Schweizerische Chemische Gesellschaft (SCG)
With pleasure we look back on a very interesting and active year. The Swiss Chemical Society not only continued and developed its well-established activities but again pushed new initiatives to face todays challenges. We also implemented new sections and networks to incorporate community members whose interest were not covered so far. In addition, the SCS took over the responsibility for existing programs that run now under the umbrella of the SCS and complete our activity portfolio.
2020 was one of the most difficult and challenging year we went through at the personal and professional levels and the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic restricted our life in ways we could never have imagined. From March 2020 on meetings with larger groups were prohibited and collaboration was therefore limited to virtual meetings. Many of our events had to be cancelled, postponed, or conducted virtually and it seems that this situation will continue at least until next summer.
As a typical network organization, the SCG focuses as much on personal contacts as on the exchange of scientific knowledge, and these contacts had to be reduced to a minimum. Nevertheless, we faced the challenges and remained very active serving our members, developing, and broadening the Society’s focus to meet the members’ expectations and needs in the future. The SCS Executive Board and the Head Office, supported by many of our voluntary members of our network, re-organized many activities and provided them as online events. The numerous feedbacks and the high number of participants in our events showed that our decisions were highly appreciated.
Of course, we all look forward to moving again to face-to-face events which are so much needed to keep us fully involved in science enjoying the SCS community. We can assure you that we will return to normal live as soon as the epidemiological situation will allow it.
After nearly 75 years of publishing activity in one or another form, CHIMIA entered a significant new phase in 2020 by becoming a platinum Open Access journal. All scientific articles are available immediately free of charge. This important step forward was accompanied by a redesign of the cover and an update of the layout of the scientific articles.
In addition to the well-established activities, we focused on the following new initiatives:
Furthermore, we stayed actively connected to our partners and co-operated for many projects.
Please enjoy reading through the 2020 annual report that shows again a very active and lively society.
CHIMIA
Despite the very difficult circumstances of 2020, Editor-in-Chief E. Peter Kündig and the guest editors ensured that ten excellent issues of CHIMIA were produced. Peter Kündig has now completed his three-year term as Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board thanks him and the guest editors for their hard work.
In 2020 (volume 74) the following 10 issues were published under the guest editorship of the mentioned persons:
1-2 Syngenta Symposium: Welcome to the One-electron World, Mathilde Lachia and Amandine Kolleth-Krieger (Syngenta Crop Protection AG),
3 Chemistry and the Environment Kathrin Fenner (Eawag, University of Zurich), Stefan Hoger (IES Ltd) and Vera Slaveykova (University of Geneva),
4 Laureates: Junior Prizes of the SCS Fall Meeting 2019, Hans Peter Lüthi (SCS Foundation) and Roger Alberto (University of Zurich
5 Building Bridges between Biotechnology and Chemistry – In Memoriam Oreste Ghisalba, Roland Wohlgemuth (SKB) and Hans-Peter Meyer HES SO)
6 Non-Noble Metals in Catalysis, Bert Klein Gebbink (Utrecht University) and Martin Albrecht (University of Bern)
7-8 SCS Laureates and Awards & Fall Meeting 2020, Alain de Mesmaeker (Syngenta Crop Protection, Stein),
9 News from New Chemistry Professors in Switzerland, E. Peter Kündig (University of Geneva)
10 The Swiss Startup Ecosystem: Innovation in Chemistry and the Life Sciences, Guido Koch (Topadur Pharma AG), Hans Peter Lüthi (SCS Foundation) and David Spichiger (SCS),
11 Innovative Tools in Organic / Organometallic Chemistry, Cristina Nevado (University of Zurich)
12 Radiochemistry in Switzerland, Roger Alberto (University of Zurich) and Heinz W. Gäggeler( PSI)
Issues 4 and 7/8 containing the SCS laureates articles and the program of SCS Fall Meeting (online in 2020) are regular features of the annual program. The column section with the Swiss Science Concentrates, Highlights of Analytical Chemistry, Highlights in Polymer and Colloids Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology Highlights, Chemical Education and Universities of Applied Sciences is now well-established and with the Conference Reports give a regular insight into the activities of the SCS and the Divisions. The Society information pages, under the direction of David Spichiger, also provide news and information about current and future events.
