We are pleased to publish this special issue of Chirality dedicated to Professor Domenico Misiti on the occasion of his 75 th birthday and as a splendid recognition of his important contributions to the field of organic and bioorganic chemistry and stereochemistry. After receiving his doctorate in chemistry in 1956 from University of Rome La Sapienza, Professor Misiti was a postdoctoral Fellow at CNEN, Saclay (France) in 1960 and at SRI, Palo Alto (USA) in 1963-64. From 1957 to 1974 he was a Research Associate at Istituto Superiore di Sanita `(Rome) and Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Camerino (1965Camerino ( -1978)). In 1978 he joined the University of Rome, La Sapienza where he has served as full professor of Organic Chemistry in the faculty of Pharmacy. He authored and co-authored more than 200 research publications, concerning the synthesis of biologically active heterocyclic compounds, the elucidation of structure of natural compounds, and more recently, the synthesis of new chemo-and stereoselective chiral stationary phases, as well as the mechanisms of stereoselective molecular recognition. He made significant contributions to the development of new analytical methods in the field of biosciences and to the chemistry of calixarene and fullerene derivatives. Professor Misiti's more recent studies led to important new knowledge and advances in the field of separation science and chiral discrimination. Throughout the years, he has received many academic and scientific awards, some of them in recognition of his contributions to the field of organic stereochemistry: the ''Molecular Chirality Award 2003'' from the Japanese Chemical Society as ''Eminent foreign Scientist for distinguished research'' and the ''Medaglia Piria 2006'', from the Italian Chemical Society for his studies on molecular chirality. Early in 1982 Professor Misiti organized a successful international symposium on ''New prospects in the separation of enantiomers'' in Rome, where most of the ''big names'' of the chirality arena (Gasparrini, Gil-Av, Pirkle, Blaschke, Davankov, Jacques, Guiochon, Lahav) presented seminal lectures in an excited atmosphere. That meeting can be considered as a precursor of the currently successful, well established ISCD series of symposia, which take place every year all over the world. In 1991 Professor Misiti organized and co-chaired the second ISCD meeting in Rome, and invented the ''Chirality medal'' that is still awarded during the ISCD meetings to eminent scientists who have made distinguished contributions to various aspects of chirality. On each of his research and teaching endeavors Professor Misiti has proved to be an exceptionally talented, creative, and productive organic chemist and teacher. Indeed, while Professor Misiti has been truly a great international research chemist, he has at the same time displayed a strong sense of loyalty and dedication to the University of Rome La Sapienza where he has been professionally associated ever since he joined the Faculty in 1978. During 1999-2005 he has been the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, and since 2006 he is the Head of the ''Ateneo Federato'' of Health and Public Politics Sciences. Finally, we would like to thank all the authors and reviewers for their contributions to the success of this ''special'' issue. We are very pleased by the warm response by Misiti's colleagues and former postdoctoral and graduate students who submitted their recent papers to this noble occasion. We hope that you will enjoy reading these articles, which reflect the multifaceted approach adopted by Professor Misiti during his long and distinguished scientific career. We hope that all who know Professor Misiti will treasure this special issue of the journal for many years to come.