I. INTRODUCTION
The first Pan-African Conference on Crystallography, PCCr1, was held in Dschang, Cameroon in 2016. This highly successful meeting attracted 192 participants from 32 countries, including 20 African countries. PCCr2 followed in 2019, with over 200 participants from 35 countries. This was a joint meeting with AfLS and was hosted in Accra, Ghana. PCCr3 was scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya in 2021. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, this meeting had to be postponed. The Steering Committee of the African Crystallographic Association, along with the Local Organizing Committee of PCCr3, decided to hold an online meeting in order to continue the momentum and sense of community generated during the first two PCCr meetings. ePCCr was therefore organized (Figure 1).
ePCCr logo.
The theme of ePCCr was “Crystallography, an interdisciplinary science for the Africa of the future”. Submissions were invited in the following thematic areas:
– Crystallography Databases
– Inorganic Materials and Industrial Minerals
– Crystal Engineering and Structural Chemistry
– Crystallography and Life Sciences
– Large Facilities for Emerging Countries
– Diffraction Physics and Phase Transitions.
The meeting was held entirely online via Zoom. The conference ran from 15 to 19 November, 10h00–17h00 Central African Time.
ePCCR Organizing Committee
Gift Mehlana (Chair), Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
Susan Bourne (Secretary), University of Cape Town, South Africa
Dickson Andala, Multimedia University of Kenya , Kenya
David Dodoo-Arhin, University of Ghana, Ghana
Delia Haynes, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Patrice Kenfack Tsobnang, University of Dschang, Cameroon
II. JOINT MEETING
The ePCCr was organized as a joint meeting together with the African Light Source (AfLS) and the African Physical Society (AfPS). There is a significant overlap of interest between these three groups, as well as an overlap of communities. There was also a group of ten co-convenors, also with overlap of interests (Figure 2).
The companion Pan-African Conferences and the co-convenor organisations that worked together for the joint event.
The joint event was hosted by X-Tech Lab in Benin (https://www.xtechlab.co/en/). Each day had two plenary sessions which were common to all delegates. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were also organized jointly by ePCCr, AflS, and AfPS.
III. DELEGATES
The joint meeting had a total number of 554 registered delegates. Of these, 208 delegates were specifically registered for the ePCCr meeting.
A total of 42 nationalities were represented at ePCCr, with delegates affiliated with institutions in 39 countries. The largest numbers of delegates were affiliated with institutes in South Africa (41), Cameroon (26), Nigeria (13), the UK (13), and France (11). 59% of registered delegates were male, 36% were female, and the remaining 5% did not specify a gender. One hundred and six delegates were academics, 81 were students, 15 from industry, and 6 registered as observers.
IV. SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS
The ePCCr was characterized by great talks from plenary lectures to keynote addresses. These talks covered aspects of crystal engineering, inorganic materials, and structural chemistry and biology where crystallographic tools have been applied in the characterization of different materials that are used in our everyday lives. Plenary lectures and keynote addresses were presented by scientists from Africa and other parts of the world.
Polymorphism was a key feature in some of the talks that were presented by renowned and emerging scientists. Professor Susan Reutzel-Edens had an inspiring plenary talk on Inspiring Medicines Design Through Solid State Chemistry (Figure 3). In her presentation, she highlighted methods for identifying drug polymorphs using computational and experimental methods. This was a well-timed presentation given the fact that the world is facing pandemics which need to be eradicated through developing new drugs and vaccines. Professor Bill Jones of the University of Cambridge gave a presentation on Crystallization methods and disappearing polymorphs. This further reinforced the importance of understanding the occurrence of polymorphic materials. This knowledge is very useful, especially in pharmaceutical industries involved in the manufacture of drugs. In a keynote address, Dr Eunice Nyawade stressed the importance of single crystal X-ray diffraction in the characterization of polymorphic ruthenium complexes. Dr Tetteh Samuel of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana showed how polymorphism could be predicted using the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD). His presentation acted as a forerunner to the CSD workshop, for which 58 delegates registered, that looked at structural visualization with Mercury and Searching the Cambridge Structural Database using ConQuest. This workshop was attended by students and early career researchers.
A screenshot from Susan Reutzel-Edens’ presentation.
The plenary lecture on protein crystallography was presented by Professor Richard Garratt from the University of São Paulo. He spoke about unravelling the complexities of septin filaments using crystallography. He also spoke about the importance of infrastructure development in advancing science in Brazil, particularly in terms of the construction of the first synchrotron in Latin America, and how this has changed science in the region. Another excellent plenary lecture was given by Professor Seham Abdel-Aal from Cairo University, who presented her work on hybrid perovskite materials and their properties.
