Welcome to the 20th European Symposium on Organic Chemistry (ESOC 2017)

It will be a great pleasure for us to welcome you to Cologne in 2017 for the 20th ESOC conference. This conference aims at bringing together scientists from Europe and other parts of the world to share their interests in the broad and exciting field of Organic Chemistry.

While organic synthesis, which is the art of making organic molecules in an efficient and sustainable fashion, will be in the focus of the conference, the essential impact of organic chemistry for the life sciences and the material sciences will also become apparent. Thematically, ESOC 2017 will cover the full spectrum of organic chemistry, while in particular highlighting modern trends in
•    Synthesis (natural products synthesis, synthetic methodology, reaction technology)
•    Catalysis (metal-, organo-, bio-, photoredox-)
•    C-H Bond Activation
•    Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology
•    Organic Materials and Supramolecular Chemistry
•    Physical and Computational Organic Chemistry.

Since the first ESOC in 1979, which was held at the University of Cologne under the chair of Prof. Emanuel Vogel, the biannual ESOC conferences have developed into flagship events for the Organic Chemistry community in Europe and beyond.

The conference is designed to attract organic chemists from both academia and industry, and especially PhD students, postdocs and young researchers will have plenty of opportunity for exchange and discussion. Besides 12 plenary and 12 invited lectures, there are more than 20 slots for short oral presentations (á 15 min) and space for ≥ 400 posters, which will be up during all days of the conference.

We are confident that you will enjoy ESOC 17, which will take place in the “Gürzenich”, a famous and beautiful conference site in the heart of the historic city of Cologne.

Hans-Günther (Hagga) Schmalz (Chair), Albrecht Berkessel (Co-Chair), Axel Griesbeck (Co-Chair)