After nearly 75 years of publishing activity in one or another form, CHIMIA entered a significant new phase in 2020 by becoming a platinum Open Access journal. All scientific articles are available immediately from Ingentaconnect.com free of charge. The authors are not required to pay any article or page fees and they retain copyright of their work. The articles were published under license CC_BY_NC 4.0. CHIMIA is now indexed on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ.org) and other sites that promote open access, which we hope will increase the visibility of the journal. The move to open access was fully supported by the Swiss Chemical Society, as the publisher, and the SCS is also covering the extra costs involved.
The CHIMIA website (CHIMIA.ch) has been redesigned to give better access to the content, with all the past columns and the full pdf issues (via Ingentaconnect.com) easily accessible.
Submissions of scientific articles are now done exclusively on the OJS system (https://ojs.chimia.ch/index.php/chimia) and it is planned to move the entire CHIMIA content to an OJS-based system in the course of 2021.
After the successful change to a two-column layout in 2019, CHIMIA also presented a redesigned front cover.
2021 will see the publishing of the 75th volume of CHIMIA. Columns are planned throughout the year to celebrate this achievement.
Chemistry Europe
ChemPubSoc Europe proudly became Chemistry Europe. It is unveiling a new identity and a renewed purpose, fit for the future of chemistry and of publishing. Founded 25 years ago with the creation of Chemistry A European Journal, now the societies’ flagship publication, Chemistry Europe is an association of 16 European chemical societies, representing over 75,000 chemists. The redefining of their core values and visual representation of their identity has been in motion since June 2018, driven by a team made up of stakeholders from our societies, their Council and from their publishing partner Wiley-VCH. During the project, researchers and society members were asked about what they value and what they need from their scientific community, learned societies and scholarly journals: the result is Chemistry Europe. SCS holds 5% of shares of Chemistry A European Journal and participates as co-owner of ChemElectroChem, ChemPlusChem, ChemistryOpen, ChemCatChem, ChemPhotoChem, Batteries & Supercaps and Chemistry Select. SCS supported the marketing initiatives of Chemistry Europe on its website, during SCS events and in CHIMIA.
Chemistry Europe Fellows
Chemistry Europe (CE) announced 37 new Fellows, including
Prof. Katharina Fromm, University of Fribourg and
Prof. Karl Gademann, University of Zurich
as two Swiss representatives. They were nominated to honor their extraordinary support and service to CE and the societies. The Fellowship is the highest award given by Chemistry Europe and this year the nomination of the Fellows will be celebrated at a reception during the 8th EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Lisbon.
Helvetica – A Journal of the Swiss Chemical Society
After its relaunch in 2016 and comprehensive marketing and promotion measures in the past five years, including the celebration of the 100th anniversary in 2017, we see an encouraging increase of the journals reputation that’s also reflected in the impact factor that passed the 2.5 marker for the first time since 20 years. Especially the ‘Special Issues’ for François Diederich (5/2019) and Philippe Renaud (12/2019) provided high visibility and numerous papers. In 2020 Helvetica published 13 communications, 1 essays, 4 reviews and 33 full papers.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15222675
Additional Publishing Acitvities
The Division of Fundamental Research and the Division of Analytical Sciences hold shares of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) and Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC) respectively.
Overview of SCS Events 2020
On-site Events
24.-26.01.2020 Swiss Snow Symposium, Saas-Fee (youngSCS)
04.02.2020 2nd Anglo-Swiss Symposium, Basel (DMCCB)
07.-08.10.2020 ILMAC Lausanne (DIAC)
07.10.2020 Symposium Industry 4.0 at ILMAC (DIAC)
07.10.2020 Symposium Lab 4.0 at ILMAC (DIAC)
07.10.2020 Workshop Flow Chemistry at ILMAC (FlowChem)
07.10.2020 Workshop SusChem at ILMAC (SusChem).
Online Events
19.06.2020 Swiss Photochemistry Symposium (PCS)
17.-18.08.2020 Peptide Therapeutics Forum (DMCCB)
25.08.2020 SCS Fall Meeting, online (SCS)
30.10.2020 Swiss Industrial Chemistry Symposium (DIAC)
08.-10.12.2020 International Conference on X-Ray Lasers.
