Objective
The main objective of COST D1 is to explore the co-ordination chemistry of metal ions in the context of biological and environmental systems, and to apply the resulting knowledge and experience to the development of new catalysts, new synthetic products, new metal recovery systems and new drugs.
This covers the following secondary objectives :
to study and explore biomimetic chemistry within a European network;
to start a programme for the development of new metal-containing diagnostics and drugs;
to set up a programme devoted to metal recovery from waste (water) using chemicals based on biological chelation principles;
specific synthesis of organic compounds, using bioinorganic catalysts, with special attention to chirality.
Current status
This Action, after a successful start in 1992, had a fruitful continuation. Several earlier projects were extended with one or more new members, and, furthermore, a number of new projects were accepted, and received the COST label. The basic activities of COST D1 are :
Contacts between the members of a project (1 :1 basis; bilateral). There are 14 projects running involving 87 scientific groups from 17 COST countries. The participation of groups per country is as follows : CH (4), H (5), P (1), N (1), NL (6), F (9), I (18), D (6), UK (16), B (4), IRL (4), E (1), S (2), PL (4), SFcheck what country this is supposed to be (1), CZ (4) and DK (1);
Project (Working Group) meetings, usually once a year. Thirteen WG meetings were held during the period 1995/1996;
Short-Term Scientific Missions. Each year a new contract was signed and ten Short-term Scientific Missions were granted, involving visits of students from a research group to another one within a network;
COST workshops. Two workshops on MRI Contrast Agents (COST project D1/0001/92) involving participation of industrial partners were organised on 18/19 May 1995 in Coimbra (P) and on 18/19 Oct 1996 in The Hague (NL). The second COST D1 workshop took place on 16/19 May 1996, in Copenhagen (DK), attended by 85 people. The workshop was considered by the participants to be very successful. Representatives of almost all COST D1 projects were present at the meeting;
Meetings of the Management Committee. The MC met four times during the period 1995/1996. The 1st meeting was held in Brussels (B), on 5 May 1995, the 2nd was organised in Basel (CH), on 8 Oct 1995, the 3rd took place in Copenhagen (DK) on 16 May 1996 and the 4th meeting in Brussels (B) on 11 Nov 1996. Starting from 1 September, the second chair, Prof L Simandi (Budapest, H) retired, and was succeeded by Prof G. Natile (Bari, I); Prof. E. Sletten (Bergen, N) was elected vice-chair.
The scientific evaluation of the results obtained, and an assessment of the benefit of the collaboration and the extent of transfer of research results into practical applications will be performed in September 1997 by two external referees (a well-known expert in the field and an industrial chemist) with two internal referees from the Technical Committee COST Chemistry. The evaluation will be made on the basis of final reports, joint publications and oral presentations. However, in one of the COST D1 projects - contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - all four European companies working in the field (worldwide only five operate) are active and attend meetings. At this stage no new applications have come out of this, but they are likely to develop in the near future.
As COST Action D1 will end on 13 September 1997 (five years after the signing of the MoU), it is likely that parts of the Action will evolve into the COST Action D8 "Chemistry of Metals in Medicine".
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
1049 Brussels
Belgium