Sociedade Brasileira de Química: 30 years on

Abstract

SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE QUÍMICA -30 YEARS ON. On the occasion of the 30th annual meeting of the SBQ, a joint accord between SBQ and RSC was signed, which prompted the author to reminisce about his early involvement with the NAS/CNPq program in the 1970s. Remembered were first students, research and social activities. Looking back over these last 30 years, one realizes that teaching and research in Chemistry have greatly expanded but, nevertheless, increased investment in innovation is needed.Keywords: SBQ/RSC accord; NAS/CNPq program; innovative R&D.I was delighted to attend the 30 th anniversary of the SBQ in Aguas do Lindoia at the end of May and I was very impressed by the active participation of some 2,500 membersFrom all parts of Brasil. Sessions were well attended, question times were lively and of course social activities were not neglected. I was also very pleased to join Professor Norberto Lopes to sign a joint accord between the SBQ and RSC, and to chair our joint meeting on Chemistry and Innovation 30 years is a substancial time for any activity, but my scientific involvement with Brasil dates back to 1969 some 38 years ago and is quite a long story. At the beginning of 1968, I joined Bill Johnson's laboratory in Stanford, California where I carried out the first stereoselective synthesis of juvenile hormone from cecropia moths. Carl Djerassi was also a professor at Stanford at that time, where he was pushing back the scientific frontiers with his pioneering studies on mass spectroscopy. Carl was a great activist and he brought the National Academy of Sciences in Washington and the Conselho Nacional do Pesquisas in Rio together to sponsor a novel Program of Postgraduate Research and Training in Chemistry to help build scientific capacity in Brasil. The objective was for experienced US professors to act as mentors for Visiting Fellows who would spend up to 3 years in Brasil to establish a series of research based clusters initially in Rio and Sao Paulo. Carl invited me to join the program, Bob Ireland at CalTech agreed to act as my mentor and Jill and I arrived in Sao Paulo in February 1970. Originally, Marcelo do Moura Campos was to have been my sponsor in Brasil, but Nicola Petragnani kindly agreed to take over almost as soon as we arrived and I owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. Rob Ronald arrived a few months later and of course, Tim Brockson inherited my group when we returned to the UK in 1972Thanks to the Brasilian Air Force, we were able to import modern equipment and chemicals and I soon established my own research team in synthetic organic chemistry. My students included Lumi Tsuchiya, Jose Romero and Ursula Kamphausen, names that will be familiar to many of you. We worked on nucleophilic additions to ¬-haloketones tropyne, and the stereoselective synthesis of bakkenolide, amongst other research topics. In addition to Nicola, colleagues in the chemistry department were also most helpful, and names like Hans Viertler, Vera Pardini and Jose Riveros come quickly to mind. It was a pleasure to...

A Glimpse of Recent Developments in Brazilian Analytical Chemistry

“…A history of this agency and the strategies, planning, and implementation of the second phase of this program was well discussed by Paniago (Paniago 2007). The impact of the NAS=CNPq (National Academy of Sciences, USA=CNPq) cooperative program on the development of chemistry in Brazil was recently revised by several authors in a special issue of Química Nova (New Chemistry) (Campbell 2007;Brocksom 2007;Senise 2007;Mano 2007;Espinola 2007). Looking back over these last 30 years, we realize that the foundation of the SBQ in 1977 has made a remarkable contribution toward the development and consolidation of chemistry and analytical chemistry in Brazil, due to the Annual Meeting, the two journals Química Nova (New Chemistry) and JBCS (Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society), and support to each one of the SBQ's Divisions and their Scientific Meetings.…”

Há Algo Novo No Reconhecimento Molecular Aplicado À Química Medicinal?

“…Em Química Medicinal, o estudo do reconhecimento molecular tem um papel importante nas diversas estratégias de planejamento e/ ou desenvolvimento de novas entidades químicas que modulem um determinado alvo biológico. [1][2][3] O reconhecimento molecular nos sistemas biológicos baseia-se na existência de interações intermoleculares específicas entre duas estruturas moleculares, o chamado ligante e seu biorreceptor alvo, geralmente uma proteína. 4 Desde o modelo chave--fechadura introduzido por Emil Fischer em 1894 1,5 e do modelo do encaixe induzido proposto por Koshland, 1,5 estudos continuam sendo feitos para se identificar e compreender essas interações.…”

Química Orgânica no Brasil: sua contribuição na síntese total de produtos naturais desde a fundação da SBQ

“…Com a responsabilidade de ter um olhar sobre a química orgânica desde a fundação da SBQ em 1977, mesmo ano da primeira edição da Química Nova, este artigo busca coletar informações que mostrem a evolução de sua qualidade, em sua diversidade de objetos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento, além de indicar as áreas na fronteira do conhecimento e dos novos desafios que se apresentam à química orgânica. Já há excelentes documentos que registram os aspectos históricos da gênese da área no Brasil, especialmente os que tratam da faceta "orgânica" do acordo bilateral CNPq-NAS (Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento, do Brasil, e National Academy of Sciences, dos Estados Unidos) [1][2][3] . Também um levantamento detalhado sobre a produção da área no Brasil, bem como uma análise sobre o quadro evolutivo nos trabalhos apresentados à Reunião Anual da SBQ e nos BMOS (Brazilian Meetings on Organic Synthesis), já foi realizado na edição comemorativa aos 25 anos da SBQ 4 .…”