Cancelled or postponed Events 2020
31.03.2020 DIAC Annual Meeting, cancelled
03.04.2020 SCS Spring Meeting, «Chemistry and the Environment», Muttenz, postponed to April 2021
26.-30.04.2020 Bürgenstock Conference, Brunnen, cancelled
07.-08.05.2020 CHanalysis, Beatenberg, postponed (DAS
11.-12.06.2020 Seminar Patenting and IP in Life Sciences and Chemistry, postponed to October 2021
24.08.2020 ChemEdu, postponed to April 2021
30.08.-03.09.2020 Swiss Summer School, Villars, postponed to September 2021.
04.-09.10.2020 Swiss Course on Medicinal Chemistry, Leysin, postponed to October 2021.
Short Reports on SCS Events 2020
Swiss Snow Symposium, Saas Fee, 24-26 January 2020
The 18th edition of this traditional symposium was held once more in Saas-Fee and provided an innovative platform for young chemists to present their work and to exchange their experience.
A well-balanced mix between lectures, short talks and poster session as well as get-togethers at the hotel bar and snow fun activities on the slopes of the Allalin-Mountain guaranteed a unique experience of science and fun.
Main speakers of the 2020 edition were:
A Conference Report was published in CHIMIA 01-02/2020 p.67
2nd Anglo Swiss Symposium, Basel, 4 February 2020
This one-day symposium co-organized by the Swiss Chemical Society, Division Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and the Biological & Medicinal Chemistry Sector of the Royal Society of Chemistry, was dedicated to “Using Chemical Biology to identify new targets for Medicinal Chemistry”.
Main Speakers were
Swiss Photochemistry Symposium, online, 19 June 2020
The event comprised scientific contributions from all areas of photochemistry as well as three invited lectures on the topics of ultrafast spectroscopy, environmental photochemistry and luminescent material.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions we had to reduce the format and had to shift the symposium to a virtual classroom. More than 150 participants from 24 countries all over the world registered for the event.
Main Speakers were
A Conference Report was published in CHIMIA 07-08/2020 p.629
Peptide Therapeutics Forum, Basel/online, 17-18 August 2020
The Forum took place as an online event and provided similar to previous events in the framework of Basel Life, presentations that highlighted important new insights regarding the drug discovery of peptides including examples for successful development candidates. The forum disseminated information on latest news in the broad field of therapeutic peptides and enabled networking of interested parties from academia and industries.
Keynote and invited speakers:
SCS Fall Meeting, online, 25 August 2020
Also, the SCS Fall Meeting, one of the largest annual research conferences in Switzerland, was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The event was held as a virtual conference to fulfill the regulations of the government and to facilitate safe exchange of scientific information. The talks and lectures were provided on nine parallel running Zoom video conference platforms.
The Scientific Program offered Award Lectures presented by leaders in their respective fields, as well as invited and contributed lectures in nine thematic sessions covering all of chemistry. For each of these, there was also a virtual poster session available during the whole week. With respect to the special circumstances the return on the call for contributions was surprisingly high: We received more than 400 abstracts for a short talk or a virtual poster in one of the nine sessions (i.e. about 80% of the return in a “normal” year!). For the first time a parallel session on Chemistry and the Environment took place and completed the field of topics.
Traditionally, the ceremonies of the Best Oral and Best Virtual Poster Presentation Award completed the program at the end of the day and the organizers awarded 42 presenters (19 winners and 23 runners-up) with a total prize sum of CHF 42’750. See CHIMIA 9/2020, A741 for the list of all winners.
