Quantum-Chemical Studies for Superspecies—in Celebration of Professor Jean-François Gal’s 80th Birthday
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 140
Special Issue Editor
Interests: physical organic chemistry; structural chemistry; computational chemistry; gas-phase and solution acid-base equilibria; HB and metal cation adduct formation; tautomerism; substituent and solvent effects
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Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is dedicated to Professor Jean-François Gal on the occasion of his 80th birthday. He was born on May 7, 1945, in Antibes in the south of France, where he lives now with his wife, Juliette. He graduated {PhD, 1972; Doctorat d’Etat (Habilitation), 1979} from the Université Côte d’Azur (UniCA, formerly Université Nice-Sophia-Antipolis), and was appointed Assistant Professor in 1970, then Associate Professor (Maître de conferences) in 1981, and full Professor in 1991 at the same University. Now, he is Emeritus Professor at his Alma Mater.
During his career at UniCA, he taught physical and analytical chemistry, as well as spectroscopy, and administered a class of technicians for several years in collaboration with industrial laboratories. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. R. W. Taft, University of California, Irvine (UCI, USA), in 1981–1982, and a research associate in 1986 in the same group. In 1991 and 1999, he went to the University of California, Davis (USA), and collaborated with Prof. C. B. Lebrilla as a research associate. In 2014, he was nominated Professor Honoris Causa of the University of Tartu (Estonia).
His research is mainly focused on basicity, substituent and solvent effects, molecular interactions, and gas-phase ion/molecule reactions, with special focus on the thermochemistry of acid/base processes. After establishing a calorimetric Lewis basicity scale based on the enthalpy of adduct formation with boron trifluoride in collaboration with Prof. P.-C. Maria, he turned to gas-phase proton-transfer measurements, using a home-built Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer. One significant achievement accomplished with this instrument in the 1980s-2000s, was the extension of the gas-phase basicity scale into superbases in collaboration with Profs. E. D. Raczyńska and P.-C. Maria. The gas-phase lithium cation basicity was also largely developed in this period using the same technique. More recently, Prof. J.F. Gal studied the gas-phase reactivity of Lewis superacids, especially those used as catalysts, using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Prof. Gal published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters and a book on Lewis basicity.
Taking into account the pivotal achievements of Prof. J.-F. Gal in chemistry of Lewis superacids and Brønsted superbases, this Special Issue is devoted, in general, to superspecies. The term "super” has been frequently employed in chemistry and refers to the species that display exceptional properties. For example, superatoms are clusters of atoms that mimic properties of classical atoms: superalkalis possess extreme ionization energies in comparison to alkali metals, and superhalogens have extreme electron affinities in comparison to halogens. Consequently, they can form supersalts with the complete electron transfer.
On the other hand, supermolecules, such as organic or inorganic superacids and superbases, exhibit extreme acid-base properties. For example, superacids show the Brønsted acidity stronger than 100 wt.% of H2SO4, and superbases display the Brønsted basicity stronger than DMAN. The neutralization reaction with the complete proton transfer, although possible in solution, has not yet been experimentally proved for the pairs of the neutral species in the gas phase, i.e., between superacids and superbases.
Quantum-chemical methods give the opportunity to examine the structure of superspecies, their stability and different types of possible isomerism, e.g., constitutional (prototropic tautomerism), conformational and/or geometric isomerism (rotations about single and/or double bonds, respectively). They give also the possibility to determine their physicochemical properties and distinguish some principal internal effects. In particular cases, experiment(s) can also be performed in parallel, and support theoretical examinations.
Chemists and physicists are invited to submit original articles or reviews on quantum-chemical investigations for superatoms, supersalts, superacids, superbases, and other species exhibiting exceptional (super or even hyper) chemical, physicochemical, or physical properties.
Prof. Dr. Ewa Raczyńska
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- structure of superspecies
- neutral, ionic, and/or radical forms
- isomerism
- electron delocalization
- energetic parameters of electron transfer
- thermochemistry of proton transfer
- quantum-chemical studies
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