The First International Collaborative and Cooperative Chemistry Symposium (1-ICCCS) took place on 15 and 16 November 2010 at the National University of Singapore. This is one of a number of symposia designed to foster collaborations in which chemists from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region are brought together to discuss recent advances in all fields of chemistry. Contributions from participants at the 1-ICCCS, the theme of which was Frontiers in Molecular Design and Synthesis, make up this Research Front.