There is no doubt that the field of artificial membrane transport using synthetic ionophores has advanced remarkably in the past 15 years due primarily to the synthesis of new ionophores. Even though the theoretical framework substantially predated this activity, the merging of theory with transport experiment has often been sketchy. The purpose of this outline has been to examine key examples to illustrate the underlying principles and to suggest how experimental variables dominate the results obtained. To a very good approximation the assumption of a "diffusion" regime is often justified, is easily confirmed experimentally and provides a clear framework for exploitation of the inherent selectivity of a given ionophore. Thus for synthetic chemists who wish a "quick and nasty" experiment to examine the question of selectivity, the recipe is clear: a mixture containing all ions of interest in a standard experiment for each ligand of interest using a moderately stirred (100-200 rpm) cell and analysis of the mixture produced on the OUT side of the cell at a fixed, small extent of transport. Together with duplicates and controls, this modest set of experiments will place the results on an unambiguous footing from which clear conclusions about each ionophore's characteristics are readily obtained. For those with more detailed interests in the transport process the demands are correspondingly higher.

The Joint Meeting comprisIng the 3rd International Symposium on Clathrate Compounds and Molecular Inclusion Phenomena and the 2nd International Symposium on Cyclodextrins was held on 23-27 July, 1984, in Tokyo, Japan. It was organized by the Japan Association for Inclusion Chemistry together with the International Organization Committee, with the auspices of sixteen societies and associations in Japan. This event was the first joint meeting with the hope of unifying the above two symposia. The program of the symposium consisted of 142 papers, including 14 invited papers. The invited papers and some selected topics were presented verbally, and all the other 118 papers were displayed in poster sessions. The symposium was held at Hoshi University in Tokyo. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the subjects treated, the scope and subjects were grouped into two parts. In the first group, the chemistry of cyclodextrins, synthetic organic hosts, inorganic and metal complex hosts and layered hosts were treated. In the second group applications in various fields, biomimetic aspects, physicochemical aspects, selectivity, stereo-specificity and other aspects were discussed. The scientific sessions were carried out in a really vivid atmosphere. The number of participants viz 50 from 19 overseas countries and 253 domestic partici pants exceeded our expectation."

There is no doubt that the field of artificial membrane transport using synthetic ionophores has advanced remarkably in the past 15 years due primarily to the synthesis of new ionophores. Even though the theoretical framework substantially predated this activity, the merging of theory with transport experiment has often been sketchy. The purpose of this outline has been to examine key examples to illustrate the underlying principles and to suggest how experimental variables dominate the results obtained. To a very good approximation the assumption of a "diffusion" regime is often justified, is easily confirmed experimentally and provides a clear framework for exploitation of the inherent selectivity of a given ionophore. Thus for synthetic chemists who wish a "quick and nasty" experiment to examine the question of selectivity, the recipe is clear: a mixture containing all ions of interest in a standard experiment for each ligand of interest using a moderately stirred (100-200 rpm) cell and analysis of the mixture produced on the OUT side of the cell at a fixed, small extent of transport. Together with duplicates and controls, this modest set of experiments will place the results on an unambiguous footing from which clear conclusions about each ionophore's characteristics are readily obtained. For those with more detailed interests in the transport process the demands are correspondingly higher.