéni (University of Marseille, France). This Society first met in September 1972 in Marseilles under Prof. Carpéni’s chairmanship. Its success led to another Meeting in 1974, in the dual locations of Leuven and Wépion in Belgium. The Society meetings were concerned principally with physical and molecular interactions in solution and almost all the reported work concerned chemistry in the aqueous phase, and remained so over the next five Meetings. After the third Meeting in 1976 in Karpacz, Poland it was now fully realised that two series of International Meetings on Solution Chemistry were running concurrently; one concerned mainly with the aqueous phase, and ICNAS entirely concerned with non-aqueous solutions. The fourth Meeting of this group in 1978 in Vienna was entitled, 4thInternational Symposium on Solute-Solvent-Solute Interactions (IS4I), the first in the series to be sponsored by IUPAC.
With two important International Conferences on solution chemistry in the same year serious dating clashes were arising; IS4I and ICNAS were meeting biennially but unfortunately in the same year. 7thICNAS and 5th IS4I were both already planned for 1980, in Regensburg and Florence respectively. Participants complained that they had to make a choice of which conference they attended, thereby reducing the total number of overall participant attendances; grants and funding for travel to meetings have always been a major problem for many especially when they had to travel abroad from their home countries more than once in the same year.
Amicable resolution came about in 1980 at a lunch-time meeting at 7th ICNAS in Regensburg when one new International Steering Committee was agreed upon to deal both series of meetings; nearly all leading participants of ICNAS and IS4I were present. 8thICNAS in 1982 was to proceed as planned at Nantes, France, and 6th IS4I was moved in time to take place at Minoo, Osaka, Japan in 1983. Thereafter ICNAS and IS4I could meet in alternate years thereby providing an improved opportunity of choice for participants to attend both series of meetings.
By this, the common International Steering Committee for ICNAS and IS4I was formalised. It was agreed that there would be two chairmen/convenors, one for each international series with Prof. Bernard Gill, University of Leeds, as chairman for the ICNAS conference series, and Prof. Pierre Huyskens, University of Leuven as chairman for the IS4I one. With these problems apparently settled in Regensburg further conference venues were arranged 1982-1987.
It was not long however before the blatantly obvious was realised. The International Steering Committee for ICNAS and IS4I, both IUPAC sponsored, consisted of essentially the same people and combination into one all-embracing International Conference on Solution Chemistry, ICSC, was necessary. An unanimous agreement on this amalgamation came in 1985 at the IS4I Steering Committee meeting in Reading it was decided that Bernard Gill should take the chairmanship for the combined group, the international steering committee of the ICSC. The first combined international conference of solution chemistry was 19thICSC held in Lund, Sweden. Thereafter ICSC meetings were held annually until 1991 when it was decided that they should become biennial, The venues and organizing hosts can be found in The Previous ICSC. At the steering committee meeting at the 27thICSC in Vaals 2001, Prof. Gill stepped down as chairman, and Prof. Ingmar Persson (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden) did replace him. At the 35th ICSC meeting in Szeged the chairmanship was transferred to Prof. Toshio Yamaguchi (University of Fukuoka, Japan). Due to organisation difficulties 35th ICSC was moved to 2018 with planned host for 2019 taking over one year ahead of schedules, the 37th ICSC was moved from 2021 to 2022 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
By Prof. Ingmar Persson(Sweden, the former chairman of ICSC)