Metal-organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a topical issue and as such their research is moving fast in directions as diverse as indoor climate and biotechnology. This was evidenced by keynote addresses by Neil Champness and Tendai Gadzikwa. The importance of these new materials in gas storage to catalysis was also highlighted. Dr Gadzikwa outlined how these materials can be used as scaffolds for enzyme-inspired catalysis paving way for their potential application in biotechnology. In a related presentation, Prof Lars Öhrström of Chalmers University of Technology explained how MOFs can be made by design and how their structures could be reduced to simple nets which we read about every day in general chemistry textbooks. He further explained how MOF research has completely changed the way we look at the solid state, what we can do with it, how we can investigate it, and how it pushes the limits of experimental techniques. Cyrielle Dazem Fogou from the University of Yaoundé briefly presented a topological analysis in metal oxalates. Both Dazem Fogou and Öhrström explained the importance of topological analysis in the context of solving structures from powder X-ray diffraction data, and success has been achieved with covalent organic frameworks. Other presentations in the MOF area included structural transformations mediated by solvents. These talks were presented by Dr Christophe Ndamyabera and Alan Eaby of the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University, respectively.
A. Large facilities and presentations from our sponsors
During the conference, several instrument manufacturers had the opportunity to showcase their products. Vernon Smith of Bruker, James Gordon of Rigaku, and Marcus Mueller of Dectris presented on some of the instruments useful in material characterization, with a focus on crystallographic-oriented research. Dr Tom Blanton of ICDD presented on material characterization using powder diffraction techniques and the powder diffraction file (PDF). By using PDF, it is possible to identify all phases that are present in a material making the PDF an invaluable tool in mining and pharmaceutical industries.
ePCCr had a total of 9 invited lectures (3 plenary lectures and 6 keynote lectures). 5 of the invited speakers are African, with 3 currently based in Africa. Four of the 9 invited speakers are female. There were an additional 20 talks selected from submitted abstracts, of which 9 were given by students or young researchers, and 6 by female delegates. An additional 5 presentations were given by sponsors.
ePCCR Invited Speakers
Dr Susan Reutzel Edens, CCDC
Prof Seham Abdel-Aal, Cairo University
Prof Neil Champness, University of Birmingham
Prof Bill Jones, University of Cambridge
Dr Emile Engel, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Dr Tendai Gadzikwa, Kansas State University
Prof Richard Garratt, University of São Paulo
Dr Eunice Nyawade, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
Prof Bernard Omondi Owaga, University of KwaZulu-Natal
The ePCCr also involved several lively poster sessions, which were held online in Gather Town. A total of 26 posters were accepted.
Thanks to generous sponsorship (see below), 6 poster prizes and 3 speaker prizes were awarded. The winners of poster and speaker prizes, selected from participants in the ePCCr conference by a panel of judges, were announced at the conference closing ceremony. The winners are listed below. All prize winners received a certificate and a USD200 prize.
B. Poster prizes
1. Crystal growth & design poster prizes
Akin Olaleru from Yaba College of Technology, Nigeria
Optimal conditions for preparation of perovskite crystals and thin film
Eddy F. Yusslee from the University Malyasia Sabah, Malaysia
Transformation of kalsilite from kaolinite via hydrothermal method
2. CCDC poster prizes
Tristan Theunissen from the University of Cape Town, South Africa
Silver(I) complexes with picoline derivative ligands: Synthesis, characterization, DFT, and QTAIM calculation study
Hannah van Dyk from the University of the Free State, South Africa
The application of functionalized salicylidene Schiff base ligands in catalysis, luminescence, and radiopharmacy.
3. CrystEngComm poster prizes
Samantha Le Roux from Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Dithiadiazolyl radical co-crystal formation
Abraham Zigla Atour from the University of Maroua, Cameroon
Design, characterization, and investigation of CO catalytic oxidation over Mg-modified Co3O4 catalyst
C. Speaker prizes
1. CrystEngComm speaker prizes
Cyrielle Dazem Fogou from the University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon
Topological diversity in Metal Oxalates and Structural Variability of Copper(II) oxalate anion associated with Pyridinium Derivatives Cations
Alan Eaby from Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Solvent-Mediated Elasticity in Flexible Single Crystals
2. ICDD speaker prize
Najlaa Hamdi from University Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Morocco
Crystal characterization and application of a new vanado-phosphate material
V. LAUNCH OF AfCA
A special session was organized on Wednesday morning of the ePCCr in order to constitute the African Crystallographic Association. The session involved presentations on the history leading up to the formation of an African Crystallographic Association, as well as addresses by representatives from the International Union of Crystallography, the European Crystallographic Association, the International Science Council, and UNESCO. This session was very well attended by delegates as well as observers.
A detailed description of the session is given in an article submitted to the IUCr newsletter.
VI. SPONSORS
The ePCCr meeting was supported by several generous sponsors (Figure 4).
Logos of ePCCr sponsors.
VII. SUMMARY
The ePCCr successfully brought together the crystallography community in Africa, showcasing African research in crystallography and enabling networking with the worldwide crystallography community. The launch of AfCA was a highlight of the meeting and could easily be attended by people from many countries due to the online format. Working together with AfLS and AfPS was of great value – our communities have much in common and all benefitted from the interaction between the various groups. The PCCr meetings are now well established as a conference series for the African scientific community. PCCr3 will be held in Nairobi, Kenya between January 17 and 21, 2023. Information is now available at http://pccr3africa.org
