The first ACS symposium on Microwave-Assisted Chemistry: Organic and Polymer Synthesis, held as part of the ACS National meeting in Philadelphia, in August 2008, aimed at various topics of the use of microwave irradiation. The symposium found that specific heating effects, such as higher microwave absorption by solid particles and metals, can increase reactions and result in homogeneous particle size distribution of nanomaterials. The research papers aimed at the review of the use of microwave irradiation for ruthenium-catalyzed reactions. Th symposium also addressed the efficiency of microwave heating and demonstrated that heating water in a laboratory-scale microwave is inefficient with a maximum efficiency of converting electricity into heat of only 30%. The ACS symposium described a microwave-assisted synthetic procedure, allowing base-free addition reaction within 20 min using the commercially available Ru based catalyst.