This final issue of the 25th year of publication of foundations of Chemistry consists of a mixture of some of the articles arising from the ISPC meeting held in Lille in France, under the auspices of Professor Michele friend, and some varia articles. In addition to very kindly agreeing to take on the review of all the papers that were submitted following the Lille meeting, Professor Friend has also written an editorial to introduce the six articles which form the first part of a special issue. I leave it to her to describe these contributions and will briefly mention the remaining articles that appear in this issue.

The varia section begins with an article by six authors from Indonesia, which examines, in great detail, several misconceptions in the way that textbooks present material on electronic configurations and the Aufbau principle. This includes a discussion of the vexed question of the relative occupation and ionization of electrons in the 3d and 4s levels of transition metal atoms, that has also featured in several previous articles published in the journal.

The authors Xu, Tong and Yuan, from Beijing in China, present a re-examination of the Berthollet-Proust controversy and how this influenced Dalton’s thinking in the course of developing his atomic theory.

Gareth Eaton, a world authority on mass spectrometry based at the University of Denver in the US, responds to a previously published note by philosopher Brad Wray, who disputed Eaton’s earlier claim that T.W. Richards should be regarded as one of the discoverers of isotopy.

Eaton’s account brings some new evidence to the fore and is also enriched by his having personally interacted with several of Richards’ students at Harvard in the course of his own studies there.

The issue closes with a contribution from Marcin Krasnodębski a historian and sociologist of science and technology who is currently based in Belgium. In it he draws a distinction between green chemistry, which has attracted a great deal of attention, and the less well-known movement for a sustainable chemistry. As the author writes, the latter seeks to transcend the narrow focus on chemical synthesis, while embracing a more holistic view of chemical activities, including social responsibility and sustainable business models.

Finally, let me end by announcing that the next annual conference of the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) will be held in Varaždin, a city close to Zagreb in Croatia and will be organized by Professor Hrjov Vančik.Footnote 1