In this volume we have included some contributions among the plenary lectures, oral presentations and posters that have been presented at the 1st Joint Greek-Italian Meeting on "The Chemistry of Biological systems and Molecular Chemical Engineering" organized at Loutraki, Club Poseidon, Greece 1990. We hope similar meetings will follow every two years alternating between the two countries in order to strengthen the scientific ties among the scientists working in this field. The inter- disciplary aspect of the meeting has been evident by the wide presence of scientists in bioinorganic, bio-organic, biological fields and molecular engineers who will get together and exchange ideas and experiences. We take this opportunity to thank the Greek Chemical Society, the Italian Chemical Society, the "Gruppo Interdivisionale di Chimica dei Sistemi e dei Processi Biologici", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Nuclear Research Center "Demokritos" and the Greek Ministry for Research and Technology. ENRICO RIZZARELLI THEOPHILE THEOPHANIDES CONTRIBUTORS Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the author's contributions begin Mojgan Aghazode Tabrizi, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, via Scandiana 21, University of Ferrara, 44100 Ferrara, ITALY (119) Maria Albano, Department of Chemistry, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, 87030 Cosenza ITALY (23) Rossano Amadelli, Photochemical Center of C. N. R. , Department of Chemistry, University of Ferrara, via L. Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara, ITALY (103) Amalia Anagnostopoulou-Konsta, Department of Physics, National Technical University, 57 73 Athens, GREECE (45) Jane D.

This volume is a collection of contributions to the FT-IR Workshop held under the auspices of the Spectroscopy Society of Canada and organ ized by Professor Theophile Theophanides, Director of the Workshop. The gathering of leading spectroscopists and researchers at Gray Rocks to discuss .Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was the occasion of the 29th Annual Conference of the Spectroscopy Society of Canada. The plea sant surroundings of Gray Rocks, St-Jovite, Quebec, Canada contributed most positively to the success of the two-day Workshop held September 30, October 1, 1982. The preliminary program and the proceedings were distributed at the Workshop by Multiscience Publications Ltd. The publication of this volume provides the occasion to thank all the contributors for kindly accepting to lecture at the Workshop and for their collaboration. I thank Mr. AI. Dufresne for accepting to act as manager of the Workshop and Mrs. Susane Dufresne secretary of the Work shop for patiently contacting all the participants and for making the necessary arrangements of registration and accomodation."

This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO-Advanced Study Institute on the "Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules," which took place on July 4-15, 1983 in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy. The institute concentrated on three main subiects: the structure and dymanics of DNA, proteins, and visual and plant pigments. Its timeliness has been linked to rapid advances in certain spectroscopic techniques which yielded a consider able amount of new information on the structure and inter actions of biologically important molecules. Among these techniques Fourier transform infrared, resonance and surface enhanced 'Raman spectroscopies, Raman microscopy and micro probing, time resolved techniques, two photon and ultrafast electronic, and C-13, N-15 and P-31 NMR spectroscopies and kinetic and static IR difference spectroscopy receiced a great deal of attention at the Institute. In addition, an entirely new technique, near-millimeter-wave spectroscopy has been presented and discussed. Two introductory quantum chemical lectures, one on the structure of water in DNA, and another pn the energy bands in DNA and proteins set the stage for the experimentally oriented lectures that followed. Fundamental knowledge on hydrogen bonding was the topic of two other lectures. Panel discussions were held on the structure and confor mations of DNA, metal-DNA adducts and proteins and on visual pigments. Many scientists who normally attend different conferences and never meet, met at Aquafredda di Maratea. We feel, that at the end of our Institute a synthetic vi w emerged on the powerful spectroscopic and theoretical methods which are now available for the study of biological molecules."

