3rd SEC annual meeting, Bitterfeld Wolfen 3-5 June 2010

Under the motto "Like a phoenix from the ashes", senior chemists and young chemists met from June 3rd to 5th, 2010 in Bitterfeld-Wolfen.

The third SEC annual meeting in 2010 with around 250 participants exceeded the success of the previous Conferences in Hanau. The local organizers, Egon Fanghänel, Horst Hennig and Rainer Moll, as well as the scientific committee made a significant contribution with an attractive program. The venue was the Bitterfeld-Wolfen Municipal Culture House. A big thank you for the preparation of the meeting goes to all those responsible, especially from the technology and start-up center (TGZ) on site.

25 years ago, the chemical site in Bitterfeld-Wolfen was synonymous with polluted environment ¹⁾. A tour of the site, which has been renovated today, with its state-of-the-art production facilities and industrial monuments, showed visitors the success of gigantic renovation work for 15 years. The same applies to the Leuna industrial site visited. The German Chemistry Museum in Merseburg is also impressive: equipment for chlor-alkali electrolysis, synthetic rubber and high-pressure technology is a reminder of the epoch-making advances in chemistry in the 20th century.

The evening event was opened by the SEC chairman Horst Altenburg. Greetings were given by the Lord Mayor of Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Petra Wust, the TGZ Executive Director, Kurt Lausch, the President of the GDCh, Michael Dröscher, and the Deputy Federal Spokesperson of the JCF, Arne Bernsdorf. Then Heiner Lück presented an early achievement of the region: the "Sachsenspiegel", a legal book written by Eike von Repgow almost 800 years ago in German with far-reaching effects in Europe up to the most recent times.

The motto of the first day of the conference was "Change in the Bitterfeld-Wolfen chemical site." As Michael Polk described, a center for chemical research and production was established around 1890 thanks to cheap lignite, Mulde water and favorable traffic conditions The most diverse products are manufactured, often at the expense of the environment. After a model renovation, 1200 hectares of the previously highly polluted region were converted into the modern Bitterfeld-Wolfen Chemical Park. Christian H. Schleicher's lecture described the exemplary structure of Bayer Bitterfeld with the aim of creating new jobs Jörg Gloede reported on the development of the growth regulator Ethephon, which made it possible to break the alternation of plant blossoms, cause earlier blossoming and ripening and significantly increase the yield of grain by shortening the stalk.

Annette G. Beck-Sickinger and Gunter Fischer presented the very latest topics in bioorganic chemistry. Peptides are successful in the treatment of autoimmune diseases thanks to their coupling to lipids or polyethylene glycol. Understanding protein folding can be used, for example, to treat diseases such as hepatitis C, asthma or stroke with suitable inhibitors. As Jörg Bagdahn described, university and industry are efficiently linked in research and production in the photovoltaic cluster. SolarValley, funded by the federal and state governments, is primarily aimed at technological market leadership in order to assert itself against competition from the Far East. Ernst R. Barenschee reported on lithium ion batteries. A long service life, a high level of safety and low costs are important here, especially in large-scale production. Rudolf Taube then gave a deep insight into the performance of modern homogeneous organometallic catalysts for regio- and enantioselective synthesis.

This day of the conference ended with an exciting lecture on the myth and reality of ancient steels. Werner Kochmann reported on his many years of research, according to which the legendary very hard steels contain unusual carbon modifications.

Saturday began with Hans-Jörg Hofmann's very committed lecture on 130 years of eventful history of the "Old Chemical Institute" in Leipzig. Names such as Beckmann or Ostwald and discoveries such as the Nernst or Arrhenius equation reflect the importance of this historical site of chemistry Adolf Zschunke then showed how important the accuracy of measurements, a transparent determination of measurement uncertainties and standardization are for decisions in business, environmental protection, sport and law. The historian Michael Schneider dealt with the role of the chemical industry during the Nazi regime. He examined the question of the extent to which production and location decisions were autonomous decisions by industry or political constraints. Most recently, Carsten Tschierske provided an aesthetic insight into the supramolecular chemistry of liquid crystalline phases one lets molecules experience.

The organizers had planned plenty of time for discussions between the lectures. There was also the opportunity to discuss the posters they had presented with students from nearby universities - a delightful novelty at an SEC annual meeting that ended in the early afternoon, former GDCh President Henning Hopf . According to legend, the phoenix has a life cycle of 500 to 1000 years. Perhaps a good omen for the industrial location Bitterfeld-Wolfen and even for the future SEC annual meeting!