Preface

The 22nd International Congress on Heterocyclic Chemistry (ICHC-22) was held 2-7 August 2009 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. St. John's, the capital of Canada's youngest Province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is also Canada’s oldest and North America’s most easterly city. The Conference was chaired by Prof. Mohsen Daneshtalab (School of Pharmacy, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and was organized by the School of Pharmacy and the Chemistry Department at Memorial University of Newfoundland.Approximately 260 participants from over 30 different countries attended. The scientific program consisted of 10 plenary lectures, 19 invited lectures, 52 short communications, and 115 posters. Prof. Samuel Danishefsky (Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, Columbia University) was honored with the 2009 ISHC Senior Award in Heterocyclic Chemistry, and Prof. John Wood (Colorado State University) was the 2009 Katritzky Junior Award winner. A special symposium entitled "Focus on heterocycles in organic synthesis today and tomorrow" was held during the Congress as a tribute to Prof. Victor Snieckus (Queen's University, Kingston) for his research accomplishments and long-time contribution to the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry (ISHC).The five Congress themes were:- New Methods in Heterocyclic Chemistry- Biologically Active Heterocycles (Pharmaceuticals/Agrochemicals)- Heterocyclic Natural Products and their Analogues- Applications of Heterocycles in Organic Synthesis- Heterocycles in Materials ScienceBesides the collection of 9 papers that are based on the plenary and invited lectures included in this issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the ICHC-22 Book of Abstracts is available online and can be downloaded for free from http://www.ichc2009.ca/abstract_book.pdf in pdf format.ICHC-23 will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, 31 July to 5 August 2011 with the following five main themes of heterocyclic chemistry: synthetic methodology, natural products and complex molecule synthesis, materials, medicinal chemistry, and nanochemistry. The conference will be chaired by Prof. Colin Suckling (University of Strathclyde).The organizers are grateful to all who contributed to a successful scientific program, especially to the speakers and to our public and private sponsors: City of St. John's, Memorial University of Newfoundland, IUPAC, Thieme, Wiley-Blackwell, Elsevier, Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., ChemRoutres Corporation, and American Diagnostica, Inc.Paris E. GeorghiouConference Editor