March 2011 – Green Chemistry Blog

Archive for March, 2011

Solvent selection guide for medicinal chemists

23 Mar 2011

Scientists at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have recently published a revised “solvent selection guide” which is designed to aid the decision-making process associated with choosing a solvent for a chemical transformation. The original solvent selection guide published in 1998 assessed the use of 47 solvents in organic chemistry reactions. The updated version of the solvent selection guide now includes 110 solvents (each with a life cycle score), thus providing a more comprehensive comparative and relative assessment of the solvents.

The guide also contains information on solvent recycling, environmental impact, health and flammability issues amongst others. The broad range of issues covered in the guide will enable scientists to make an objective decision on which solvents to use based on multiple paramenters – this will help truly assess which solvent is the most sustainable for a particular procedure.

Click the link below to read the article in full – free access until 21st April

Expanding GSK’s solvent selection guide – embedding sustainability into solvent selection starting at medicinal chemistry

Richard K. Henderson, Concepcion Jimenez-Gonzalez, David J. C. Constable, Sarah R. Alston, Graham G. A. Inglis, Gail Fisher, James Sherwood, Steve P. Binks and Alan D. Curzons, Green Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c0gc00918k

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Read the best ionic liquid research from the Asia-Pacific region

18 Mar 2011

Green Chemistry has collated a number of ionic liquid research presented at the recent 2nd Asia Pacific Conference on Ionic Liquids and Green Processes held in Dalian, China, on 7-10 September 2010. The selection of articles below represents some of the best ionic liquid research from the Asia-Pacific region. You can access the web-themed issue online.

Fangmin Jin and co-workers demonstrate the reduction of NaHCO3 to formate using isopropanol as a reducing agent. Yields of about 70% were acheived.

Read more about Fangmin Jin’s work:

From NaHCO3 into formate and from isopropanol into acetone: Hydrogen-transfer reduction of NaHCO3 with isopropanol in high-temperature water
Zheng Shen, Yalei Zhang and Fangming Jin
Green Chem., 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0GC00627K , Advanced Article

A fruitful collaboration between the teams led by Changping Li and Urs Welz-Biermann resulted in the development of a microwave-assisted extraction of bioactive lactones from chinese herbal medicines using protic ionic liquids. The Dalian scientists concluded that the extraction mechanism of microwave-assisted ionic liquid extraction is the similar to traditional organic solvent extraction.

Read the full paper:

Microwave-assisted extraction of lactones from Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. using protic ionic liquids
Chi Yansheng, Zhang Zhida, Li Changping, Liu Qingshan, Yan Peifang and Urs Welz-Biermann
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 666-670

In this web-themed issue, Li and Welz-Biermann also report a room-temperature method to desulfurise fuels employing an oxidation method combined with extraction using acidic ionic liquids. The method shows some promise level of sulfur removal from the model oil reached 99% in 180 min.

Interested in finding out more? Read the full article here:

Desulfurization by oxidation combined with extraction using acidic room-temperature ionic liquids

Chi Yansheng, Li Changping, Jiao Qingzhu, Liu Qingshan, Yan Peifang, Liu Xiumei and Urs Welz-Biermann
Green Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00745E, Advanced Article

Liu et al. showed that double SO3H-functionalized ionic liquids exhibited better catalytic activity for the esterification of glycerol compared to non-functionalizeds ionic liquids. Glycerol conversion was achieved in 95% within 30 min by using catalytic amounts of ionic liquids (only 0.1 mol% based on glycerol).

You can read the full paper online:

Esterification of glycerol with acetic acid using double SO3H-functionalized ionic liquids as recoverable catalysts

Xiumei Liu, Huiyuan Ma, Yue Wu, Chang Wang, Miao Yang, Peifang Yan and Urs Welz-Biermann
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 697-701

Kim et al. demonstrate an eco-friendly way of making polymers. The Korean scientists synthesized double metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts for the ring opening polymerization of propylene oxide, employing nontoxic lactate esters as complexing agents. “Highly pure polyol products that can be raw materials for high performance polymers like polyurethane are produced by using the resulting catalysts,” claim Kim and co-workers.

Double metal cyanide catalysts bearing lactate esters as eco-friendly complexing agents for the synthesis of highly pure polyols
Ji Hwan Yoon, In Kyu Lee, Hye Yoon Choi, Eun Ji Choi, Ju Ho Yoon, Sang Eun Shim and Il Kim
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 631-639

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Green Chemistry reviews some of the challenges

15 Mar 2011

Green Chemistry has recently published a series of critical reviews that have been highly downloaded. These reviews aim to cover the trends and progress in the fields and also set the scene for cutting-edge research and innovations for a greener and sustainable future. More importantly the reviews highlight the challenges that need to be urgently addressed in each of those research areas.

