Volume 40 of the Specialist Periodical Reports entitled Carbohydrate Chemistry – Chemical and Biological Approaches is dedicated to the memory of Prof. André Lubineau. This chemist, well known amongst organic, carbohydrate, and green chemists for his work, left behind him not only his innovative work applied in industry and recognized for its excellence and uniqueness, but also many, many friends among his colleagues and students. His former Ph.D. student, Dr. Yves Queneau, had the initiative to dedicate this volume to his memory and is very welcome as guest editor.

The first book chapter describes the industrial development of Lubineau's C-glycosylation reaction to access a product for skin anti-ageing marketed by L’Oréal^®, a leading company in cosmetics. The principles of green chemistry concerning water-promoted reactions such as cycloaddition, N-glycosylation and C-glycosyl compound formation, implemented by André Lubineau, are well documented in Chapter 2. The use of carbohydrates in sustainable chemistry is highlighted in Chapter 3, exemplifying André Lubineau's contributions in this field with various applications, namely carbohydrates as surfactants. In Chapter 4, synthesis and properties of sugar-based hydrotropes are revised. These compounds exhibit amphiphilicity and can be regarded as weak surfactants, being considered promising alternatives to the currently used hydrotropes from petroleum origin. Chapter 5 shows how green catalysis can be used in carbohydrate etherification.

A diversity of synthetic strategies are described in Chapters 6–10, focusing particularly on anomeric functionalization, either using exo-glycals or glycosylation catalysed with iron salts or by gold, supplemented by electrochemical or enzymatic (thio)glycosylation.

Recent protocols for the synthesis of anionic oligosaccharides, that exhibit interesting biological activities in cell proliferation, angiogenesis and cancer, host-pathogen interactions, Alzheimer's disease and plant protection are presented in Chapter 11. Synthesis of macrocycles from sucrose with interesting complexing properties, of carbohydrate-based dendrimers, and of polymers via radical free polymerization starting from allyl or vinyl pentosides, or by organo-catalysed polymerization of polyester-functionalized carbohydrates, is covered by Chapters 12–15.

This volume illustrates the importance of glycochemistry for the production of biomolecular entities that are innovative regarding structure and usefulness. Covering from simple sugars to polymeric structures and to glyco-conjugated biomolecules, this volume also demonstrates the importance of glyco-structures and technology for innovation in molecular glycobiology and health. Glycolipid liquid crystals are revised in Chapter 16 giving a particular attention to their self-assembling properties, while Chapter 17 shows how glycolipid-containing nanosystems can be applied for novel nanotherapeutic strategies based on drug/gene delivery systems or on adjuvants for vaccine applications. Also a new approach to describe furanose ring conformational dynamics is revealed, based on inherent ring motions rather than arbitrarily restrictive descriptors, which is better able to describe unsymmetrical conformations that are lost bypseudo-rotational analysis (Chapter 18). In Chapter 19, glycofuranosyl-containing conjugates are reviewed as molecular tools for understanding enzyme activity as well as related biochemical pathways. Chapters 20 and 21 include conformationally restricted glycosides as inhibitors of sugar-processing enzymes and receptors, as well as anion receptors having their binding pocket modified with monosaccharides. It was shown how incorporation of a sugar into the backbone of a host molecule affects structural and binding properties of anion receptors.

Therapeutic glycoprotein hormone gonadotropins and anti-cancer multivalent constructs are documented in Chapters 22 and 23, respectively, while the field of carbohydrate-based vaccines is covered in the next three chapters, focusing on anti-cancer vaccines (Chapters 24 and 25), and antibacterial and antifungal vaccines (Chapter 26).

Chapters on the role of mucins and mucin glycosylation in bacterial adhesion (Chapter 27), and on bioengineering of glucansucrases (Chapter 28) complete the collection of topics assembled in this volume.

The described achievements in glycochemistry and glycobiology demonstrate the importance of the glycosciences for innovation in health and in the corresponding societal challenges facing us. More than that, they show the charisma of André Lubineau as a scientist, and as a colleague and a friend. Those who had the privilege of working or collaborating with him confirmed, through their contributions in this volume, their devotion to his memory.

As editors of the Specialist Periodical Reports: Carbohydrate Chemistry – Chemical and Biological Approaches, we are very honored to dedicate this book to the memory of André Lubineau.

Amélia P. Rauter, Thisbe K. Lindhorst and Yves Queneau