Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on April 5, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1971 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1971-0100.pr001
This volume is dedicated to Dr. Graeme Everett Cheney (1931-1970) Chairman, Inorganic Division Chemical Institute of Canada
Dessy et al.; Bioinorganic Chemistry Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1971.
Dessy et al.; Bioinorganic Chemistry Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1971.
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on April 5, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1971 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1971-0100.pr001
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on April 5, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1971 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1971-0100.pr001
PREFACE symposium is made up of many things—ideas, people, organization, sponsorship, and finance. Since the immediate purpose of a symposium is to satisfy the urgent needs of the participants to meet commonly and discuss topics of current scientific interest, many of these building blocks become forgotten. It seems most appropriate then, as the Bioinorganic Chemistry Symposium held at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, June 22-25, 1970, is made more lasting by its publication in the A D V A N C E S I N C H E M I S T R Y S E R I E S , that appreciation be shown to those people and institutions that made it all possible. The Bioinorganic Symposium was held under the joint sponsorship of the Inorganic Divisions of the Chemical Institute of Canada and the American Chemical Society. Such joint sponsorship of summer symposia dates back to 1968, when the first of the series was held at Banff, Alberta on the subject of Stereochemistry of Inorganic Compounds. By mutual agreement, the topic is chosen by one group, the site by the other. A t the Minneapolis meeting of the American Chemical Society in 1969, A . D . Allan of Toronto University announced that the Canadians had chosen the subject—Bioinorganic Chemistry—as the topic for the 1970 meeting. The Executive Committee of the A C S then confirmed Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University as the site. Graeme Cheney, of Acadia University, then current chairman of the C I C Inorganic Division, was chosen as co-chairman, along with Raymond Dessy of V P I , W . C . Cooper of Noranda Research Center, Montreal, and John Dillard and Larry Taylor of V P I assumed the task of co-organizers. It became readily apparent that there was much interest in a symposium at which inorganic and biochemists could meet on common ground. To aid in choosing a capable and affable set of discussion leaders and speakers, the organizing committee sought the help of outside consultants—in the form of Gunther Eichhorn of the National Institutes of Health, Ralph Hardy of the Dupont Co., and the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at V P I . The list of active participants formed easily and, as a mark of the potential value of the conference and the need it so obviously filled, only two invitations were declined. Some financing was already in hand from the C I C , but for a meeting of the size envisaged, external aid was sought successfully from the N a ix
Dessy et al.; Bioinorganic Chemistry Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1971.
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on April 5, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 1, 1971 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1971-0100.pr001
tional Research Council of Canada and the National Science Foundation In addition, support for social functions was provided by Alpha Inor ganics, Inc., a subsidiary of Ventron. Response by chemists, biochemists, biophysicists, and others to attend the symposium was overwhelming. Indeed, it turned out to be necessary to limit attendance. In all, some 248 scientists attended the meeting. Because of the fact that attendance was to be limited and a large number of people were interested in obtaining abstracts of the program, the organizing committee members at V P I decided to have the entire formal proceedings transcribed by Marcus Bieler, a court reporter in Roanoke, V a . H e and his assistant, Miss Hopkins, provided daily copy of the talks given, while the slides used were duplicated in the V P I microphoto laboratory. Each manuscript, as it was received by the editing group set up by Phil H a l l of V P I , was checked against the magnetic tape recording of the lecture and a corrected manuscript submitted to the review panel, selected by Robert F . Gould of the A D V A N C E S I N C H E M I S T R Y SERIES. The author then received an edited, reviewed copy of his manu script before he left Blacksburg, along with a set of proof photos of his slides. The corrected final manuscript appears in this volume. The volume is dedicated to Graeme Cheney, to whom much is owed for the organizational duties in the formative stages. Graeme was lost to us in A p r i l 1970, depriving us of a good organizer and an excellent companion. The Canadian thread was then picked up by W . C . Cooper and J. C . Thompson of the C I C . W e at V P I owe them a debt we cannot repay. W e are also beholden to the members of the staff of the Biochemistry Department of V P I , under the headship of Bruce Anderson, who helped us edit the manuscripts at all stages. These were L . B. Barnett, R. D . Brown, J. L . Hess, Κ. M . Plowman, and J. Vercellotti. W e are also grateful to Jerry Hargis and the staff of the Continuing Education Center for their excellent cooperation and guidance in planning and helping make the conference a success. Raymond Dessy John Dillard Larry Taylor Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, V a . 24061 September 1970
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Dessy et al.; Bioinorganic Chemistry Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1971.