Use of carbon dioxide in chemical syntheses via a lactone intermediate
A. Behr and G. Henze
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 25-39
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00394H

Converting carbohydrates to bulk chemicals and fine chemicals over heterogeneous catalysts
Maria J. Climent, Avelino Corma and Sara Iborra
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 520-540
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00639D

Processing of metals and metal oxides using ionic liquids
Andrew P. Abbott, Gero Frisch, Jennifer Hartley and Karl S. Ryder
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 471-481
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00716A

Viable methodologies for the synthesis of high-quality nanostructures
Jonathan M. Patete, Xiaohui Peng, Christopher Koenigsmann, Yan Xu, Barbara Karn and Stanislaus S. Wong
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 482-519
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00516A

Enzyme-mediated oxidations for the chemist
Frank Hollmann, Isabel W. C. E. Arends, Katja Buehler, Anett Schallmey and Bruno Bühler
Green Chem., 2011, 13, 226-265
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00595A

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) as a building block platform: Biological properties, synthesis and synthetic applications
Andreia A. Rosatella, Svilen P. Simeonov, Raquel F. M. Frade and Carlos A. M. Afonso
Green Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00401D

Greener solvents for ruthenium and palladium-catalysed aromatic C–H bond functionalisation
Cedric Fischmeister and Henri Doucet
Green Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00885K

The irruption of polymers from renewable resources on the scene of macromolecular science and technology
Alessandro Gandini
Green Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00789G

You may also be interested in some of the review articles published in 2010:

Technology development for the production of biobased products from biorefinery carbohydrates—the US Department of Energy’s “Top 10” revisited
Joseph J. Bozell and Gene R. Petersen
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 539-554
DOI: 10.1039/B922014C

Catalytic conversion of biomass to biofuels
David Martin Alonso, Jesse Q. Bond and James A. Dumesic
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 1493-1513
DOI: 10.1039/C004654J

Vegetable oil-based polymeric materials: synthesis, properties, and applications
Ying Xia and Richard C. Larock
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 1893-1909
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00264J

Glycerol as a sustainable solvent for green chemistry
Yanlong Gu and François Jérôme
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 1127-1138
DOI: 10.1039/C001628D

Synthesis of cyclic carbonates from epoxides and CO2
Michael North, Riccardo Pasquale and Carl Young
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 1514-1539
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00065E

Enzymes in neoteric solvents: From one-phase to multiphase systems
Pedro Lozano
Green Chem., 2010, 12, 555-569
DOI: 10.1039/B919088K

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Are microwave reactions really green?

03 Mar 2011

Jonathan Moseley and Oliver Kappe provide some pertinent answers to the question: “Why should microwave chemistry be green?”.

There has been over 5000 microwave-assisted syntheses reported in the last 25 years and most of the scientific reports assume that microwave reactions are green, sustainable, environmentally friendly (“ecofriendly”), benign etc. A lot of the times, authors do not provide a clear rationalization and justification why the respective protocols are green because most researchers assume that microwave heating is more energy efficient than classical heating methods.

Here, Moseley and Kappe critically assess the energy efficiency of microwave-assisted transformations in the context of scaling-up this technology to production quantities, taking into account the twelve principles of green chemistry, with a focus on the 6th principle: design for energy efficiency.

“Microwave heating process performed in laboratory-scale single-mode microwave reactors is appallingly energy inefficient,” claim Moseley and Kappe.

However, they agree that when moving from the lab scale to the kilogram scale, microwave technology is more efficient that conventional heating processes.

The full perspective can be freely downloaded until the 3rd April 2011.

A critical assessment of the greenness and energy efficiency of microwave-assisted organic synthesis
Jonathan D. Moseley and C. Oliver Kappe
Green Chem., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0GC00823K, Perspective

This perspective has also been highlighted in Chemistry World. It can be read here:

Microwave chemistry – green or not?

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Green Chemistry Blog

Archive for March, 2011

Top ten most accessed articles in February

Top ten most accessed articles in January

Solvent selection guide for medicinal chemists

Read the best ionic liquid research from the Asia-Pacific region

Green Chemistry reviews some of the challenges

Are microwave reactions really green?

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