Dear Friends, Colleagues and Researchers,

Professor Giuseppe Arena (better known as Pino) obtained the Laurea in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Catania in 1973, where he was enrolled as a Research Assistant soon after.

He spent one year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Chemistry Dept., University of St Andrews, Scotland (1976), where he had the opportunity to meet a PhD student, Peter May, who would soon become a Professor at Murdoch University (Perth, Australia) and a leading expert in speciation. Upon his return to Italy, Professor Arena served as a Lecturer at the University of Catania until 1982, when he was enrolled as an Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry. In 1985, he became a Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Messina, where he served until 1990, when he went back to the University of Catania to become the Analytical Chemistry Chair. 

Pino first went to Brigham Young University (BYU), which at that time was home to several research groups skilled in calorimetry and thermodynamics, in 1984 as a NATO Senior Scientist to learn the principles and practice of titration calorimetry. On this occasion, he served also as a Lecturer. He returned to BYU in 1989 and 1998 as a NATO Senior Scientist and Visiting Professor, respectively, for extended periods. The BYU visits gave him the opportunity to interact actively with well-known researchers such as Dr. Reed M. Izatt, Dr. James J. Christensen, Dr. John D. Lamb, Dr. John L. Oscarson, and Dr. Lee D. Hansen.

Professor Arena had similar experiences with other collaborators/research groups from other universities. He has been responsible for bilateral agreements with Professor Kenneth Raymond (UC Berkeley, USA), Professor Osamu Yamauchi (NUPACE—University of Nagoya, Japan), and was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He also collaborated with Professor Richard A. Batsch (Texas Tech University, Lubock, USA) and is still actively collaborating with Professor Vincent L. Pecoraro (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA).

Professor Arena has demonstrated the power of coupling calorimetry with spectral techniques, such as NMR and UV, to determine speciation in complex chemical systems. Determination of species distribution is essential to understand mechanisms of action in chemical reactions and allows results to be interpreted correctly and future experiments to be planned with accuracy. In this connection, he has benefited from the interaction with well-known experts in biomimetic systems and speciation, respectively, such as Professor Enrico Rizzarelli and Professor Silvio Sammartano. Last but not least, he profitably interacted with Professor Rocco Ungaro and his group (University of Parma, Italy) and Professor Peter Gans (University of Leeds, UK), world leaders in calixarene chemistry and data refinement, respectively.

His research has mainly focused on: i. the thermodynamics of bio-functional ligand metal complexes and speciation in aqueous solution; ii. supramolecular chemistry; iii. the optimization of data extraction from calorimetric experiments; and also iv. the use of calixarene-based carriers for the removal/detection of undesired species.

In 1989, Professor Arena received the Stig Sunner Memorial Award of The Calorimetry Conference (USA) in recognition of “the contributions of a young scientist to thermochemistry and thermodynamics”; in 2013, he also received the Canneri Medal of the Division of Analytical Chemistry , Italian Chemical Society,

In 2013, he was elected by his peers to be the Chair of the Division of Analytical Chemistry; Pino was also elected to be the Chair of the Italian Association of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis in 2014 and kept this assignment up to his retirement.

He has been a Member of a few Editorial Boards of journals, such as Thermochimica Acta and Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Molecular Recognition and is currently a Member of the Board of Molecules and a Honorary Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry.

This Special Issue of Molecules, in honor of Prof. Giuseppe Arena, welcomes manuscripts describing original work as well as review articles.

The Guest Editors will be pleased to accept and review manuscripts that address the topics listed below, but not restricted to them:

• Analytical chemistry
• Thermodynamics, calorimetry
• Speciation techniques
• Biomimetic systems
• Supramolecular chemistry
• Sensing systems
• Separation science

Prof. Dr. Concetta De Stefano
Prof. Dr. Demetrio Milea
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. Molecules 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 2700 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.

• Analytical chemistry
• Thermodynamics calorimetry
• Speciation techniques
• Biomimetic systems
• Supramolecular chemistry
• Sensing systems
• Separation science