The GECO Conferences

Le Groupe d’Études en Chimie Organique (GECO) was created in 1959 under the leadership of Professor Guy Ourisson, former president of the French Academy of Sciences, is the french equivalent of prestigious American "Gordon Research Conferences".

This annual meeting has become an institution whose holding is an exceptional and privileged moment of the year for the organic chemistry research community.

The GECO gathers every year on the same site about 80 chemists (academic and industrial, French and foreign) around a dozen lecturers from the most prestigious universities in the world. In parallel with these intense scientific exchanges, a fundamental principle of the GECO is to reserve a large space for external activities, which make it possible to establish contacts often at the origin of future collaborations between the participants.

The themes tackled during the GECOs combine basic research and its applications in response to societal challenges (health, nutrition, energy, environment). They include the synthesis of natural molecules, catalysis, the study of new chemical reactions and the development of new technological approaches, the study of new modes of interactions at the molecular and supramolecular scale, as well as the application of the organic chemistry to biology, the development of new materials and energy. The concept of sustainable development is also a constant of the works that are presented.

The first edition of this meeting took place in 1960 in Sarlat (Dordogne). Since then, 59 GECOs have been organized all around France. In 2019, this internationally renowned symposium, devoted to advances in modern organic chemistry, will celebrate its 60th edition in his land of birth "Alsace" and more particularly in Obernai.