Cover Picture: Chem. Eur. J. 24/2002

Abstract

The cover picture shows, with two outstanding examples, a quotation that can be found in the famous book “The Periodic Table” by the Italian chemist and writer Primo Levi. The molecular architectures that look like the dome of a cathedral and a bridge are a resorcarene–calixarene carcerand and norbornylogous-type compound, respectively. In their concept article (which is adapted from the introductory chapter of a forthcoming volume on Molecular Devices and Machines) V. Balzani, A. Credi, and M. Venturi describe the bottom-up approach to the construction of nanoscale “objects” that can have fascinating shapes and/or perform potentially useful functions. Another quotation from Primo Levi from “The Monkey's Wrench”, which wonderfully describes what we prosaically call the supramolecular bottom-up approach to nanotechnology, is quoted in the frontispiece of the article, in which pictures of sculptures of the Hungarian artist Vizi Bela representing molecular and supramolecular species are also shown. Find out more in the article on p. 5524 ff. (The cover and frontispiece pictures have been composed by Alberto Credi; quotations by Primo Levi and sculptures by Vizi Bela sculptures are reproduced with permission).