Conference Call the development of new ones, the dissemination of The following organizations were co-spon- the information from the workshops to a broader sors of Malta VI: OPCW, Google, Inc., UNESCO, the audience, and the search for funding to provide Committee of Concerned Scientists, the American research and international exchange opportunities for Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, students and faculty. and the American Association for the Advancement In the closing session, the participants, many of of Science. More information about the MCF and whom had attended previous Malta Conferences, the Malta Conferences can be found at www. enthusiastically supported the prospect of holding MaltaConferencesFoundation.org. Malta VII in 2015.Stamps They were International also invited to provide an Iona Black, Morton Z. Hoffman, and Zafra Margolin Lerman are the Secretary, evaluation of the conference. Of the many comments that were received, one stands out as the summary of Treasurer, and President of the Malta Conferences Foundation, respectively. everything thatQuadruple the Malta ConferencesCelebration embody: “We have only one nationality here—and that’s science.” The International Year of (2014) is providing a fantastic opportunity to draw attention to the lives and works of many luminaries in the history and developmentSee also www.iupac.org/ of X-ray crystallography. To begin with, it commemorates the centennialpublications/ci/indexes/stamps.html of the in Physics that the German physicist Max von Laue (1879-1960) received for his Stampsdiscovery of theInternational diffraction of X-rays by crystals. It also celebrates the 100th birthday of Quadrupleanother Celebration Max (Perutz), the Austrian-born British biochemist (1914-2002) who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in with John KendrewThe for Soviettheir studies stamp of illustrated the structures in this of note was issued The Internationalhemoglobin Year of Crystallography and other globular (2014) . is pro And- itin marks 1968 tohalf commemorate a century since the the golden Nobel jubilee of the N.S. viding a fantasticPrize opportunity in Chemistry to wadraws awarded attention to theto theBritish Kurnakovchemist Dorothy Institute Hodgkin of General (1910 -and1994) Inorganic for Chemistry her pioneering work on the X-ray structures of many important , including lives and works of many luminaries in the history and in Moscow. The design of the stamp features a view cholesterol, penicillin and vitamin B . It turns out that 2014 is likewise the 50th development of X‑ray crystallography. To begin12 with, of the Institute’s building in the background (no, it’s anniversary of the seminal Science paper in which Al Cotton and coworkers at MIT it commemorates the centennial of the Nobel Prize not a punched card...) and a representation of the recognized the presence of a quadruple bond between the rhenium atoms in the 2- in Physics that the German2- physicist Max von Laue crystal structure of [Re2Cl8] with the correct eclipsed [Re2Cl8] ion, an insightful piece of work in which X-ray crystallography played a key (1879-1960) receivedrole. Although for his adiscovery different sofalt theof this diffrac complex- ionconformation had been obtained for the andeight its chloro crystal ligands. It is remark- th tion of X‑rays bystructure crystals. reported It also by celebratesRussian scientists the 100 the yearable before, that suchno light an was esoteric shed moleculeon their (with due respect birthday of Maxarticle Perutz, to rationalize the Austrian-born the unusually British short bio rhenium- to- rheniumKuznetsov distance and Koz’min)observed (2.22was picturedÅ). on a stamp (1914-2002) who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize only five years after it was first described in the open in Chemistry with John Kendrew literature. Perhaps that was for their studies of the structures merely a sign of things to come: of and other globu- by the time the third edition lar proteins. It also marks half a of Cotton, Murillo & Walton’s century since the Nobel Prize in Multiple Bonds Between Metal Chemistry was awarded to the Atoms came out in 2005, more British chemist than 1500 different compounds (1910-1994) for her pioneering containing quadruple bonds work on the X-ray structures of had been made! Furthermore, many important biomolecules, starting in 2005, a number of including cholesterol, penicillin, chromium complexes showing and vitamin B-12. Likewise, 2014 putative quintuple bonds (or is the 50th anniversary of the seminal Science paper in “fivefold bonding interactions” according to the most which F.A. Cotton andThe Sovietcoworkers stamp at il lustratedMIT recognized in this note wascautious issued researchers)in 1968 to commemorate have been the isolated and have the presence ofgolden a quadruple jubilee of bondthe N.S. between Kurnakov the Institute rhe- ofnaturally General andgarnered Inorganic a lotChemistry of attention in from computa- Moscow. The2- design of the stamp features a view of the Institute’s building in the nium atoms in the [Re2Cl8] ion, an insightful piece of tional and synthetic alike. The race for sex- work in which X-ray crystallography played a key role. tuple bonds is definitely on! Although a different salt of this complex ion had been For a personal account of the discovery of qua- obtained and its crystal structure reported by Russian druple bonds, see: Cotton, F.A. J. Chem. Educ. 1983, scientists the year before, no light was shed on their 60, 713-720. article to rationalize the unusually short rhenium- rhenium distance observed (2.22 Å). Written by Daniel Rabinovich .

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