The 20th International Symposium on Radical Ion Reactivity (ISRIR 2006) will be held from July 2-6 2006 in Monteporzio Catone, a small village in a resort area 20 km south of Rome, in connection with the retirement of Prof. Enrico Baciocchi. The symposium is jointly organized by the Universities of Rome "Tor Vergata" and "La Sapienza". The site of the symposium will be Villa Mondragone, a 16th century Villa belonging to the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" (www.villamondragone.it).
The symposium deals with the reactivity of radical ions, important reactive intermediates which have attracted increasing interest in recent years, and whose formation is relevant for a variety of chemical and biological processes.
The character of the symposium is multidisciplinary, attracting scientists from several areas of interest, ranging from organic chemistry to physical chemistry, biochemistry, material sciences and nanotechnology.
The symposium is based on Invited Lectures (ca. 40 minutes) accompanied by contributed oral (ca. 20 min) and poster presentations. It will be organized as a workshop-type symposium open to active experts in the field and should provide scientists from different areas of radical ion chemistry with an unique opportunity to meet in a very nice environment and in a relatively small group, for discussing the most recent results and establishing new scientific contacts.

- development of synthetic strategies based on reactions which proceed through the formation of radical ions;

- experimental and theoretical studies aimed at the understanding of the mechanisms of reactions involving radical ions;

- development of artificial photosynthetic systems and organic-based photovoltaic devices for the conversion and storage of energy;

- role of radical ions in biological processes.