The series of Conferences on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules aims to stimulate research and development in this area of Science. The relationship between the structure and the biological activity of such materials as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids is fundamental. The 5th European Conference on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules (ECSBM) is held at the Hotel Poseidon Club, Loutraki, Greece, on 5-10 September 1993. The scientific contents are remained the same as in the past conferences. Emphasis is given to vibrational spectroscopy, mainly infrared and Raman applied to the study of structure and dynamics of proteins, nucleic acids, porphyrins, carbohydrates, membranes, etc. Most of the contributions describe molecular dynamics and excitation processes, in particular the electronic-vibrational excitations, which are studied by Fr-Raman, Fourier Transform Infrared (Fr-IR) coupled often with microscopy and chromatography. Contributions also include Fr-Raman and FT-IR instrumentation and new developments in this area, and applications in Biology and Medicine. Furthermore, there is a plenary lecture in Mass Spectrometry and its applications in biomedical analysis, and a session devoted to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and its application in the study of biological molecules. Several contributions are devoted to other methods, such as CD, optical absorption, fluorescence and molecular graphics simulations. This volume of ECSBM contains shon articles by the invited and contributed lectures as well as from the Poster presentations from many European and non-European countries.

This book presents the lectures and posters of some of the main leaders in the field of th magnesium research and medical applications delivered at the 8 International Symposium on Magnesium, which took place on 5-9 October, 1997 in Heraklion, Crete under the chairmanship of Professor Theophilos Theophanides. The meeting was sponsored by the National Technical University of Athens and Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology. The aim of this meeting was to promote research and applications of magnesium and interface between medical doctors, clinicians and scientists in order to understand the mechanisms responsible for magnesium involvement in the pathogenesis of diseases, its biological significance, metabolism and many other utilizations which are associated with membranes and cells. The success of this interface is due to the contribution of its participants who came from all continents and to their high scientific level. The topics, which were presented, and the questions, which were asked, concerned mechanisms of mode of action of free magnesium cations, Mg2+, hydrated cations, 2 Mg2+. 6 HP, and magnesium linked cations Mg +.LxH 0, where L: ligand and x = 2 1...6 Hp. We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the sponsers and to extend our deep appreciation and thanks to all those who helped and encouraged the scientific and material organization of this meeting. We wish to thank all the members of the scientific committee and the organizing committee.

This edition is the labor of many enthousiastic scientists who were invited to teach at a NATO Advanced Study Institute on the "Spectroscopy of Inorganic Bioactivators" which took place on August 20 -30, 1988 at Club Poseidon, Loutraki, Greece. In this book the subjects were taught through several well prepared lectures. These lectures stretch the fact that scientific knowledge is the painfully gathered product of many wonderful human minds. I made an attempt to divide the lectures into separate chapters, however, there is interaction among the lectures, as I hope the book will show. First, there is introductory on an lecture supercomputing and super computers and their applications to solving structures of biological molecules followed by a state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction method at pi co second times. Important new advances have been made in x-ray diffraction analysis at picosecond times, in Hadamard spectroscopy, in micro-Raman spectroscopy in the Near Infrared region (1. 01 ~m) and remote sensing by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The chapters that follow include applications of spectroscopic technique to vii viii biologically important molecules, such as, DNA, proteins, membranes, and metal ion-biological molecule interactions. I would like to express my thanks to all the authors for their contributions and their cooperation in submitting their manuscript. I also thank the NATO Science Committee for making this possible. The field looks very promising for significant and exciting developments in the application of spectroscopy to bioactivators.

The series of Conferences on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules aims to stimulate research and development in this area of Science. The relationship between the structure and the biological activity of such materials as proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids is fundamental. The 5th European Conference on the Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules (ECSBM) is held at the Hotel Poseidon Club, Loutraki, Greece, on 5-10 September 1993. The scientific contents are remained the same as in the past conferences. Emphasis is given to vibrational spectroscopy, mainly infrared and Raman applied to the study of structure and dynamics of proteins, nucleic acids, porphyrins, carbohydrates, membranes, etc. Most of the contributions describe molecular dynamics and excitation processes, in particular the electronic-vibrational excitations, which are studied by Fr-Raman, Fourier Transform Infrared (Fr-IR) coupled often with microscopy and chromatography. Contributions also include Fr-Raman and FT-IR instrumentation and new developments in this area, and applications in Biology and Medicine. Furthermore, there is a plenary lecture in Mass Spectrometry and its applications in biomedical analysis, and a session devoted to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and its application in the study of biological molecules. Several contributions are devoted to other methods, such as CD, optical absorption, fluorescence and molecular graphics simulations. This volume of ECSBM contains shon articles by the invited and contributed lectures as well as from the Poster presentations from many European and non-European countries.

Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics describes recent fundamental advances in the experimental and theoretical study of molecular dynamics and stochastic dynamic simulations, X-ray crystallography and NMR of biomolecules, the structure of proteins and its prediction, time resolved Fourier transform IR spectroscopy of biomolecules, the computation of free energy, applications of vibrational CD of nucleic acids, and solid state NMR. Further presentations include recent advances in UV resonance Raman spectroscopy of biomolecules, semiempirical MO methods, empirical force fields, quantitative studies of the structure of proteins in water by Fourier transform IR, and density functional theory. Metal-ligand interactions, DFT treatment of organometallic and biological systems, and simulation vs. X-ray and far IR experiments are also discussed in some detail. The book provides a broad perspective of the current theoretical aspects and recent experimental findings in the field of biomolecular dynamics, revealing future research trends, especially in areas where theoreticians and experimentalists could fruitfully collaborate.

In this volume we have included some contributions among the plenary lectures, oral presentations and posters that have been presented at the 1st Joint Greek-Italian Meeting on "The Chemistry of Biological systems and Molecular Chemical Engineering" organized at Loutraki, Club Poseidon, Greece 1990. We hope similar meetings will follow every two years alternating between the two countries in order to strengthen the scientific ties among the scientists working in this field. The inter- disciplary aspect of the meeting has been evident by the wide presence of scientists in bioinorganic, bio-organic, biological fields and molecular engineers who will get together and exchange ideas and experiences. We take this opportunity to thank the Greek Chemical Society, the Italian Chemical Society, the "Gruppo Interdivisionale di Chimica dei Sistemi e dei Processi Biologici", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Nuclear Research Center "Demokritos" and the Greek Ministry for Research and Technology. ENRICO RIZZARELLI THEOPHILE THEOPHANIDES CONTRIBUTORS Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the author's contributions begin Mojgan Aghazode Tabrizi, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, via Scandiana 21, University of Ferrara, 44100 Ferrara, ITALY (119) Maria Albano, Department of Chemistry, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, 87030 Cosenza ITALY (23) Rossano Amadelli, Photochemical Center of C. N. R. , Department of Chemistry, University of Ferrara, via L. Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara, ITALY (103) Amalia Anagnostopoulou-Konsta, Department of Physics, National Technical University, 57 73 Athens, GREECE (45) Jane D.

For this summer school in Athens, Greece, August 22-21, 1978, I took as my objective the presentation of a timely representative account of the application of infrared and Raman spectro scopy to biological molecules. A summer school is made up of a number of things -ideas, people, organization international collaboration and sponsorship. The exchange of ideas the student-lecturer interaction in the discussion periods and the tutorials satisfy the urgent need of all the participants to meet and discuss topics of current scientific interest. It seems therefore appropriate to publish this summer school proceedings in order to make it a lasting event and that appreciation be shown to those people and institutions that made it all possible. The summer school was held under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sciences under the sponsorship of the NATO Scientific Affairs Division in Brussels. In addition, support was provided by the National Hellenic Research Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Sciences for several social and scientific functions."

