Foreword

The introduction of surfactants and micelles to study the photophysics and photochemistry of molecules opened up a new approach to mimick the reactions taking place in nature. The opening of new horizons in molecular science after the introduction of surfactants brought a new approach to the field of molecular assemblies. The intense research in the fields of photochemistry and its applications in understanding the photosynthetic processes and solar energy conversion via chemical routes led to the growth of ‘supramolecular chemistry’, known as ‘chemistry beyond the molecule’. The last four decades witnessed an explosion of research activities in the application of supramolecular assemblies in photophysics and photochemistry of molecules and the importance of supramolecular chemistry was understood after the award of 1987 Nobel Prize for Chemistry (Nobel Laureates: Donald J. Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen) in this area of research.

The editors have chosen the interesting theme of ‘Photophysics of Supramolecular Architectures’ and presented a collection of important topics covering a wide variety of molecular assemblies and their applications, in particular, in the field of sensors and allied topics. The senior editor Prof. S. Rajagopal with his four decades of intense research in the fields of electron transfer reactions and photochemistry and his experienced co-editors are able to bring together a spectrum of scientists working in the areas of supramolecular systems and their applications. The authors of eight chapters put their efforts to update the knowledge gained in the fields of supramolecular chemistry and their applications in photophysics and photochemistry. The scientists and the young researchers working in the areas of photophysics and photochemistry of molecules in supramolecular assembly can immensely benefit from the book ‘Photophysics of Supramolecular Architectures 2021’ published by the editors. The editors have made an effort to cover a wide range of supramolecular systems from the conventionally known cyclodextrin systems to calixarene, resorcinarene crowns, pillararene, cucurbit[n]urils, cavitands, metallacycles and fluorescently labelled macromolecules and presented their variety of applications related to photophysics and photochemistry, in particular, the luminescent sensor systems for a wide range of analyte molecules. This book is a single source of collection of literature on the chosen topic and will help the young researchers to understand the field of research, up-to-date literature and design their future plan of action in the areas of supramolecular systems and their applications in photophysics and photochemistry.