Cluster Preface: In Memory of Professor Manfred Schlosser

Alessandro Mordini was born in Florence, Italy. He graduated in chemistry at the University of Florence in 1983 (Prof. Alfredo Ricci) and obtained his PhD degree at the same University in 1987 with the same supervisor. He held post-doctoral positions at Lausanne University, Switzerland (Prof. Manfred Schlosser) in 1986, 1989, and 1992. In 1987, he was appointed Researcher at CNR in Florence. Since 1999 he is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Organometallic Compounds (CNR-ICCOM) Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. In 2001, he was visiting professor at the University of Kyoto, Japan. His research interest is in synthetic organic chemistry, especially in the field of carbanionic species (polar organometallics, metal-mediated rearrangements). More recent activities focus on the design and synthesis of new organic sensitizers for third generation photovoltaic cells. Victor Snieckus was born in Lithuania and fled with his parents to Germany during World War II. He obtained the B.Sc. at the University of Alberta, graduate degrees at University of California, Berkeley (D. S. Noyce) and University of Oregon (V. Boekelheide), and carried out postdoctoral studies at NRC Ottawa (O. E. Edwards). He taught at the University of Waterloo until 1998, then moved to Queen’s University, Kingston as the inaugural Bader Chair of Organic Chemistry. He continues fundamental research as Bader Chair Emeritus as well as Director of Snieckus Innovations, an institute for the synthesis of small molecules for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. He is a recipient of the ACS Cope Scholar Award, Arfvedson-Schlenk-Prize of the GDCh, CSC Bernard Belleau Award, and is a Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Laureate. He infrequently plays hockey and wishes he had not given up the clarinet.