14th Cardiff Chemistry Conference 2015

Now in its 14th year, the annual Cardiff Chemistry Conference was held on 11th and 12th May 2015. It is a forum for leading scientists from across the world to present the results of their ground-breaking research, with lectures covering the full spectrum of Chemistry as well as the interfaces between Chemistry and other scientific disciplines. Previously invited speakers have included Nobel Laureates in Chemistry and a host of other very eminent scientists, reflecting the very high calibre of speakers who have supported this event. This year was no exception, and the Cardiff Chemistry Conference hosted an outstanding programme of presentations from renowned international scientists. The invited speakers and their lecture themes were:

• Lynn Gladden, FRS (University of Cambridge, England): Insights into catalyst performance using in situ spatially-resolved magnetic resonance.
• Wolfgang Lubitz (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Mülheim, Germany): Light-induced water splitting and hydrogen production – learning from Nature's ingenious concepts.
• Steven De Feyter (University of Leuven, Belgium): Nano-patterning of graphite and graphene at the liquid/solid interface via molecular self-assembly: from fundamentals to applications.
• Pratibha Gai, FREng (University of York, England): In-situ observations of single atom catalysis.
• Nigel Scrutton (University of Manchester, England): Fundamental studies of mechanism in flavoproteins, and applications in biocatalysis and synthetic biology.

In addition to the presentations by external invited speakers, the conference also included lectures by early career lecturers, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from the Cardiff School of Chemistry. The unique format of this event thus allowed young scientists at the very early stages of their research careers to share the same platform as senior scientists from the world of Chemistry, giving the opportunity for some of our very best young researchers to showcase their exciting research achievements to an audience that included international experts within their field.

This year, recently appointed lecturers Rebecca Melen, Yuhsuan Tsai and Duncan Browne presented their work on, respectively: applications of boron Lewis acids in synthesis and catalysis, selective rapid and optically switchable regulation of protein function in live mammalian cells, and green synthesis using enabling technologies. These presentations were supported by a number of high-calibre talks from PhD students. Melodi Demiray talked about using oxygenated FDP derivatives for chemo-enzymatic synthesis of artemisinin, Simon Müller presented on the use of online monitoring and flow chemistry in the study of Diazo compounds, Liam Thomas discussed DFT studies of Mars van Krevelen oxidation using supported Au/Pd nanoparticles, and Emily Langdon-Jones talked about novel luminescent naphthalimide ligands and their Re(I) and Au(I) complexes. Presentations by postdoctoral researchers focused on selective oxidation of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons by Ewa Nowicka, and the mechanism of CO₂ conversion by bio-inspired iron sulphide by Alberto Roldan.

At the conclusion of a very successful conference, the prize for the best talk by a PhD student was awarded to Emily Langdon-Jones, and prizes for the best posters presented by PhD students were awarded to Emily Stokes (1st), Samuel Jobbins (2nd) and Ryan Dean (3rd). The School of Chemistry is already looking forward to hosting the 15th Cardiff Chemistry Conference on 9^th and 10^th May 2016.

The conference was sponsored by the South East Wales local section of the Royal Society of Chemistry.