https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1179-4913
The use of mechanochemical methods for preparing fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals and materials is growing at a rapid pace and it shows a great promise to foster the transition to a more sustainable industrial production in different market sectors. However, the full implementation of mechanochemistry at industrial level is still facing some practical limitations (e.g. issues of scale-up), despite its potential benefits to enhance sustainability for the chemical industry are evident and fully comply with the realization of the European Green Deal Objectives and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
As Guest Editors, we are pleased to present the Special Collection ‘Progress in Organic Mechanochemistry’, planned for the occasion of the 10th International Conference on Mechanochemistry and Mechanical Alloying 2022 (INCOME 2022) and intend to honor the contributions of expert mechanochemists and new comers to the field, a burgeoning and scientifically prolific community, also strengthened by the constant and essential support of the EU Programme COST Action CA18112 ‘Mechanochemistry for Sustainable Industry’ (MechSustInd, www.mechsustind.eu).
The Special Collection includes original research articles encompassing the sustainable mechanochemical synthesis organic molecules, pharmaceuticals, biomolecules, polymers and other types of functional materials. It provides an overview on the complexity of mechanochemical transformations and processes, raises awareness on the potential of mechanochemistry to innovate the chemical space, and also confirms the ability of mechanochemical activation in enhancing the sustainability of chemical processes. Specifically, the Special collection includes contributions by the Wang group describing the mechanochemical reactivity on nitrile oxides in [3 + 2] cycloaddition reactions (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2107407) while Haley group investigated the reactivity trends for mechanochemical reductive coupling of aryl iodide (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2153628). The benign synthesis of therapeutic agents is described in three contributions: (i) by Colacino and Menendez with the domino synthesis of unsymmetrical 1,4-diaryl-1,4-dihydropyridines (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2129464), (ii) by González and Menendez for the one-pot synthesis of the antiepileptic drug rufinamide (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2123717), and (iii) by Kudličková, Stahorský and Balaz presenting the the synthesis of indolyl chalcones endowed with antiproliferative activity (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2089061). Novel approaches towards the mechanochemical transformations of biomass (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2143244) were presented by Blasi and Farinola, Nelson group described the preparation of polyfluorenes by mechanochemical Suzuki polymerization (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2107406) while Zeljković group has reported the preparation of N-ion doped ZnO for applications in solar photocatalytic degradations (DOI: 10.1080/17518253.2022.2108343).
The Special collection is also characterized by geographical diversity and contributions showing a collaborative team-work that goes beyond the national borders. Teams from many countries, distributed on three different continents, including Bosnia & Herzegovina, China, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and USA have contributed to the advancement of both fundamental and applied facets of the fascinating world of mechanochemistry.