Editorial [Hot Topic: Nano- and Microparticles with Tailored Properties (Guest Editor: Stanislaw Slomkowski)]

I have been invited to provide the present issue of Current Organic Chemistry by Professor Stanislaw Penczek, the Executive Guest Editor of COC. The papers focus on chemical reactions leading to nano- and microparticles with tailored properties allowing for using these objects as useful tools for various applications, in particular in the area of medicine. Each particle consists of at least two zones - an interior and periphery. Selective control of chemical structure of these zones leads to particles with required internal integrity and properly adjusted interactions with molecules in particle' environment. Authors of the first paper (I. Gitsov, C. Lin) report on synthesis of dendrimers - the most precisely defined synthetic unimolecular nanoparticles. Since their discovery dendrimers attracted attention of many researchers and many reviews were published in this area. Authors are specialist in post-synthesis modification of dendrimers, in particular at their periphery, and in the review they discuss this subject in details. The following paper (Q. Zhang, M. Wang, and K.L. Wooley) discusses preparation and properties of nanoconfined crystalline organic polymers. Crosslinking of core-crystallized polymer micelles in solution is presented as a method for preparation of nanocrystalline objects. Authors of the next paper (J. Forcada and R. Hidalgo-Álvarez) present a comprehensive review on synthesis of polymer colloids with functional groups in the interfacial layer and on relation between chemical structure of synthesized particles and their colloidal stability. Importance of tailored chemical structure of interfacial layer of colloidal particles for their suitability for immunodiagnostics has been highlighted. Authors of the following review (M.P. Byron, K. Fromell and K.D. Caldwell) report on controlled modification of surfaces, in particular surfaces of colloidal particles, by attachment of surfactants with different types of reactive groups. The discussed approach allows preparation of surfaces with pre-determined levels of functionalization. Finally, Authors of the last review on hybrid nanoparticles (R. Veyret, Th. Delair C. Pichot and A. Elaissari) report on preparation of this new class of polymeric organic-inorganic materials with core containing magnetic nanocrystals and tight shell formed by layer-by-layer adsorption of purposely synthesized polyelectrolytes and on using the core-shell magnetic colloids for binding, extraction, concentration, and enzymatic amplification nucleic acids with desired oligonucleotide sequences.