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Pure Appl. Chem., 2011, Vol. 83, No. 4, pp. iv

Preface

Franco Scandola

Latest in a long series of successful conferences, the XXIIIrd IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry was held in Ferrara, Italy on 11-16 July 2010. The conference venues were the Opera Theatre and the Estense Castle, in the historic center of the city. The contrasting mix of modern science and ancient environment was a special trait of the Ferrara symposium.

The symposium was attended by over 500 delegates (including some 130 Ph.D. students) from 40 different countries. The scientific program consisted of 8 plenary lectures, 23 invited lectures, 97 selected oral presentations, as well as 354 posters. A highlight of the symposium was the presentation of the Porter Medal to Prof. David Phillips of Imperial College London, UK, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to several fields of photochemistry. The title of his lecture was “Targeted sensitizers for photodynamic therapy”.

The wide variety of fields encompassed by modern photochemistry is reflected by the list of sessions held within the symposium: Electron and Energy Transfer, Molecular Switches and Machines, Organic Photochemistry, Inorganic Photochemistry, Photochromic Systems, Solar Energy, Supramolecular Photochemistry, Nanoparticles, Photocatalysis, Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Theoretical Photochemistry, Exciton and Charge Dynamics, Microscopy, Nanoscopic Systems, Singlet Oxygen and Phototherapy, Photobiology, Fluorescent Labels, Photoactive Materials, Applied Photochemistry, and Organized Media. Most of the topics discussed were characterized by a fertile combination of fundamental insight, advanced techniques, and practical application.

This issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry collects a number of papers based on plenary and invited lectures delivered at the symposium. I hope that this collection will help illustrate modern photochemistry not only as a lively and exciting research field but also as a powerful resource toward the solution of important practical problems.

Franco Scandola
Conference Editor