Prof. Silvio Decurtins, University of Bern, and Dr. Hans Peter Lüthi, ETH Zurich co-chaired the event and provided a fantastic online experience in collaboration with the session chairs, the supporters from University of Bern and the SCS Head Office.
Program Highlights:
Topics of the parallel sessions are
Plenary and Award Lecturer were
Werner Prize Winner 2020
Sandmeyer Award Winners 2020
SCS Industrial Science Award winner 2020
SCS Senior Industrial Science Award winner 2020
SCS Senior Industrial Science Award winner 2020
Paracelsus Award Winner 2020
A conference report was published in CHIMIA 10/2020 p. 831f.
ILMAC Lausanne, 7-8 October 2020
ILMAC Lausanne was organized in Lausanne for the third time and has established itself as an important event that provides knowledge exchange platforms for the whole laboratory and process chemistry community.
The Swiss Chemical Society in collaboration with the organized two symposia on Wednesday, October 7:
The speakers were:
Symposium:Industry 4.0 - Trends & Best Practice
Symposium: Lab 4.0 - Trends, Visions & Challenges
In the afternoon two workshops on the topics of Green & Sustainable Chemistry and Flow Chemistry took place and were well attended.
A short report was published in CHIMIA 11/2020 p. 910
3rd Swiss Industrial Chemistry Symposium (SICS), online, 30 October 2020
The symposium offered a unique platform for industrial scientists to present their latest findings and to showcase successful initiatives to their colleagues and to academic community members that are interested in R&D. With regards to the Covid-19 situation and the uncertainty to organize on-site events in October 2020, we decided to organize an online symposium and in average we had 130 participants joining one of the four sessions.
Main Speakers in 4 Sessions were
International Conference on X-Ray Lasers (ICXRL), online, 8-10. December 2020
The ICXRL was established to promote advanced extreme UV and X-ray sources, and their application in physics, (bio-)chemistry, and materials science. Joining ICXRL means experiencing the latest trends and shaping the future progress. Latest results on state-of-the-art X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFEL) as well as tabletop systems were presented. The program included 12 keynote lectures, 10 invited lectures, 5 technology focus talks and 33 contributed short talks from all over the world.
International Collaboration
European Chemical Society (EuChemS)
Delegates from the Swiss Chemical Society
Other International Collaborations
SCS maintains also contact with other international organizations like Eurachem, SusChem Europe (ETP), IUPAC and partner societies from its neighboring countries.
SCS Lectureship Awards
The SCS Lectureship is awarded to world-class distinguished scientists and it is organized under the patronage of the Swiss Chemical Society. Over a week, the lecturer gives five presentations and discusses with colleagues at four to five diffeent Swiss research institutions. The selection of the lecturers follows a bottom-up approach where PIs from all Swiss research institutions can propose candidates. The proram coves all areas of chemistry. The choice among the proposed lectureships is made by the board of the Division of Fundamental Research (DFR).
Prof. Andrei Yudin, University of Toronto (CAN)
«The dark side of conformational analysis»
Tour dates: February 17-21, 2020
Tour organizer: Prof. Ch. Sparr, University of Basel
All other lectureships that were planned from March to December 2020 had to be cancelled and/or rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic:
Heilbronner-Hückel Lecture Award
The Heilbronner-Hückel Lecture Series was implemented in 2009 with the first series in 2010 together with the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh). The annual series takes place alternatively in Switzerland and Germany.
2020 Lecturer: Katharina Kohse‐Hoeinghaus, University of Bielefeld. Her research targets combustion chemistry and diagnostics with a multidisciplinary approach encompassing aspects of chemistry, physics, material science and engineering.
youngSCS
Swiss Women in Chemistry (SWC)
The first corporate insight event, that was planned at Firmenich in Geneva in March 2020 had to be postponed.
Best Presentation Award at the FM
At the virtual SCS Fall Meeting on August 25, 2020, Metrohm and DSM again sponsored the very renowned Best Presentation Award Program. A total of 42 presenters (19 winners and 23 runners-up) with a total prize sum of CHF 42’750 were honored for their extraordinary presentations. Instead of classical posters in A0 format short videos of 3min were presents. The talks were given via the Zoom video platform.. See CHIMIA 9/2020, A741 for the list of all winners.
