Silsesquioxanes—Precursors to Functional Materials: Synthesis and Applications—a Themed Issue to Honor Professor Bogdan Marciniec on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to present this Special Issue of Materials dedicated to silsesquioxanes and Professor Bogdan Marciniec. Professor Marciniec is a distinguished Polish chemist who profoundly contributed to the development of the chemistry of organometalloid (Si, Ge, B) compounds and their specific architectures, also silsesquioxanes. His main research activity focuses on the TM (transition metal)-mediated catalytic modifications of the aforementioned compounds. His expertise in the field of catalysis led to the discovery of a new type of catalytic transformation and C-H activation in vinyl metalloids, i.e., metallative coupling, also known as Marciniec coupling, and broadly exploited the hydrosilylation reaction of olefins and alkynes. His contributions concern not only the elaboration of new methodologies in the catalytic transformations of organometalloids but also the search for novel catalysts of those reactions. Prof. Marciniec’s scientific experience has also resulted in many collaborations between his research group and leading silicone manufacturers, i.e., General Electric Silicones, Momentive Performance Materials, and Dow Corning, in the area of developing new catalytic systems used for silicone curing via hydrosilylation.

Professor Bogdan Marciniec was born in 1941 in Seceminie near Kielce, Poland. He received an M.Sc. (1963) and Ph.D. (1970) from the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland. In 1975, he finished his habilitation and received the title of professor in 1986. He was always very closely connected with the Alma Mater and held the position of Dean of Faculty of Chemistry and Rector of the Adam Mickiewicz University. Additionally, he contributed to linking chemistry with other life sciences, being a creator of the University Foundation, Poznan Science and Technology Park (https://ppnt.poznan.pl/about-us/) as well as the Centre for Advanced Technologies (http://wczt.pl/en). He was honored with numerous state and international scientific awards. Professor Bogdan Marciniec is an author or co-author of over 470 publications (cited over 6,500 times), 200 patents, and over 17 technologies implemented in the industry, as well as 23 book chapters (e. g., Handbook of Metathesis (Wiley-VCH, 2003). He is also the editor and co-author of 15 books, e.g., “Hydrosilylation – A Comprehensive Review on Recent Advances” (Springer, 2009). Finally, he coined the term “silicometallics” for compounds with M-Si bonds, which was successfully introduced to the scientific nomenclature.

His research interests also concern functionalized silsesquioxanes (SQs), i.e., the specific organosilicon structures that feature cage-like architectures with Si–O–Si linkages and tetrahedral Si vertices. Due to the presence of a well-defined inorganic core that is a scaffold for attached organic moieties, they have become representatives of building blocks for hybrid materials. Thanks to their finely tunable physical and chemical properties, SQs meet the requirements of science and also industry.

Materials is pleased to dedicate a Special Issue to Professor Bogdan Marciniec on the occasion of his 80th birthday and for his contribution to the development of organosilicon chemistry, and especially silsesquioxanes, which are compounds of his particular scientific interest.

This Special Issue contains manuscripts that explore the chemistry of organosilicon chemistry and especially functionalized silsesquioxanes that are interesting compounds on their own but also precursors to many advanced materials.

You are invited and welcome to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue in the form of a regular article, a communication, or a review.

Prof. Dr. Beata Dudziec
Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski
Guest Editors

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