ChemCatChem: Looking To The Future

Abstract

The first issue of ChemCatChem, the latest addition to ChemPubSoc Europe and Wiley-VCH’s growing portfolio of chemistry periodicals, was launched on August 28th, 2009, bringing to an end nearly a year’s worth of preparation. Initial reactions, garnered at various conferences throughout the world, including EuropaCat 2009 in Salamanca, the German Chemical Society Forum in Frankfurt, the 14th International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis in Stockholm, and the 13th Asian Chemical Congress in Shanghai, have been overwhelmingly positive. When ChemCatChem was first launched, we made it the central part of our mission to bring down the barriers between the various branches of catalysis, and our initial assumption that a journal was dearly needed that catered for all fields of catalytic research, including heterogeneous, homogeneous and enzymatic catalysis, appears to have been borne out by the quality of submissions we’ve been able to accept already. Only ten months after the first call for papers was sent out, ChemCatChem has received nearly 300 submissions from all parts of the globe (Figure 1). Submissions to ChemCatChem divided according to country of origin (accurate to November 26th, 2009). We feel that this, the first issue of our second volume, continues along the path to attaining even greater heights. On page 103, you will find a provocative Viewpoint article from Ruslan Yuryev and Andreas Liese, which asks why biocatalysis has so long been considered the black sheep in the catalytic family and suggests some far-reaching consequences for its being brought in from the cold. On page 41, Philippe Serp and Eva Castillejos espouse upon catalysis inside the cavities of carbon nanotubes, without doubt one of the hot topics of modern catalysis. Furthermore, we bring you a veritable cornucopia of primary research articles, covering the latest developments across the whole spectrum of catalytic disciplines. 2009 also proved to be a big year for many of ChemCat Chem’s sister journals. While ChemBioChem and ChemPhysChem are currently celebrating their 10th anniversaries, all of the journals continue to go from strength to strength, reflected by increased impact factors in 2009 for ChemPhysChem (3.636) and ChemMedChem (3.150). To celebrate the aforementioned anniversaries, in May 2010, Wiley-VCH and ChemPubSoc Europe, in collaboration with the Société Chimique de France, will be holding a symposium in Paris entitled Frontiers of Chemistry: From Molecules to Systems. Catalysis will feature prominently in a stellar line-up of speakers, including Nobel Laureate and ChemCatChem Honorary Board Member, Gerhard Ertl (see left).1 2010 will also see the first impact factor for ChemSusChem, which will surely reinforce its position as the top journal for sustainable chemistry publications. ChemSusChem should be of particular interest for readers of ChemCatChem, as catalysis plays a pivotal role in rendering chemical processes more sustainable. The coming year will doubtless bring a whole new set of challenges, as we set about establishing ChemCatChem as the vehicle of choice for contributions from every corner of the catalytic universe. With this in mind, we are very glad that, in 2010, ChemCatChem will once again be available for free to all institutional subscribers to Angewandte Chemie and any other institutions who opt-in for free access, giving our authors as wide a potential audience as possible. With a view to increasing the journal’s visibility yet further, ChemCatChem will be maintaining its strong presence at international conferences, and anticipate meeting many of our readers and authors throughout 2010, with representation at conferences including the Spring 2010 ACS Meeting in San Francisco in March and PacifiChem 2010 in Honolulu in December. Finally, we would like to say thank you to our Editorial, Honorary, and International Advisory Board Members and to all of our authors and referees, who have helped to get this journal off to a flying start, for which we are very grateful. We wish you every success in 2010, and look forward to bringing you all the very best in catalysis research over the next twelve months. 1 1