SPECIAL ISSUE THE IMPACT OF CRYSTALLOGRAPHY ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN GREECE Preface

摘要

It is a great pleasure for us to see the completion of this special issue of Polyhedron entitled ‘‘The Impact of Crystallography on Inorganic Chemistry in Greece”. The idea for this issue came from the recognition that inorganic chemistry research in our country has undergone a renaissance over the last three decades or so, for the obvious reason, of course, that this period has seen significant changes to the Greek chemistry community. Three new Chemistry Departments were founded or developed during this period (at the Universities of Patras, Ioannina and Crete), and all three created strong research programs in inorganic chemistry. Inorganic chemistry was also developed in a brilliant way at several institutes in the National Center of Scientific Research (NCSR) ‘Demokritos’ and the Hellenic Research Foundation, both located in Athens. Many appointments by the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki in the 1950’s resulted in the partial or full retirement of a large number of academics 20–30 years ago. As a result, new generations of people with their own new research ideas and directions were appointed, and they are currently helping to shape the future of inorganic chemistry in Greece. Another important reason for the progress of inorganic chemistry in Greece has been the access of researchers to the X-ray crystallographic facilities of the NCSR ‘Demokritos’. We do believe that the heart and soul of inorganic chemistry is making new molecules, new substances. There is no doubt that when a solid compound has to be identified, there is nothing to beat a single-crystal, X-ray crystal structure determination.