Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Professor Valentine Ananikov

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a Special Issue in Chemistry dedicated to celebrating the 50th birthday of Professor Valentine P. Ananikov.

Professor Ananikov is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in catalysis, organometallic chemistry, reaction mechanisms, and molecular imaging. His research has advanced our understanding of transition metal catalysis, reaction kinetics, and nanostructured materials, leading to broad applications in organic synthesis, sustainable chemistry, and energy conversion technologies. He is well known for the introduction of the concepts of “cocktail”-type catalysis and “4D catalysis”. His innovative approaches have set new standards in mechanistic studies and led to molecular-level insights into chemical transformations. In addition to his extensive contributions to traditional chemistry, Professor Ananikov has played a key role in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into chemical research. His work in AI-driven reaction prediction, cheminformatics, and automated catalyst design has led to new data-driven approaches to molecular modeling and synthetic planning. His advancements in machine learning for reaction mechanisms and AI-enhanced spectroscopy interpretation have laid the foundation for the next generation of computational chemistry researchers.

This Special Issue will honor Professor Ananikov’s scientific legacy by gathering cutting-edge research and critical reviews in the following fields:

• Catalysis and reaction mechanisms;
• Organometallic and C-H activation;
• Computational and experimental approaches to chemical reactivity;
• Sustainable synthesis and green chemistry;
• Innovations in spectroscopic and imaging techniques for catalysis;
• Applications of artificial intelligence in chemistry (including AI-driven reaction design, machine learning for reaction mechanisms, and AI-assisted spectroscopy).

We invite researchers from around the world to contribute original research articles, reviews, and perspectives reflecting the latest advancements in these fields. This Special Issue will serve as a tribute to Professor Ananikov’s remarkable scientific achievements and a platform for discussing future directions in catalysis, AI in chemistry, and reaction science.

We look forward to your contributions to celebrating Professor Valentine Ananikov’s 50 years of impact in the chemical sciences.

For further inquiries, please contact Igor Alabugin, Vladimir Lee, and Mikhail Egorov.

Prof. Dr. Mikhail P. Egorov
Prof. Dr. Igor Alabugin
Prof. Dr. Vladimir Ya. Lee
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.

• catalysis
• artificial intelligence
• reaction mechanisms
• sustainable chemistry
• transition metals
• clusters
• nanoparticles
• alkynes