This meeting was sponsored by Dowpharma.  Presentations were of a uniformly high standard, but with a varied subject matter.   Keynote lectures were given by Professor Barry Trost and Professor Takao Ikariya.  The lectures by  – John Carey (GSK, Org. Process Res. Dev., 2002, 6(4), 488-491 and 1999, 3(1) 60-63), Ian Lennon (Dowpharma, Org. Process Res. Dev., 7(3), 407-411, 2003, 7(1), 89-94 and 2001, 5(4), 438-441), and Nick Thomson (Pfizer, Org. Process Res. Dev., 7(3), 362-368) contained some material that has been published in recent editions of the Organic Process journal and the talk by Jos Brands (Merck, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125, 2129-2135) has been published in JACS.  One tip that is worth picking out of the talks is to consider how the reagents used in the work up of an intermediate, that is going to be subjected to a catalytic reaction, can effect the next step.  Ian Lennon mentioned a case where they were trying to carry out an asymmetric hydrogenation on 2-methylenesuccinamic acid, which had been prepared by reaction of itaconic anhydride with ammonia followed by acidification.  If the acidification was carried out with hydrochloric acid, the intermediate contained traces of chloride, which slowed down the hydrogenation dramatically.  The maximum substrate to catalyst ratio achievable was 1000:1.  However if sulphuric acid was used for the acidification, substrate to catalyst ratios of 100,000:1 were achievable.