Editors' Note

12th International Conference on Circular Dichroism and 5th

Interdisciplinary Symposium on Biological Chirality

This special issue of Chirality includes a part of the contributions made at the 12th International Conference onCircular Dichroism (CD2009) and at the 5th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Biological Chirality (ISBC) jointlyheld in Brescia, Italy, from August 30th to September 4th, 2009. The journal Chirality is certainly the most appro-priate medium for providing the flavor of these two events in the presented original research papers, overviewsand short communications.

This joint event continued the success of the previous editions as shown by the number of presented talks and post-ers, and by the increased participation of attendees, who attained the exceptional figure of 200, from 19 countries. Therewere 19 plenary lectures, 54 invited oral contributions, as well as 54 poster presentations. The scientific programincluded contributions in core areas of CD spectroscopy such as determination of absolute configuration, and advancesin the techniques and methodologies of electronic and vibrational CD, (ECD & VCD), CD in the far UV and vacuumUV, Optical Rotatory Dispersion (ORD), Raman optical activity, (ROA), solid state CD. A few contributions highlightedalso the advancements in the theory and computation of chiroptical properties based on Density Functional Theory andCoupled Clusters methods. The solvent effect on the chiroptical properties was one of the important issues discussedthroughout the CD conference as well.

The importance of CD spectroscopy as the central method in the studies of bio- and macro-molecules, wasreflected in the opening lectures by Dave Lightner and Prasad L. Polavarapu. Both Conferences welcomed alsothe arrival of some new techniques, such as 2D-IR spectroscopy and time resolved CD spectroscopy, as well asORD and ROA, which have been represented more recently at the CD Conferences. The second event, the ISBCConference provided additional opportunities to listen to talks on chemical biology, supramolecular chemistry,solid-state chirality, advanced materials and polymers. A few lectures highlighted applications on nanomachines,self-assembly processes, applications of chiroptical techniques to medicine and astrochemistry. The animated dis-cussion and participation demonstrated not only recent advances but also the future prospects in chiroptical tech-niques and in the study of biological chirality.

The 25 contributions in this special issue can be classified into eight main areas: elucidation of absolute config-urations and interactions of chiral molecules (Superchi and Scafato, Di Bari et al., Inoue et al., Angiolini et al.);CD studies of peptides and proteins (Woody, Toniolo and Formaggio, Siligardi et al. (two contributions), Bednar-ova et al., Bochicchio et al.); studies of polymers (Paola Rizzo et al., Angiolini et al. (2nd contribution)); theoreti-cal aspects (Autschbach et al., Andruschenko and Bour); VCD studies (Buffeteau et al., Lopez Gonzalez et al.,Zanasi et al.); instrumental aspects (A. Rodgers et al., Castiglioni et al., Siligardi (3rd contribution)); bio-supramo-lecular phenomena (Dzwolack et al., Sforza et al., Gehring et al., Simonyi); novel aspects in chiroptical phenomena(Cho et al.; Antonio Rizzo et al.).

The Conferences took place in the newly built Conference room and annexes of the Medical School of the Universityof Brescia. For the whole week the pleasant Italian early fall weather provided an additional enjoyment and opportunitiesto visit this relatively less known beautiful northern Italian city, full of art and ancient buildings.

Finally, we would like to mention that a special session was dedicated in the memory of Prof. Antonio MarioTamburro, whose contributions have pioneered unexplored areas of bimolecular chirality and CD, and have beenfocal events of a few previous editions of both CD and ISBC conferences. More recently, Prof. Carlo Rosini, aregular attendee of CD conference series, including that in 2009 in Brescia, and who was one of the central fig-ures in the developing field linking experimental and theoretical chiropitical studies, sadly has also left us. Wewish to dedicate the articles included in this issue to both of them, two friends who prematurely disappeared, butwho would be present in our scientific and human recollections.

DOI: 10.1002/chir.20927Published online 28 October 2010 in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

CHIRALITY 22:E1–E2 (2010)

VVC 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Undoubtedly, the collaboration of the co-chairs, Sergio Abbate from Brescia, and Piero Salvadori and Lorenzo Di Barifrom Pisa, who enjoyed working together, played a key role for the success of the event. They thank also the generoussponsors and all collaborators, as well as Ms. Clementina Rizzetti, for all support and hard work in organizing and man-aging the Conferences. As co-chairs and Guest-Editors they wish great success to the forthcoming CD Conference inOxford (UK) in 2011 and of future Conferences to come.

Professor Sergio AbbateGuest-Editor

Universita di Brescia, Italy

Professor Lorenzo Di BariGuest-Editor

Universita di Pisa, Italy

Professor Nina BerovaEditor

Columbia University, New York

E2 EDITORS’ NOTE

Chirality DOI 10.1002/chir