A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor George Whitesides on the Occasion of His 85th Birthday Anniversary

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce a Special Issue dedicated to celebrating the remarkable contributions of Professor George M. Whitesides in the broad field of chemical science. As a pioneer, inventor, and visionary, Professor Whitesides has left an indelible mark on multiple disciplines, bridging the gap between fundamental research and practical applications.

Professor Whitesides has consistently pushed the boundaries of scientific exploration. His work spans chemistry, materials science, and biophysics: from self-assembled monolayers to soft robotics, its impact resonates across diverse domains. When his work attracts others to a field, he often transitions to a new research area looking for new and interesting problems to solve. In fact, his perpetual quest for intriguing problems often creates new fields.

We invite original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that align with Professor Whitesides’ areas of expertise.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Soft lithography and microfluidics: exploring advancements in microfabrication techniques, surface patterning, optofluidics, and lab-on-a-chip.
• Complexity/emergence and simplicity: investigating emergent phenomena, complexity theory, and the science of simplicity, along with their importance for addressing pending problems.
• Physical and organic chemistry, materials, and infochemistry: organometallic chemistry, NMR spectroscopy, polymer science, photophysics, and information storage.
• Biophysics and origin of life: the role of water, cell surfaces and polyvalency in biomolecular recognition, rational drug design, and entropy and life.
• Catalysis and sustainable chemistry: highlighting innovations in catalysis, green chemistry, energy production and conservation, and the quest for sustainable solutions.
• Health science for developing economies: sharing insights on affordable diagnostics, point-of-care devices, and global health challenges.
• Surface science, micro- and nanotechnology: discussing surface modification, interfacial charge transport, molecular electronics, nanomaterials, and mesoscopic and macroscopic self-assembly.

Manuscripts should be submitted through our online submission system.

Please indicate that your submission is intended for the “George Whitesides Special Issue.”

All submissions will be published and will be taken into account for the printed version of the Special Issue if they pass rigorous peer review.

Prof. Dr. Valentine Vullev
Prof. Dr. Igor Alabugin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Chemistry is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nanotechnology
• physical organic chemistry
• microfluidics
• soft lithography
• surface science
• complexity
• origin of life
• catalysis
• sustainable chemistry

Title: Design and Rapid Prototyping of 3D-Printed Microfluidic Systems for Multiphase Flow
Author: Norbert Kockmann
Abstract: Since the emergence of microfluidic devices, subtractive manufacturing techniques have dominated their production. Although the conventional manufacturing processes are well established, they come along with some disadvantages, such as complexity, required know-how, and costs, which limit accessibility and hinder the further development of these devices. As additive manufacturing matures, researchers are devoted to developing alternative fabrication methods to increase affordability and accessibility. This paper presents the opportunities and limitations of laser-based stereolithography (SLA) printers for the fabrication of microfluidics. The first part will focus on the Design Thinking approach regarding the manufacturing process with iterative Rapid Prototyping to get from the initial idea to the final device. To successfully print true-to-size and operate the desired devices, it is essential to optimize the printer’s performance and accuracy as well. With these fundamentals of additive manufacturing at hand the focus of this contribution will be on applications of 3D-printed microfluidic devices with a special focus on multiphase microfluidics, in particular droplet generation and separation in capillary geometries.
Highlights: Microstructured devices; Microfluidics; Additive manufacturing; Stereolithography; Droplets; Design Thinking; Rapid Prototyping

Title: Packed bed microreactors for sustainable chemistry and process development
Author: Jun Yue
Abstract: Microreactor technology is seen as a promising approach to achieve sustainable synthesis in chemical and pharmaceutical fields, because of the significant process intensification and fine control over reaction parameters caused by the miniaturization of reactor scale. The incorporation of solid catalysts as a packed bed in microreactors opens numerous opportunities for the efficient heterogeneous catalysis that plays a pivotal role in many industrially relevant chemical processes. In this review, the recent development in the use of packed bed microreactors as a versatile research tool and intensified production unit will be highlighted in the application areas including high-throughput catalyst screening, kinetic/chemistry investigation, and reaction optimization. Selected reaction examples involving different reactant phases and catalyst categories will be particularly discussed, with an emphasis on the reactor performance in relation to the fundamental chemistry and engineering principles under microflow. In the end, future challenges and outlook of packed bed microreactors for sustainable chemistry and process development will be provided.
Highlights: • Packed bed microreactors open many opportunities for the efficient heterogeneous catalysis. • Application areas include catalyst screening, kinetic/chemistry study and reaction optimization. • Microreactor performance is related to the improved catalytic chemistry and process intensification.

Title: Dynamic Magnetic Control of Lanthanide Metal-Organic Framework Crystals and their Polarized Emissions
Author: Chuang Zhang
Abstract: Not available