It has been a real pleasure and an honour to have acted as Guest Editors for this ‘Calix 2015’ Special Issue of Supramolecular Chemistry and we are indebted to the Editors, Philip A. Gale and Bruce C. Gibb, for their invitation. This issue showcases current research in the field of calixarenes and related macrocycles, as a sort of follow-up to the 13th International Conference on Calixarenes (Calix 2015), co-organised by us in Giardini Naxos (Italy) last July.
We were very fortunate and most delighted to have been the ones hosting this edition of the conference, as we were able to witness the official launch of the ‘C. David Gutsche Award’ for significant contributions to the field of calixarene chemistry. The award honours David’s 55-year career in university teaching and research, and in particular his pioneering work in unravelling the puzzling and sometimes conflicting data from Adolf von Baeyer’s initial examination of the condensation of phenol and aldehydes and the subsequent work of Zinke, Niederl, Vogel, and Cornforth. Solving the puzzle of these early studies, working out reliable procedures for the one-step synthesis of calix[4]arene, calix[5]arene, calix[6]arene and calix[8]arene, and of course naming these now famous cyclic-oligomers, was just (!) the beginning of David’s contribution to the field. Over the subsequent years, his contributions continued to expand calixarene chemistry, so much so that all of the countless researchers drawn into this fascinating area consider David a true father figure.
The 1st edition of the ‘C. David Gutsche Award’ was presented during the conference to Professor Rocco Ungaro (University of Parma) for his seminal contributions to the chemistry of calixarenes. These contributions range from key synthetic procedures and ion recognition to catalysis and biomacromolecule recognition, as masterfully illustrated by Professor David N. Reinhoudt in his tribute ‘Rocco Ungaro, 40 years of Calixarene chemistry’, which opens this special issue.
Another feature of the current publication that we are especially proud of is the considerable number (32) of insightful research papers by world-renowned authors it contains. We are grateful to all those who kindly agreed to offer their valuable contributions. These works clearly illustrate the current vibrant and maturing state of the art in calixarene chemistry, which is steadily moving from the ever-important synthetic-study stage towards innovative and important applications.
We would like to extend our warmest thanks to the Taylor & Francis Group and to our many other sponsors for their precious support of the Calix 2015 conference. We are also grateful to the Supramolecular Chemistry Editorial Team who handled everything so smoothly and efficiently.
A final thank you goes to all the colleagues and friends (160) who came to Sicily to attend the Calix 2015 conference and who made it what we hope will turn out to be such a memorable event.
Dipartimento di Chimica e Biologia ‘A. Zambelli’, Università di Salerno, 84084 Fisciano (Salerno), Italy
[email protected]
Melchiorre F. Parisi
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche ed Ambientali, Università di Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy
[email protected]