Twenty-three carefully selected, peer-reviewed contributions from the International Conference on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ICPAC 2014) are featured in this edited book of proceedings. ICPAC 2014, a biennial meeting, was held in Mauritius in June 2014. The theme of the conference was 'Crystallizing Ideas: The Role of Chemistry' and it matched the declaration of the year 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography. ICPAC 2014 was attended by 150 participants from 30 countries. The chapters in this book reflect a wide range of fundamental and applied research in chemistry and interdisciplinary subjects.Crystallizing Ideas - The Role of Chemistryis written for graduates, postgraduates, researchers in industry and academia who have an interest in the fields ranging from fundamental to applied chemistry.

Prof Ponnadurai Ramasami leads the computational chemistry group at the University of Mauritius. The group is involved in using state-of-the-art computational methods to solve chemistry and interdisciplinary problems. Dr Minu Gupta Bhowon is currently Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Mauritius. Her areas of research and interest include coordination, natural product chemistry, catalysis and chemical biology. Dr Sabina Jhaumeer-Laulloo is currently Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Mauritius. Her areas of research and interest include organic, bio-organic, natural product, co-ordination chemistry and forensic science. Dr Henri Li Kam Wah is currently Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Mauritius. From 2002 to 2006, he was the Director of Quality Assurance at the University of Mauritius before assuming the post of Dean of the Faculty of Science from 2006 to 2009. His areas of research and interest include coordination, environmental and natural product chemistry, forensic science, quality assurance and audit in tertiary institutions test.