This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO-Advanced Study Institute on the "Spectroscopy of Biological Molecules," which took place on July 4-15, 1983 in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy. The institute concentrated on three main subiects: the structure and dymanics of DNA, proteins, and visual and plant pigments. Its timeliness has been linked to rapid advances in certain spectroscopic techniques which yielded a consider able amount of new information on the structure and inter actions of biologically important molecules. Among these techniques Fourier transform infrared, resonance and surface enhanced 'Raman spectroscopies, Raman microscopy and micro probing, time resolved techniques, two photon and ultrafast electronic, and C-13, N-15 and P-31 NMR spectroscopies and kinetic and static IR difference spectroscopy receiced a great deal of attention at the Institute. In addition, an entirely new technique, near-millimeter-wave spectroscopy has been presented and discussed. Two introductory quantum chemical lectures, one on the structure of water in DNA, and another pn the energy bands in DNA and proteins set the stage for the experimentally oriented lectures that followed. Fundamental knowledge on hydrogen bonding was the topic of two other lectures. Panel discussions were held on the structure and confor mations of DNA, metal-DNA adducts and proteins and on visual pigments. Many scientists who normally attend different conferences and never meet, met at Aquafredda di Maratea. We feel, that at the end of our Institute a synthetic vi w emerged on the powerful spectroscopic and theoretical methods which are now available for the study of biological molecules."

This book presents the lectures and posters of some of the main leaders in the field of th magnesium research and medical applications delivered at the 8 International Symposium on Magnesium, which took place on 5-9 October, 1997 in Heraklion, Crete under the chairmanship of Professor Theophilos Theophanides. The meeting was sponsored by the National Technical University of Athens and Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology. The aim of this meeting was to promote research and applications of magnesium and interface between medical doctors, clinicians and scientists in order to understand the mechanisms responsible for magnesium involvement in the pathogenesis of diseases, its biological significance, metabolism and many other utilizations which are associated with membranes and cells. The success of this interface is due to the contribution of its participants who came from all continents and to their high scientific level. The topics, which were presented, and the questions, which were asked, concerned mechanisms of mode of action of free magnesium cations, Mg2+, hydrated cations, 2 Mg2+. 6 HP, and magnesium linked cations Mg +.LxH 0, where L: ligand and x = 2 1...6 Hp. We would like to express our utmost gratitude to the sponsers and to extend our deep appreciation and thanks to all those who helped and encouraged the scientific and material organization of this meeting. We wish to thank all the members of the scientific committee and the organizing committee.

This edition is the labor of many enthousiastic scientists who were invited to teach at a NATO Advanced Study Institute on the "Spectroscopy of Inorganic Bioactivators" which took place on August 20 -30, 1988 at Club Poseidon, Loutraki, Greece. In this book the subjects were taught through several well prepared lectures. These lectures stretch the fact that scientific knowledge is the painfully gathered product of many wonderful human minds. I made an attempt to divide the lectures into separate chapters, however, there is interaction among the lectures, as I hope the book will show. First, there is introductory on an lecture supercomputing and super computers and their applications to solving structures of biological molecules followed by a state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction method at pi co second times. Important new advances have been made in x-ray diffraction analysis at picosecond times, in Hadamard spectroscopy, in micro-Raman spectroscopy in the Near Infrared region (1. 01 ~m) and remote sensing by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The chapters that follow include applications of spectroscopic technique to vii viii biologically important molecules, such as, DNA, proteins, membranes, and metal ion-biological molecule interactions. I would like to express my thanks to all the authors for their contributions and their cooperation in submitting their manuscript. I also thank the NATO Science Committee for making this possible. The field looks very promising for significant and exciting developments in the application of spectroscopy to bioactivators.

This volume is a collection of contributions to the FT-IR Workshop held under the auspices of the Spectroscopy Society of Canada and organ ized by Professor Theophile Theophanides, Director of the Workshop. The gathering of leading spectroscopists and researchers at Gray Rocks to discuss .Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was the occasion of the 29th Annual Conference of the Spectroscopy Society of Canada. The plea sant surroundings of Gray Rocks, St-Jovite, Quebec, Canada contributed most positively to the success of the two-day Workshop held September 30, October 1, 1982. The preliminary program and the proceedings were distributed at the Workshop by Multiscience Publications Ltd. The publication of this volume provides the occasion to thank all the contributors for kindly accepting to lecture at the Workshop and for their collaboration. I thank Mr. AI. Dufresne for accepting to act as manager of the Workshop and Mrs. Susane Dufresne secretary of the Work shop for patiently contacting all the participants and for making the necessary arrangements of registration and accomodation."