Chemistry is the heart of our societies as it provides a multitude of consumer goods without which modern life would not be possible. Much more than simply focussing on making a product and satisfying a demand the question of how to make it has been on the agenda for several years for one simple reason: Today's world does not only need goods, it needs sustainable ways to make them. Many topics are on the line here such as energy generation, product design, and manufacturing processes which need to be made economically and ecologically acceptable. Sustainable Chemistry, positioned at the interface of chemistry, environment, society, and economy, gives this area of innovation a name.

From April 23-25, 2008, Aachen was the stage for the conference "Dream Reactions - Synthesis and Processes for Sustainable Chemistry", which covered the latest contributions by top level researchers in the field. Besides its scientific agenda, it also celebrated the first birthday of the GDCh working group "Sustainable Chemistry". The organizing team around Walter Leitner and Markus Hölscher managed to attract a prominent line-up of speakers from academia and industry that emphasized the interdisciplinarity of the subject.

The oral contributions covered the whole spectrum of theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable chemistry from wishful thinking to academic innovations and industrial manufacture. The utilization of biomass and CO2, energy-efficient processes, alternative solvents, and atom-efficient catalytic transformations took center stage.

The conference was organized by the Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry of RWTH Aachen university together with the Catalytic Centre (CAT) and supported by a number of partners from industry (Bayer MaterialScience), publishers (Royal Society of Chemistry, Wiley-VCH) and the universities official sponsoring partner (proRWTH). 

The "dream reactions" get-together successfully strengthened the network for the players involved and provided a competent basis to discuss and exchange ideas and experiences, being it dreams of the future or dreams come true.

After all, innovation is the key driver for sustainability and future competitiveness. Down the road, innovations will have to be transformed into industrial reality assuring we do not only leave behind a lighter footprint, but have addressed economic, ecological, and societal problems and, most importantly, come up with solutions to tackle them. Aachen shed light on the key issues.

Axel Jacobi von Wangelin