PACIFIC POLYMER FEDERATION NEWSLETTER No.10 November, 2000

Editor: Miriam F. Beristain

Takeshi Ogawa, President, Supawan Tantayanon, Vice President, Guillermo Burillo, Secretary/Treasurer.

Members of the Council: Ezio Rizzardo (Australia), Wayne D. Cook- (Australia), Fraticoise Winnik (Canada) Franco Rabagliati (Chile), Fosong Wang (China), Louis M.L.Leung (Hong Kong), M.S. Sugandi-Ratulang (Indonesia), Kazuyuki Horie (Japan), Tisato Kajiyama (Japan), Sung Ctiul Kim (Korea), Chee-Cheong Ho (Malasia), Ramiro Guerrero (Mexico), David Officer (New Zealand), Hardy Chan (Singapore), Yu-Der Lee (Taiwan), James E MacGrath (USA), William H. Daly (USA), Tim Lodge (USA), Dang van Luyen (Vietnam).

President's Message: Takeshi Ogawa

Polymers have been the most important materials for the tremendous technological development achieved during the last century, and they will continue to be even more important for the 21st Century, especially as materials for high technology. It was a great pleasure to all of us that the Novel Prize in Chemistry of 2000 was given to polymer scientists who worked on electrically conductive polymers. This gives us a hope that more Novel Prizes in Chemistry will be given to polymer scientists in the future, in part because there are so many important polymeric materials yet to be developed for the benefit of mankind.

The Pacific Polymer Federation was formed in 1987 by the three founding organizations from USA, Japan and Australia, and since then the number of polymer organizations from countries of the Pacific Rim has increased to 16, and 6 Pacific Polymer Conferences have been celebrated.

The 7th Conference is going to be held for the first time in Latin America. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all council members of the past and present who supported the decision that the 7th PPC is going to be held in Mexico. Personally I would like to thank Professors O. Vogl, T. Saegusa and the late J.H. O'Donnell who invited me to attend the council meeting as a observer at 1991 during the PPC-2 in Otsu, Japan

The PPC-7 will be held in the City of Oaxaca (pronounced oahaka) in December 3-7, 2001. The conference site was selected for its comfortable climate, tranquillity, various historical instruments (both colonial and pre-Columbian) and the excellent hospitality of the people of Oaxaca. I am sure that those who will attend PPC-7 will be satisfied, and we are looking forward to meeting many polymer scientists not only from the pacific membership countries but also from other regions of the world.

I send my sincere greetings to all polymer scientists and wish them success in their research and development work.

Sincerely yours,

Takeshi Ogawa, President of PPF

Minutes of PPF Council Meeting, 8th December 1999, Garden Hotel, Guangzhou, China

Attendees: H. Chan, W Cook, R Guerrero, C.C. Ho, K. Horie, M. Jiang, T. Kajiyama, S C Kim, L.M. Leung, Dang V. Luyen, T. Ogawa, F. Rabaliari, E. Rizzardo, S. Tantayanon, F S Wang.

Guests: A. Abe, G. Burillo, F.C Chang, S Nakahama, K Shida, O. Vogl, J.C. Vogl, M. Xu.

Welcoming Remarks: F.S. Wang, President of PPF and Chairman of PPF Council, welcomed all the attendees at 15:00 and guests of the meeting and outlined the agenda. The Council Members and guests introduced then introduced themselves in turn. The minutes of the previous PPF Council meeting, held on the Gold Coast of Australia, July 15, 1998 were distributed.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes prepared by M Jiang of the previous PPF Council Meeting was approved with a few corrections. Changes in telephone, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of some Council Members were added.

Member Organizations: The Council discussed the replacement of the membership of the Division of Polymers and Organic Materials by the Mexican Polymer Society. T. Ogawa briefly explained the situation of polymer groups In Mexico. The three attendees from Mexico agreed that the Mexican Polymer Society is the sole representative from Mexico.

PPC-6: M. Xu of the Program Committee of PPC-6, presented the report of PPC-6. There were more than 530 participants including 130 students. The participants came from 25 countries and areas. 550 abstracts were collected in the conference reprints.

PPC-7: T. Ogawa reported that the contract with the venue hotels was already made. The details will be distributed through Internet web site by the end ot' 2000.

PPC-8 and PPC-9: S. Tantayanon briefly reported the preliminary plan of organizing PPC-8 in November 2003 In Bangkok. Regarding to PPC-9 in 2005, K. Horie said that Japan is always ready to organize the Pacific Polymer Conference unless another member organization has a strong interests. Some attendees suggested that PPC-9 could be held In Hawaii in 2005.

President Election: T. Ogawa and S Tantayanon were unanimously elected as the President and Vice-President of PPF, respectively. Their term will begin In January 1, 200 and terminate in December 2001.

Committee Chairman

As G.A. George is no longer a Council Member, the Council appointed E Rizzardo as the Chairman of the Membership Committee.

Next Council Meeting: The next Council meeting was suggested to be held in December 2000 in Hawaii during the Pacific Chem. Conference. The Council President will host the meeting. The Chairman of the Council closed the Meeting at 19:00.

Mexican Polymer Society: Established in 1985.

President (2000-2001):Guillermina Burillo, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, UNAM., President Elect (2002-2003): Angel Licea, Inst. Tec. Cd. Tijuana, Mexico.

PPF MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Founding Members:

Division of Polymer Chemistry Inc., American Chemical Society

The Society of Polymer Science, Japan

The Polymer Division, The Royal Australian Chemical Institute

Members:

The Macromolecular Science & Engineering Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada

Macromolecular Division of the Chemical Society of Chile

The Polymer Division of the Chinese Chemical Society

Hong Kong Chemical Society

Indonesia Polymer Association

The Polymer Society of Korea

The Polymer and Industrial Section of the Institute of Chemistry of Malaysia

Division of Polymers and Organic Materials, Mexican Academy of Materials of Sciences

The Polymer Group of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry

The Plastics and Rubber Institute of Singapore

The Polymer Society of Taipei

The Polymer Society of Thailand

Division of High Polymer Physics, The American Physical Society

Division of Polymer Science, Chemical Society of Vietnam

7th Pacific Polymer Conference (PPC-7), December 3-7, 2001

Oaxaca, Mexico.

PPC-7 will be celebrated at Oaxaca City which is located in the south central region of Mexico, and founded in 16th Century by the Spanish Conquistadores. Therefore the city center consists of colonial architectures from the 16th century. The city is also in the center of precolumbian Zapoteca civilization, and various famous ruins such as Monte Alban, Mitla, and others are found around the city. The climate in Oaxaca in December is very comfortable neither hot nor cold. There are frequent flights (1 hr) from Mexico City by Aeromexico and Mexicana.

The conference includes every aspect of polymer science, including (1) Polymerization Chemistry and Technology, (2) Functional Polymers and Nanocomposites for Advanced Technology, (3) Natural and Biological Polymers (4) Polymer Characterization, and (5) Physical Properties and Processing Technology.

Several microsymposia on special topics within the above fields will be organized.

The Hotel Mision de Los Angeles was chosen as the conference site and venue hotel, and the nearby Holiday Inn Express is also reserved for the conference. Camino Real Hotel, built in the 16th century as monastery, in the center of the city is also available for the participants interested in sleeping at ancient rooms.

Pre- and post-conference tours will be arranged, including Playas Huatulco (Pacific coast) and/or Chiapas (Maya ruins and jungle).