Micro- and mesoporous mineral phases

Mineralogical, crystallographic and technological aspects 

Rome, Italy, December, 2004

[Group photo]The meeting, held at the Academia Nazionale dei Lincei - Rome, Italy, December 6-7, 2004, was organized jointly by the Commission on Inorganic and Mineral Structures of the IUCr and the Nat’l Italian Accademy of Lincei, and covered recent advances in the field of micro- and mesoporous compounds. The meeting was organized by G. Ferraris, F. Calderazzo, S. Merlino and A. Mottana.

All sessions were held in a splendid hall of Palazzo Corsini, the magnificent venue of the Academy. After the opening ceremony, during which a brief account of the scope and activities of the IUCr was presented, the 6 oral sessions were devoted to the structural and crystal chemical aspects of porous systems, including their natural occurrence, possible synthesis, chemical-physical characterization, structure-property relationships, and uses as nanomaterials.

The meeting included 12 invited, 20 contributed presentations and 53 poster presentations; 98 participants from 20 different countries attended. We are grateful for the financial support from IUCr and other national and international institutions, associations and companies. Italy (local people were also involved in the organization) and Russia had the largest numbers of participants, but countries like Bulgaria, Iran, Rumania, Singapore, Turkey and Thailand were also represented. Delegates and contributions covered: crystallography, mineralogy, chemistry, materials sciences, physics, biology, and industrial research. The possibility of approaching different aspects of porous materials was highly appreciated by the participants, most of which were not crystallographers even if to some extent users of crystallographic methods.

Copies of the abstract book can be obtained free of charge by contacting delbuono@lincei.it. Twelve oral contributions are in press as volume 57 (same title as the meeting) of the Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry. A number of other contributions will be published in a dedicated issue of the European Journal of Mineralogy.

Davide Viterbo and Giovanni Ferraris