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This document was prepared as a report from IUPAC to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to provide an evaluation of scientific and technological advances in the chemical sciences relevant to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The report is intended to assist OPCW and its Member States in preparation for the First Review Conference to be held on 28 April 2003. The CWC, now ratified by 145 nations and in effect since 1997, totally prohibits the production, storage, or use of toxic chemicals as weapons of war. This report is based on an IUPAC Workshop held in Bergen, Norway, 30 June to 3 July 2002.
The report highlights developments in organic synthesis and changes in chemical plant design that will pose new challenges to the Convention, but it also describes recent and probable future developments in analytical chemistry that should assist in implementation of the Convention. The key issues identified at the Workshop are listed, and the findings and observations are summarized in 18 points.

Pure & Appl. Chem, Vol. 74, No. 12, p.2323–2352, 2002
© 2002 IUPAC
IUPAC permission is acknowledged

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A critical evaluation is made of the chemical weapon destruction technologies demonstrated for 1 kg or more of agent in order to provide information about the technologies proven to destroy chemical weapons to policy-makers and others concerned with reaching decisions about the destruction of chemical weapons and agents. As all chemical agents are simply highly toxic chemicals, it is logical to consider the destruction of chemical agents as being no different from the consideration of the destruction of other chemicals that can be as highly toxic—their destruction, as that of any chemicals, requires the taking of appropriate precautions to safeguard worker safety, public health, and the environment. The Chemical Weapons Convention that entered into force in 1997 obliges all States Parties to destroy any stockpiles of chemical weapons within 10 years from the entry into force of the Convention—by 2007—with the possibility of an extension for up to 5 years to 2012. There is consequently a tight timeline under the treaty for the destruction of stockpiled chemical weapons and agents—primarily held in Russia and the United States. Abandoned or old chemical weapons — notably in Europe primarily from World War I, in China from World War II as well as in the United States—also have to be destroyed. During the past 40 years, more than 20,000 tonnes of agent have been destroyed in a number of countries and over 80% of this has been destroyed by incineration. Although incineration is well proven and will be used in the United States to destroy over 80 % of the U.S. stockpile of 25,800 tonnes of agent, considerable attention has been paid particularly in the United States to alternative technologies to incineration because of several constraints that are specific to the United States. Much of the information in this report is based on U.S. experience—as the United States had, along with the Russian Federation, by far the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons and agents anywhere in the world. The United States has made much progress in destroying its stockpile of chemical weapons and agents and has also done more work than any other country to examine alternative technologies for the destruction of chemical weapons and agents. However, the national decisions to be taken by countries faced with the destruction of chemical weapons and agents need to be made in the light of their particular national conditions and standards—and thus may well result in a decision to use different approaches from those adopted by the United States. This report provides information to enable countries to make their own informed and appropriate decisions.

Pure & Appl. Chem., Vol. 74, No. 2, p. 187–316, 2002
© 2002 IUPAC
IUPAC permission is acknowledged

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The transformation of non-natural compounds by enzymes-generally referred to as ‘biocatalysis’-has evolved as a trend-section of organic synthesis during the mid-eighties. As a consequence, a remarkable number of reliable biochemical techniques have been developed during the last decade, which constitute powerful tools for modem organic synthesis. In this report, the state of the art of biotransformations as well as future developments are critically reviewed with respect to strengths and weaknesses of the existing methods.

Pure & Appl. Chem, Vol. 69, No. 8, p. 1613-1632, 1997

© 1997 IUPAC

IUPAC permission is acknowledged