Editorial: The National Organic Symposium Trust—Shaping Organic Chemistry in India for Over 30 Years

Abstract

Reasons to celebrate! The National Organic Symposium Trust (NOST) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2018. This organization has been instrumental in shaping and influencing organic chemistry research in India. Description unavailable The National Organic Symposium Trust—Organic Chemistry Conference (NOST–OCC) is unarguably the best known Indian conference in organic chemistry and allied interdisciplinary areas. It provides a highly valued interactive space for young and established organic chemists in academia, from both India and abroad, as well as from industry. Over the decades, NOST has profoundly influenced and shaped organic chemistry research in India. The genesis of NOST and the concept of OCC dates back more than thirty five years. In January 1983, a group of very distinguished Indian organic chemists decided to create a non-profit, charitable trust, which was named the “National Organic Symposium Trust”, for public benefit and educational purposes, solely dedicated to organic chemistry. The Founding Trustees were the (late) Dr. T. R. Govindachari, the (late) Dr. S. C. Bhattacharya, Dr. Sukh Dev, Dr. S. Swaminathan, and Dr. Nitya Anand, who were also instrumental in the initial fund-raising and created the operating framework for the Trust. It was envisaged that the Trust would offer general counsel for all outreach activities and that the NOST Council would be given a mandate to periodically organize organic chemistry conferences. Starting with noble aspirations and from a humble beginning, NOST–OCC recently celebrated its the 30th anniversary with a conference from September 6–9, 2018 in Goa, India, which was attended by 120 participants. The First Decade (1983–1992) was the decade of conceptualizing a discipline-driven conference, evolving the meeting format, creating guidelines for outreach activities, and a future roadmap. The first NOST-OCC was held at the Hotel Ashok, Hassan, Karnataka, during December 4–8, 1988, under the chairmanship of Professor Goverdhan Mehta. Participation in this meeting was “by invitation” only, which has remained one of the criteria, with a restriction to a total of 50 participants. The response to this experiment was enthusiastic and overwhelming. The second NOST–OCC meeting was held in Aurangabad (1990; Figure 1 and Figure 2) and the subsequent meetings were highly successful with an exponential increase in impact and visibility, and an invitation to present and/or participate in NOST–OCC being considered synonymous with the fact that the invitees had made major contributions in their respective fields. Over the decades, these meetings not only encouraged active researchers, but also cultivated collaborations between academia and industry, and stimulated opportunities for cooperation. The NOST meetings have strengthened India's quest for global competitiveness in chemistry research and its relentless pursuit to become an intellectual powerhouse.