The history of this distinguished conference goes back to 1946 and it has held a position of long-standing significance in mechanistic chemistry even since. The list of the organizers for the early conferences includes the names of many of the progenitors of modern organic chemistry.

Reaction Mechanisms Conferences Year
1st University of Notre Dame 
Paul D. Bartlett, Charles C. Price
1946
2nd Gordon Research Conference 
William v E. Doering, Frank H. Westheimer, Frank Mayo, Saul Winstein
1948
3rd Northwestern University 
Stanley J. Cristol, John D. Roberts, Cheves Walling
1950
4th Bryn Mawr College 
Ernst Berliner, Herbert C. Brown, David Y. Curtin, C. Gardiner Swain, Wyman E. Vaughan
1952
5th University of New Hampshire 
Donald J. Cram, Nathan Kornblum, Henry Kuivila, Richard M. Noyes
1954
6th Swarthmore College 
Frederick G. Bordwell, George S. Hammond, Harold Kwart, Robert W. Taft
1956
7th University of Chicago 
Weldon G. Brown, Elias J. Corey, Ralph G. Pearson
1958
8th Princeton University 
George Buchi, DeLos F. DeTar, Paul v R. Schleyer, Andrew Streitwieser, Jr.
1960
9th Brookhaven National Laboratory 
Frederick D. Greene, William McEwen, Kenneth B. Wiberg (Chair), Alfred P. Wolf
1962
10th Oregon State University 
Ronald Breslow, John L. Kice, Elliot N. Marvell, V. J. Shiner (Chair), Howard E. Zimmerman
1964
11th McMaster University 
Jerome A. Berson, Arthur N. Bourns, Joseph F. Bunnett (Chair), Gerhard L. Closs, John Warkentin
1966
12th Brandeis University 
Harlan L. Goering, Ernst Grunwald, Maurice M. Kreevoy, Howard E. Simmons (Chair)
1968
13th University of California, Santa Cruz 
Joseph F. Bunnett, Harold Hart, Ross Robertson, William F. Saunders, Jr. (Chair)
1970
14th University of Vermont 
Paul G. Gassman, William M. Jones, John L. Kice, Calvin D. Ritchie (Chair)
1972
15th Colorado State University 
John I. Brauman, Kenneth E. DeBruin, Anthony M. Trozzolo (Chair), Charles E. Wilcox, Jr.
1974
16th College of William and Mary 
Robert J. Crawford, Charles H. DePuy (Chair), Eddie Hedaya, Melvyn D. Schiavelli
1976
17th University of Minnesota – Duluth 
Robert G. Bergman, Ronald Caple, Maurice M. Kreevoy, J. C. Martin (Chair), Robert A. Moss
1978
18th University of Massachusetts – Amherst 
Charles P. Casey, E. Thomas Kaiser, C. Peter Lillya, J. Michael McBride (Chair), Bernard Miller
1980
19th University of Utah 
Peter B. Dervan, Josef Michl (Chair), Ned A. Porter, Peter J. Stang
1982
20th Duke University 
Edward M. Arnett (Chair), Robert D. Miller, Richard R. Schrock
1984
21st University of Texas – Austin 
Marye Anne Fox, Joseph J. Gajewski, John C. Gilbert, Kendall N. Houk (Chair), L. M. Stephenson
1986
22nd University of Pittsburgh 
John I. Brauman, Paul Dowd, David McClure, Julius Rebek, Jr., Stuart W. Staley, Patricia L. Watson
1988
23rd University of Colorado 
Cynthia J. Burrows, Gerhard L. Closs, Paul Dowd, G. Barney Ellison, Matthew S. Platz (Chair), Phillip M. Warner
1990
24th University of Maine 
Udo H. Brinker (chair), Joseph J. Dannenberg, Gideon Fraenkel, Raymond C. Fort, Jr., James E. Jackson, Philip T. S. Lau, Allan R. Pinhas
1992
25th University of Notre Dame 
Edward M. Arnett, John E. Baldwin, Joseph P. Dinnocenzo, William v E. Doering (Chair), Paul Dowd, Kendall N. Houk, Frank-Gerrit Klärner, Daniel J. Pasto, Matthew S. Platz, Richard L. Schowen, Robert R. Squires, Kenneth B. Wiberg
1994
26th State University of New York – Stony Brook 
William J. le Noble, Kenneth B. Wiberg (Chair)
1996
27th Asilomar Conference Center – Pacific Grove, California 
Donald H. Aue, John E. Baldwin, Cynthia J. Burrows, Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay, Kendall N. Houk (Chair), Frank-Gerrit Klärner, Yves Rubin
1998
28th University of Wisconsin – Madison 
Barry K. Carpenter (Chair), Robert J. McMahon
2000
29th The Ohio State University – Columbus 
Christopher M. Hadad, Hilkka Kenttämaa (co-Chair), Matthew S. Platz, Craig Wilcox (co-Chair)
2002
30th Northwestern University 
Weston T. Borden (Chair), Joseph B. Lambert
2004
31st University of Maryland 
Donald H. Aue (Chair), Daniel E. Falvey
2006
32nd University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill 
Malcolm D. E. Forbes, Richard P. Johnson (Chair), Clelia W. Mallory
2008
33rd University of Massachusetts, Amherst 
Robert S. Sheridan (Chair), Paul R. Rablen (Vice Chair), Paul M. Lahti (Local Organizer), Sally Mallory (Convener)
2010
34th University of Missouri in Columbia
Christopher Hadad (Chair), Rainer Glaser (local host)
2012
35th UC Davis
Paul G. Wenthold (Chair), Dean Tantillo (Local Organizer) 
2014
36th St. Louis University
John P. Toscano and Dina C. Merrer (co-Chairs), Ryan D. McCulla (Local Organizer)
2016
37th University of British Columbia, Vancouver
William Jenks and Anna Gudmundsdottir (co-Chairs), Jason Hein (Local Organizer)
2018
38th University of Colorado, Boulder
Igor Alabugin and Jeehiun Lee (co-chairs),Oana Luca and Michael Marshak (Local Organizers)
2022