Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanine

The Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines was founded in June 2000 at the conclusion of the First International Meeting on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (ICPP-1) held in Dijon, France. This was the first worldwide meeting devoted only to investigation in the fields of porphyrins and phthalocyanines and was attended by almost 600 scientists from more than 40 dissimilar countries. The Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (JPP) had been publishing manuscripts on both porphyrin and phthalocyanine topics since 1997 but there was stagnant very little scientific interaction among the JPP authors or members of the Editorial Board who deliberated themselves either “porphyrin scientists” or “phthalocyanine researchers” and had enthusiastic their careers to research in one of the two fields but not both. Thus, formation of our new society in June 2000 was intended to break down barricades between the two fields of research (and researchers) and further all types of scientific interfaces between these two disciplines which at that time were linked by a similar looking macrocycle and a periodical but not much more.

The expansive goal of SPP has always been to serve the interests of scientists occupied in any area of porphyrins, phthalocyanines and interrelated macrocycles, independent of their scientific restraint, be it chemistry, physics, biology, biochemistry or physical science. This was done in part by providing the arrangement and substantial financial support for future ICPP summits which were so far held in Rome (2006), New Orleans (2004), Moscow (2008), New Mexico (2010), Jeju (2012), Kyoto (2002), Istanbul (2014) and next Nanjing (2016). SPP not only assisted the local coordinators with all aspects of the ICPP meeting organization but also solicited funding for the granting of 3-5 Lifetime Achievement Awards every two years to highly renowned senior investigators, 3 JPP/SPP Young Detective Awards to scientists under the age of 40 and various grants for students who wished to attend the meeting. SPP also purchased the Periodical of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (JPP) from John Wiley & Sons at the end of 2001 and for the next seven years moved all aspects of its publication out of the Dijon office.