Archive for the ‘Board News’ Category

EPA Announces Winners of 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

Green Chemistry would like to congratulate the recent winners of the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards promote the environmental and economic benefits of developing and using novel green chemistry. These prestigious annual awards recognise chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use.

2016 Award Winners

For Greener Synthetic Pathways
CB&I
Albemarle
AlkyClean® Technology:  An Inherently Safer Technology for the Production of Gasoline Alkylate

For Greener Reaction Conditions
Dow AgroSciences LLC
Instinct® Technology – Making Nitrogen Fertilizers Work More Effectively for Farmers and the Planet

For Designing Greener Chemicals and Specific Environmental Benefit: Climate Change
Newlight Technologies
AirCarbon: Greenhouse Gas Transformed into High-Performance Thermoplastic

For Small Business
Verdezyne
Renewable Nylon Through Commercialization of BIOLONTM DDDA

For Academic
Professor Paul J. Chirik of Princeton University
Catalysis with Earth Abundant Transition Metals

For more information please visit the EPA website.

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Advisory board member Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff wins Lord Lewis Prize

A picture of Martyn PoliakoffMartyn Poliakoff is well-known both for his academic work and for his incredibly popular series of Periodic Videos. His research bridges the interface of chemistry and engineering, making chemical processes more environmentally friendly, by replacing the solvents used in reactions with greener alternatives. This work will provide society with more sustainable ways to produce the chemicals that we need. His major contribution has been in the use of supercritical fluids (gases compressed until they are as dense as liquids), particularly supercritical carbon dioxide or steam, as solvents for chemical reactions involving hydrogen or oxygen with organic compounds. The Lord Lewis Prize, which is awarded every two years, is given for distinctive and distinguished chemical or scientific achievements, together with significant contributions to the development of science policy.

To read more about Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff and the 2016 Lord Lewis Prize please click-through to the website.

Related content:
All 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/awards-prizes-2016
Collection of articles published by prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/rscwinners2016-collection

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Editorial board member Paul Anastas wins prestigious Green Chemistry award

A picture of Paul AnastasProfessor Anastas is widely regarded as the ‘father of green chemistry’ and holds the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Chair in Chemistry for the Environment at Yale University. His talents have brought him to positions in service of four U.S. Presidents including working in the White House in the Clinton and Bush Administration and was named by President Obama to the Senate-confirmed position as Assistant Administrator for Research and Development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2007, he founded the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale that is engaged in basic research, development, commercialization, curriculum development, and policy initiatives.

To read more about Professor Anastas and the 2016 Green Chemistry Award please click-through to the website.

Related content:
All 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/awards-prizes-2016
Collection of articles published by prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/rscwinners2016-collection

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Christian Stevens wins Emerging Technologies Competition 2015

Green Chemistry Advisory Board member Christian Stevens has won first prize in the Energy & sustainability stream of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2015. In this third year of the competition, applications were also accepted from outside the UK which enabled Christian and Wouter Ducheyne, of Ghent University and Caloritum in Belgium, achieve this success.

Their winning technology is a ‘Chemical pump for recovery of industrial waste heat’ and was developed jointly by the University of Ghent and Caloritum. It is an industrial chemical heat pump that can recover waste heat between 75-150°C and increase this to a useful heat level of over 200°C. This is a bio-inspired technology, being based on the phosphate transfer in the ATP-ADP cycle that occurs in the human body. Addressing a problem that cost the EU over €52bn per year, the patented technology can be implemented in production processes ranging from the petrochemical industry to food production and power generation.

The Emerging Technologies Competition is the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship annual innovation event and saw thirty teams pitch their emerging technologies to experienced judging panels. There are three streams to the competition: Healthcare, Energy & sustainability, and Materials and the top three teams in each stream received a prize at the ceremony on Monday 29th June 2015. First prize winners receive a cash prize of £20,000, a profile in Chemistry World magazine, and a personalised package of tailored business support from one or more of the competition partner companies – all of which are major multinationals (such as Croda, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, GSK etc.) with considerable experience in bringing new products to market.

We would like to congratulate Christian Stevens and Wouter Ducheyne for achieving this accolade.

Pictured: Christian Stevens (left) and Wouter Ducheyne (right), pitching at the annual innovation event.

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New Green Chemistry Board Member: Martina Peters

We are pleased to welcome Dr Martina Peters as a new Green Chemistry Editorial Board Member.

