W. Powell Division VIII Update Report
The revision of the IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry containing recommendations for preferred IUPAC names (PINs) is slowly progressing. Chapters 1-5 have been thoroughly reviewed and revised; and some revision has been done on the first four sections of Chapter 6. A update report on the IUPAC Chemical Identifier (InChI) project will be available. The second of two publications from the Structure Representation Task Group, “Graphical Representation Standards for Chemical Structures” just appeared, PAC 80(2), 277-411, 2008. The first publication, “Graphical Representation Standards of Stereochemical Configuration, IUPAC Recommendations 2006” appeared in PAC 78(10), 1897-1970, 2006. A report on the nomenclature for rotaxanes and pseudorotaxanes is in the final stages of revision and should be published soon. Next will come recommendations on rotaxanes containing macromolecular segments, an interdivisional project with Division IV. A project group for selecting inorganic PINS has begun its work. Two proposals under consideration are in the Agenda Book. A project to evaluate the extension of IUPAC recommendations for stereodescriptors to include coordination numbers 7-12 has ended with publication as a technical report “Representation of configuration in coordination polyhedra and the extension of current methology to coordination numbers greater than six” PAC 79(10), 1779-1799. An update and revision of the book “Principles of Chemical Nomenclature” is underway. Several interdivisional projects with Division IV are in various stages of preparation (1) Terminology and structure-based nomenclature of dendritic and hyperbranched polymers. (2) Nomenclature for chemically modified polymers (3) Terminology and nomenclature of macromolecules with cyclic structures. The Joint Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature is working on a number of projects of interest to Division VIII, including: (1) Nomenclature of Cyclic Peptides (2) Nomenclature of phosphorus-containing compounds of biochemical importance. (3) Recommendations for nomenclature and databases for biochemical thermodynamics.
