The next Trends in Organic Chemistry symposium, TOC, takes place on December 6th 2021. The topic this year is Electrochemistry in Organic Synthesis.

The plan is that the TOC2021 will be a physical meeting at IVA konferenscenter, Stockholm, but these plans can change depending on the pandemic.

– The symposium will primarily be a physical event to present inspiring possibilities for networking with researchers in academia, institutes and industry in this emerging research field, with a reduced number of participants in compliance with the pandemic restrictions. We believe most people are longing to get away from their screens and, with our speaker list, the symposium will be well worth coming to Stockholm for. However, we are prepared to convert the symposium to a different format if needed, so sign up and keep the date saved either way! says Helena Lundberg, Assistant Professor in Organic Chemistry.

Together with her KTH colleagues Peter Dinér and Markus Kärkäs, as well as the staff at Kemisamfundet, Helena Lundberg is in charge of the program and the organization of the event, with financial support from the sponsors.

Why did you choose to put the focus of the TOC2021 on electrochemistry?

– The use of electrochemistry to drive organic reactions has been known since the 1800’s. It was a flourishing field internationally as well as nationally, but has stayed somewhat dormant for the last fifty years or so. The contemporary interest for radical transformations and new more user-friendly instrumentation for electrosynthesis on the market has propelled the research field forward in recent years.

– With the prospects of new reactivity and selectivity as well as that of sustainable synthesis, where fossil free electricity can replace chemical reagents, the field of electrosynthesis is now virtually exploding. So, we see this as the perfect topic for a Trends in Organic Chemistry symposium. We believe that this exciting field will be a lasting trend!

The TOC2021 program comprises five seminars by world-leading scientists within the field of electrochemistry:

• Lutz Ackermann from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in Germany
• Phil Baran from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA
• Donna Blackmond from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA
• Shelley Minteer from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
• Siegfried Waldvogel from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz, Germany.

What do you look forward to the most? 

– I’m very much looking forward to listen to our amazing lineup of world-leading international speakers and have their complementary expertise assembled. I also look forward to meeting up with the Swedish chemical community to get inspired, socialize and form new research ideas, says Helena Lundberg.

The event is sponsored by Wenner-Gren Foundations, Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, Carl-Trygger Foundation, AstraZeneca, KTH Materials Platform, Stiftelsen Längmanska kulturfonden.

Read more about TOC2021 on the webpage Electrochemistry in Organic Synthesis – Trends in Organic Chemistry (toc2021.se)