Alfred Werner Scholarship Program
In 2020, the six Alfred Werner Scholars of the class of 2018-2020 successfully completed their MSc studies. Most of them were able to finish their MSc thesis research project right before the pandemic struck. Only a few experienced a delay caused by lockouts from the laboratory.
In April, the Alfred Werner Fund Allocation Committee evaluated eighteen nominations for a scholarship submitted by the Swiss universities, granting eleven stipends. In September, eight students started their MSc studies. Three students received scholarships from other institutions in their own country. The transfer to Switzerland during this difficult time was an extra challenge, but mastered very well by all.
Key Figures:
Unfortunately, social gatherings with the scholars were not possible. The Meet&Greet visit planned at Givaudan was postponed to “better times”, and the Welcome/Farewell Dinner event planned for October had to be cancelled. Instead, a LinkedIn Group with all Alfred Werner Scholars, current, alumni, representatives of the program-supporting companies and university delegates was established as an extra mean to communicate.
Since 2013, the year the Alfred Werner Foundation was integrated into the SCS Foundation, 49 scholarships have been granted. All students completed their studies, some with distinction. Most scholars continued their studies in Switzerland. The first alumni started their professional career, again most of them in Switzerland.
The SCS Foundation board would like to thank DSM, Firmenich, Givaudan, Idorsia, Lonza, Metrohm, Novartis, Roche, Syngenta as well as a number of private donors for their continued support.
Chemistry Travel Award
Through the «Chemistry Travel Award», contributions towards the cost of participation at an international conference in the chemical sciences are granted to selected PhD students. The award is sponsored by the Platform Chemistry of the SCNAT and the Swiss Chemical Society. Due the pandemic situation not as many applicartions were submitted as ususal and the committee only granted 21 instead of 42 awards.
The winners were announced in CHIMIA 7-8/2020, A633f.
Executive Board ExB
SCS President
SCS Vice President
President CHIMIA
SCS Treasurer
SCS Executive Director
Board of Directors BoD (in addition to the ExB members)
President Division of Analytical Sciences (DAS)
E Successor of Marc Suter, Eawag
President Division of Fundamental Research (DFR)
E Successor of Roger Alberto, University of Zurich
President Division of Medical Chemistry & Chemical Biology (DMCCB)
E Successor of Yves Auberson, Novartis
President Division Polymers, Colloids and Interfaces (DPCI)
E Successor of Christian Hinderling, ZHAW Wädenswil
President Division Chemical Education (DCE)
E Successor of Antonio Togni, ETH Zurich
National and international relations
Member of the board
Member of the board
Thematic Networks
To complement the activities of our traditional divisions and sections, SCS has implemented additional thematic networks in recent years. In 2020, four new communities were added: Chemistry and the Environment, Chemical Ecology, Flow Chemistry and Materials Chemistry.
In the background, the networks were quite active, but on-site events and personal interactions with the community members could hardly take place. Most activities had to be cancelled or postponed due to the Covid-19 situation.
As of December, the SCG maintains the following networks:
Division of Analytical Sciences
Division of Fundamental Research
Division of Industrial & Applied Chemistry
Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biologoy
Division of Polymers, Colloids & Interfaces
Division of Chemical Education
Photochemistry Section
Swiss Catalysis Section
SCS Partnership and Corporate Memberships
We implemented the SCS Partnership as a new strategic tool to strengthen our collaboration with industrial partners and to align our activities to the community’s requirements.
As Institutional Partners, the companies enjoy all the benefits of a “classical” corporate membership and make the difference through
SCS Scientific Awards
The SCS awarded seven individuals and one group of scientists for their outstanding contributions. A total sum of CHF 82’000 as well as medals and award certificates were given to the prize winners.
Paracelsus Prize
CHF 20'000 and medal in gold; awarded to scholars who have produced outstanding scientific research in the field of chemistry at an international level. The award was given to
Prof. Scott E. Denmark, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (USA), for his role as internationally recognized leader in the development of novel concepts of catalysis, of very useful synthetic methods, and insightful mechanistic investigations in organic chemistry.
