This is an archive copy of the IUCr web site dating from 2008. For current content please visit https://www.iucr.org.

IUCr 1997 Report - IUPAC Interdivisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols (IDCNS)

The annual meeting of IDCNS was held 27 - 28 August 1997, during the 39th IUPAC General Assembly. Members of IDCNS have been very active since their last annual meeting, having reviewed 18 new nomenclature reports - several in multiple parts - prior to publication in Pure & Applied Chemistry. Members also reviewed many other reports originating in the various Commissions of IUPAC. Quality control of all IUPAC nomenclature documents before publication, and resolution of any interdivisional nomenclature conflict that might arise in this process, are the primary purposes of these reviews. The number of reports directly of interest to crystallographers varies considerably; most were somewhat marginal this past year. Two of interest are concerned with the nomenclature of chemical kinetics and with X-ray emission spectrochemical analysis. A revised list of atomic weights through atomic number 111 (symbol Uuu, name Unununium, atomic weight ~272) has been published in Pure Appl. Chem. (1997), 69, 2471-2473. (Uuu and the element with atomic number 110, symbol Uun, name Ununnilium, atomic weight ~269, are the only elements with three-letter symbols.)

Many IUPAC nomenclature reports are now mounted on the web. The largest collection of reports, including that with the revised list of atomic weights, may be found at: http://www.chem.qmw.ac.uk/iupac/. The decision by the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures to abolish the class of SI supplementary units (the radian and the steradian) has reached the Draft International Standard stage. Publication of a new edition of The SI Brochure was expected by December 1997. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is also drafting a new International Standard on the presentation of quantities and units in tables and diagrams.

The IUPAC Secretariat has now moved from Oxford, UK, to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, where the next meeting of IDCNS is tentatively scheduled to be held 21 - 22 August 1998. Dr V. Metanomski of Chemical Abstracts becomes the new Secretary of IDCNS on 1 January 1998. Professor T. Cvitas of Zagreb, Croatia, will succeed Professor I. Mills as Chair in January 2000.

[Next section] [Previous section] [Index] in IUCr annual report for 1997
[1996] [1998] IUCr IUPAC Interdivisional Committee on Nomenclature and Symbols (IDCNS) report

Updated 2nd November 1998

IUCr Webmaster