Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale (CSI XXXIII)

7–12 September 2003, Granada, Spain

The latest edition of the Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale (CSI XXXIII) took place in Granada (Spain), during the week 7–12 September 2003, chaired by Prof. Alfredo Sanz-Medel (Oviedo University). Prof. Javier Laserna (Málaga University) acted as co-chairman. About 514 participants from 40 different countries attended the CSI in Granada. As expected, Spain contributed most to the event (around 200 participants) and next highest number of attendees were from Germany (39 participants), United States (29) and Japan (21). From a total of 504 contributions (97 oral presentations and 407 posters) presented in Granada, 150 posters and 25 oral presentations were from Spanish authors, 12 oral communications from USA and 11 from Germany, the two following contributing countries. In addition, it is noteworthy the significant contribution of Turkey and Brazil to the CSI by presenting a great number of posters. This reflects the present good health of analytical spectroscopy all around the world.

More than 30 internationally recognized scientists from the different fields of the Spectroscopy delivered plenary and invited lectures in different parallel sessions devoted to most branches of molecular and atomic spectroscopy, in the classic format of this Colloquium.

Three parallel oral sessions were held every day, followed by poster presentations in the late afternoon. The conference was opened with a plenary lecture by J.M. Rodriguez-Espinosa (Spain), who emphasised how a great deal of the development of spectroscopy, especially in its early stages, was driven by astrophysics. Presentations scheduled for this first day (monday) were mainly devoted to UV/vis spectrometry, molecular techniques and molecular sensors.

Tuesday morning started with the CSIXXXIII award ceremony and plenary lecture of the awarded Prof. James D. Winefordner. He referred to ICP-OES, ICP-MS and ETA-AAS as today's more popular atomic methods, also comparing their performance with a broad variety of others such as FAAS, LIBS, laser-excited atomic fluorescence, GD-OES etc. to conclude that such techniques still have great use for many applications. Tuesday sessions were devoted to laser-based techniques, non-plasma atomic spectrometry, X-ray spectroscopy and sample preparation and introduction.

Wednesday sessions were mainly focused on hybrid techniques and mass spectrometry for speciation and proteomics. The plenary lecture was driven by Karin Markides (Sweden) on different mass spectrometry strategies for environmental control and bioanalysis. Coupling of chromatographic techniques such as HPLC or CG to highly sensitive and selective atomic detection techniques such as ICP-MS, and the use of complementary molecular techniques such as MALFI-TOF-MS, were emphasized. Other Wednesday sessions were focused on direct solid analysis by Glow Discharge Spectrometry and also on Quality Control, Automation and X-Ray applications.

The last day (Thursday) plenary lecture was given by J. Sweedler (USA) and focused on the use of photons and ions spectroscopy tools for single cell analysis, with particular emphasis on chromatographic techniques coupled to laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF-MS etc. as applied to single cell and subecullar compartmental analysis.

The four poster sessions were well attended. Moreover, the poster awards were sponsored by the Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Journal (ABC, Germany), the Journal of Analytical and Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS, U.K.) and Thermo Electron Corporation (Spain) and were awarded to significant innovative analytical research contributions (one per session).

Some special features were introduced in the CSI in Granada including:

• Five Specific Sessions (Hot Topics), covering some of the cutting-edge trends in applied spectroscopy, were organised by well-known experts in each Hot Topic. These Sessions were arranged during the afternoons (with a total length of about four hours), in parallel with the regular Conference, and consisted of four invited lectures followed by a Round Table. The titles and organisers were:

1. "Trace analysis and microanalysis with lasers: still the ultimate choice?", Organiser: N. Omenetto (USA).
2. "Modern applications of NMR to the study of the structure, dynamics and interactions of biomolecules", Organiser: Jesús Jiménez Barbero (Spain).
3. "Miniaturisation, chips and microfluidics for chemical analysis", Organiser: Andreas Manz (UK).
4. "Mass spectrometry in the post-genomic era: proteomics", Organiser: R. Lobinski (France).
5. "Chemical imaging", Organiser: R. Zenobi (Switzerland).

• The "CSI XXXIII award" was presented by Prof. J. Laserna to Prof. Jim D. Winefordner (University of Florida, USA), "for his pioneering work in developing analytical atomic and molecular optical spectroscopy from empirical approaches to fundamental physical approaches and for his contributions to the progress of spectrochemical analysis".
• A Spectroscopic Instrument Exhibition was arranged in parallel. A representation of 14 Instrument Manufacturers and three Publishers contributed to the final success of the CSIXXXIII and offered the opportunity for a close interaction between people from industry and academia by exchanging ideas and experiences.
• Additionally, a Vendor Session was organized by Dr. J. Brenner, in parallel with the Scientific Sessions, basically from technical-scientific presentations and discussions of experts from different instrument manufacturers. The high number of attendees certified the great success of this particular session.
• During the CSI Conference in Granada, the CSI Continuation Committee organized the National Delegates Meeting. As the next CSI will take place in 2005 in Antwerp, one of the most relevant points of the Agenda was the decision for the venue of CSI XXXV in 2007. Two bids were received, one from China and the other from Hungary. After voting (attendees from 30 countries participated in the Meeting) the decision was that China will host the CSI XXXV in Xiamen in 2007.

Also, an attractive social programme for accompanying persons and for after-conference delegate's leisure was carefully designed and widely attended.

To host the CSI XXXIII in Spain has been a most exciting and rewarding experience for all of the members of the Organising Committee. It has been a great pleasure and an honour to meet the most distinguished spectrochemical scientists from all over the world and, indeed, I trust that the success of this prestigious Colloquium will continue in Antwerp (Belgium) in two years time.

Prof. Alfredo Sanz-Medel Chairman of the CSIXXXIII