Dear Colleagues,

Three-dimensional polycyclic rigid structures (also called “cage compounds”) are of great importance both for practical and theoretical chemistries. Many basic chemical concepts were developed with the cage compounds as models (steric effect, hyperconjugation, electron transfer). There are also many beautiful and aesthetically attractive molecules of this class, from Platonic Bodies, such as tetrahedrane, cubane, and dodecahedrane to naturally occurring diamondoids, of which the most well-know representative is adamantane. There has been enormous recent development of the chemistry of cage compounds, mainly targeting material and medicinal applications. Among the successful attempts are the replacement the 2D-aromatic fragments of drugs by topologically related hydrophobic cages, the applications of diamondoid derivatives in nanoelectronics, the preparation of new polymeric materials. The ability of diamondoid derivatives to mimic the key electronic properties of natural diamond opens new avenues in the development of diamond-like organic electronics joining the efforts of chemists, physicists, and material scientists. Additionally, the rigidity of the cages allows the use of their derivatives as building blocks for assembling of various supramolecular structures.

The aim of this Special Issue is to reflect the current fundamental and practical aspects of diamondoid chemistry including both rigid organic and mixed organic/inorganic structures.

The online-publishing Special Issue of Molecules will welcome all kind of submissions that fit the above outline.

Prof. Dr. Andrey A. Fokin
Dr. Nicholas A. Melosh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• diamondoids
• functional derivatives
• adamantane
• diamantane
• diamond building blocks
• applications
• electronic properties
• diamond-like materials