Over the past 25 years, Green Chemistry has provided a unique forum for the publication of innovative research on the development of alternative sustainable technologies, efficient utilisation of resources and the concomitant minimisation of waste. We are delighted to bring together a very special issue containing articles by members of the green chemistry community as well as past and present Green Chemistry Board members, to mark and celebrate our first 25 years.
Among the contributions to this themed collection is a Paper on a strategy to prepare hydrogel drug slow-release carriers for efficient mosquito larvae extermination using green biodegradable materials. (DOI: 10.1039/D3GC03625A).
This strategy provides a new way to expand the application of liquid marbles in green chemistry. The highly stable, highly loaded, and biodegradable slow-release hydrogel carrier was prepared based on liquid marble utilizing green and cheap materials for loading pyrethrin to kill mosquito larvae. The liquid marble endowed the drug carrier with superior floating stability at the water surface to kill mosquito larvae hanging below the water surface for survival and the electrostatic interaction between alginate and gelatin of this carrier can effectively reduce the degradation rate of pyrethrin in water exhibiting a long drug release time.
Read our interview with the authors.
What is the motivation behind this work?
People living in humid environments, especially next to lakes and swamps and in rainforests, are often attacked by mosquitoes. So we wanted to prepare a green biodegradable drug slow-release carrier loaded with green anti-mosquito drug (pyrethrin) to kill mosquitoes without damaging the local environment.
What aspects of this work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about it?
We find it most challenging to use the green route to impart good hydrophobicity and superior material stability to the drug carriers, and we are very excited about the long drug release time and superior floatation and storage stability of the drug carriers we have prepared.
What is the next step? What work is planned?
Our next steps will be to explore some research around liquid marbles in other directions of green chemistry. We will use the characteristics of liquid marbles to do some work in the fields of drug loading, adsorption and separation, and catalysis.
Please describe your journey to becoming part of the Green Chemistry community?
We wanted to reduce the number of mosquitoes in our living environment through green chemistry without damaging the environment, so we did work in this area. Green Chemistry, a top journal in the field of chemistry focusing on green chemistry and sustainability, was a perfect fit for our work, so we published our work in Green Chemistry.
What do you think the Green Chemistry journal has done well in the past 25 years, and what do you think are the main challenges our community will face in the next 25 years?
We consider that what the Green Chemistry journal has done best over the past 25 years is to provide a unique forum for the publication of innovative research in green chemistry as well as sustainable development. green chemistry is at the forefront of an evolving interdisciplinary field, so it is important to keep an eye out for innovative advances in green chemistry across disciplines.
Meet the authors
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Qihui Zhang is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Chongqing University, who received his PhD degree from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. As a senior visiting scholar, he finished his advanced study at the University of Chicago under the tutelage of Chair Professor Chun-Su Yuan. Professor Zhang is also the invited reviewer for more than ten top international journals. The main research interests of Professor Zhang include extraction, separation and structural modification of natural products based on molecular imprinting technology and nanotechnology. |
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Liandi Zhou, born in 1978, Ph.D., graduated from China Medical University in 2008, Associate Professor, Director of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology Department, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chongqing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Director of Chongqing Microbiology Society, and former expert of Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Commission for reviewing medical projects. He has participated in one national-level project, two school-level projects of Chongqing Medical University, two planning textbooks of Science Press, and one school-level teaching reform project of Chongqing Medical University, and has published five papers on teaching reform. Her main research interests include the regulation of immune-related diseases by active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine and their mechanisms, and she has published more than 20 SCI papers as a corresponding author. |
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Dr. Saimeng Jin obtained his PhD degree in chemistry from the University of York (United Kingdom, with Prof. James Clark) in 2017 and his BSc degree from the Sichuan University (China, with Prof. Bi Shi) in 2010. He currently works as a Associate Professor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University. He hosts the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22208036). His research interests include dimethyl carbonate chemistry, conversion of biomass. |
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James Clark is Professor of Chemistry at the University of York, and is Founding Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence and the Bio-renewables Development Centre. He is also Chair Professor at Fudan University in China and holds honorary doctorates at the Universities of Ghent, Leuphana and Umea. He is a Visiting Professor at Sichuan University and was the International Visitor at the University of cape Town. He has won prizes and awards from many organisations including the 2018 Royal Society of Chemistry Green Chemistry Prize and the 2021 European Sustainable Chemistry award. His research involves the application of green chemical technologies to waste or low value feedstocks notably biomass so as to create new green and sustainable supply chains for chemical and material products. Some of his discoveries in research include a new bio-based solvent Cyrene® to replace toxic amides (produced by Circa Group Ltd including in a new €50M manufacturing plant in France), unique bio-based carbonaceous materials (commercialised through his award-winning spin-out company Starbons® Ltd with applications in areas including medical devices) and new routes to waste plastics recycling (through his new spin-out company Addible.Ltd). James has also been very actively involved in green chemistry publishing, education and networking: he was founding editor of the world-leading Green Chemistry journal, heads the advisory board for the RSC Green Chemistry book series and he was founding director of the worlds’ longest running green chemistry MSc program as well as the Green Chemistry network and the Global Green Chemistry Centres network. (“G2C2”). |
