History of the Reaction Mechanisms Conference

This distinguished Reaction Mechanisms Conference (RMC) has held a position of long-standing significance in mechanistic chemistry since its founding in 1946. The RMC resembles a Gordon Research Conference in both size and format. Discussion and sharing of ideas at the forefront of the field has always been the style. Subjects traditionally include organic, organometallic, inorganic, and biological studies with significant mechanistic implications. The scope has broadened in the past decade; initially the focus was on mechanistic organic chemistry in the traditional sense, with emphasis on the topics and controversies that had great impact on the development of organic chemistry as a whole. The list of the organizers for the early conferences includes the names of many of the progenitors of modern organic chemistry.

40^th Reaction Mechanisms Conference

The 40^th RMC will be held on June 7-10, 2026 at Hope College in Holland, MI. Registration will open in January 2026.

Jason Gillmore from Hope College is the local host for the conference, and one of four co-organizers, along with Laina Geary (University of Nevada – Reno), Peter Schreiner (Justus Liebig University Giessen), and Judy Wu (Houston).  The conference will honor Peter Chem (ETH Zurich), and, new this year, will also feature a session on mechanistic chemistry in industry. See the 2026 Conference Website for more details.

The RMC has been serving the mechanistic chemistry community since 1954, and typically about 150–200 faculty, students, and industrial chemists attend the meeting.

History of the Reaction Mechanisms Conference

Brian Myers and Ed Fenlon are researching the history of the Reaction Mechanisms Conference (view their recent work on the NOS). Currently, they are gathering information, photos, and stories about past conferences from previous participants. In particular (as of February 2025), they are looking for the speakers and titles for the RMC from these years: 1958, 1962 1980, and 2004. Ideally this would come from copies of the program books – scanned in electronic versions or hard copies. Please send information to Brian Myers and Ed Fenlon.