The award lecture was given online at the virtual SCS Fall Meeting on August 25, 2020.
Werner Prize
CHF 10'000 and medal in bronze; awarded to a promising young scientist for outstanding independent chemical research. The award was given to
Prof. Konrad Tiefenbacher, University of Basel / ETH Zürich, for his innovative and original research in the field of supramolecular catalysis with focus on catalysis inside supramolecular containers, so called ‘capsules’.
The award lecture took place at the virtual SCS Fall Meeting 2020.
Sandmeyer Award
CHF 20'000 awarded to a person or to a group for outstanding work in industrial or applied chemistry. In 2020 the SCS awarded a joint team from Roche and Dottikon Synthesis AG, namely
Dr. Andreas Schuster, Dr. Caroline Maierhofer, Dr. Stephan Bachmann, Dr. Hans Iding, Dr. Christian Lautz, Dr. Régis Mondière, Dr. Philipp Schmidt, Dr. Isabelle Thomé,
from the Ipatasertib Team at F. Hoffmann La-Roche, and Dr. Christoph Strasser from Dottikon Exclusive Synthesis AG,for the development of an economical, scalable and sustainable process to produce Ipatasertib, an Akt kinase inhibitor currently tested in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and triple negative metastatic breast cancer.
One award lecture was held at the virtual SCS Fall Meeting on August 25, 2020 and a second lecture will take place at the Freiburger Symposium in April 2021.
Balmer Prize
CHF 2'000 for individuals and CHF 2'000 for the school’s chemistry department. SCS awarded
Dr. Hans-Ueli Ehrensperger, Kantonsschule Frauenfeld als Auszeichnung seines Lebenswerks als Chemielehrer.
The award lecture has been planned at the ChemEdu conference in August 2020 but had to be postponed to ChemEdu 2021.
Dr. Max Lüthi Award
CHF 1’000 and medal in bronze; presented for an outstanding diploma thesis in Chemistry conducted at a Swiss University of Applied Sciences. SCS awarded
Herr Nicola Christian Lüdi, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Wädenswil, für seine Bachelorarbeit «Immobilisierung von PETase auf elektrogesponnenen Cellulose-Nanofasermatten zum Abbau von Mikroplastik»
SCS Senior Industrial Science Award 2020
The prize is given to honor very successful and established investigators with outstanding achievements over many years. The winner receives a certificate and a cash check of CHF 10’000. Two prizes were given, namely to
Dr. Frank Petersen, Novartis Pharma-ceuticals AG, Basel, is awarded in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of natural product research over three decades that includes the investigations for several products on the market or in clinical evaluation, the integration of natural product based scaffolds classes in chemical biology for the identification of novel targets, but also the partnerships in microbial sourcing and in accessing isolated plant metabolites in Africa, China, and Thailand.
Dr. Hasane Ratni, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, is awarded in recognition of his outstanding contributions to medicinal chemistry and his track record of delivering successful clinical development candidates resulting in five molecules entering human clinical trials. This includes the seminal work on RNA interaction with small molecules leading to the discovery of risdiplam.
SCS Industrial Science Award 2020
The prize is given to honor successful investigators with outstanding achievements. The winner receives a certificate and a cash check of CHF 7’000.
Dr. Denis Jacoby, Firmenich SA, Geneva, gets the award to honor his outstanding achievements at Firmenich especially the development of major new processes for several key perfumery ingredients that are manufactured on multi MT scale today.
METAS Award
CHF 5'000 honors outstanding contribution to the field of metrology in chemistry and/or biology. The 2020 award was given to Mr. Kamyar Mehrabir, ETH Zurich, Trace Element and Micro Analysis, for his work on online micro-droplet calibration method for sp-ICP-TOF to eliminate matrix effect in nanoparticles.
The award ceremony and the lecture has been planned for the CHanalysis 2020 and was postponed to 2021.