The conference chairman was Lixin Dai and the co-chairman was Yong Tang. Approximately 250 participants from many countries took part in the conference, including a large number of students predominantly from the Asian region. The program consisted of 8 plenary lectures, 1 keynote lecture, 38 invited lectures, 56 oral presentations, and nearly 120 posters. The subject of this conference was in some ways unique, since the concept of heteroatom includes almost all the elements of the periodic

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... e. Hence, the conference featured an exceptional diversity of topics in which the problems of organic and inorganic chemistry, life science, and material science were reflected and intertwined. The following major themes were included in the conference: Organocatalysis, Heteroatom Chemistry Directed Towards Organic Synthesis, Mechanistic and Structural Aspects of Heteroatom Chemistry, New Heteroatom-Containing Materials, Biologically Relevant Heteroatom Chemistry, and Supramolecular Chemistry of Heteroatom. Participants pointed out that the conference enlarged their scientific horizons and introduced them to new and important things that were far from their own fields of study. It was particularly gratifying that the plenary lectures were exciting enough that they evoked interest among participants in issues not directly connected with their fields of study.