Martina Peters studied Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Germany and at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. She finished her PhD with Prof. Walter Leitner at RWTH Aachen University in 2008 and continued as PostDoc at the CAT Catalytic Center at RWTH Aachen. In 2010 she joined Bayer Technology Services as project manager, focusing on chemical utilization of CO2 as C1-building block for polymers. In 2012 she became head of “Chemical Catalysis” at Bayer Technology Services, a team providing chemical expertise for different areas of application within Bayer. Since mid-2014 Martina is a senior strategists at Bayer AG in the area of Technology and Manufacturing Strategy. In her free time she enjoys doing sports, especially mountain biking.

Take a look at some of her contributions to Royal Society of Chemistry Journals (free to access until 30th August 2015):

Life cycle assessment of CO2 capture and utilization: a tutorial review, Niklas von der Assen, Philip Voll, Martina Peters and André Bardow , Chem. Soc. Rev., 2014,43, 7982-7994, DOI: 10.1039/C3CS60373C

Screening of new solvents for artemisinin extraction process using ab initio methodology, Alexei A. Lapkin, Martina Peters, Lasse Greiner, Smain Chemat, Kai Leonhard, Marcel A. Liauw and Walter Leitner, Green Chem., 2010,12, 241-251, DOI: 10.1039/B922001A

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Professor Roger A. Sheldon elected Fellow of the Royal Society

We would like to congratulate Professor Roger Sheldon, of Delft University of Technology and Green Chemistry Advisory Board member, in being elected as a fellow of the Royal Society. Fellows of the Royal Society are elected for life through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science.

As Professor of Biocatalysis & Organic Chemistry, Roger is recognised for leading a distinguished career in which he has made pioneering contributions to catalytic oxidation, biocatalysis and green chemistry and has enabled the gap between organic synthesis and catalysis to be bridged. He also introduced the E-factor which has played a major role in drawing attention to the problem of waste generation in chemicals manufacture and provides an impetus for developing cleaner and more sustainable processes. In his most recent appointment as Distinguished Professor of Biocatalysis Engineering at the School of Chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa, Roger will be involved in the development of green (enantio)selective biocatalytic processes. Roger is also Chief Executive Officer of CLEA Technologies B.V., a Biotech company specializing in the development of green biocatalytic processes and the cost-effective immobilization of enzymes as cross-linked enzyme aggregates.

Roger is revered by the green chemistry community as one of the founding fathers of the field and of this journal.

Read a selection of Roger’s papers – free to access until 15th June 2015:

The E Factor: fifteen years on, Roger A. Sheldon, Green Chem., 2007,9, 1273-1283
DOI: 10.1039/B713736M,

Green solvents for sustainable organic synthesis: state of the art, Roger A. Sheldon, Green Chem., 2005,7, 267-278
DOI: 10.1039/B418069K,

Biocatalysis in ionic liquids, Roger A. Sheldon, Rute Madeira Lau, Menno J. Sorgedrager, Fred van Rantwijk and Kenneth R. Seddon, Green Chem., 2002,4, 147-151
DOI: 10.1039/B110008B,

Professor Dr Roger A. Sheldon—65 years on, Ilya I. Moiseev,   Shun-Ichi Murahashi,   Martyn Poliakoff,  Kenneth R. Seddon and   Vytas K. Švedas, Green Chem., 2008,10, 270-270
DOI: 10.1039/B719347P

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Richard P. Wool

Professor Richard P. Wool, a leading figure in the green chemistry community, sadly died on 24th March 2015. Richard Wool was Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware in the United States, and headed the Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources (ACRES), which carried out work to develop uses for bio-materials such as chicken feathers and soybeans to create a diversity of products from tractors to circuit boards to a synthetic fabric named Eco-Leather.

After completing his Bachelors degree in Chemistry in his hometown of Cork, Professor Wool moved to Utah in the United States where he completed his Masters degree and Ph.D.. This is also where he started to build his illustrious career that focussed on improving materials synthesis in order to reduce the impact this may have on the environment and on human health. He received a number of accolades for his contribution to green chemistry, including the ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry, the U.S.A EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for his work in Sustainable Polymers and Composites and he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in January 2015.

Professor Wool was also a member of the Green Chemistry Advisory Board and his contribution to the journal and the community will be sincerely missed. Green Chemistry would like to send our deepest condolences to Richard Wool’s family and friends.

Credit: University of Delaware

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Professor Walter Leitner receives recognition in China for contributions to green chemistry

We are pleased to announce that Green Chemistry’s Editorial Board Chairman, Prof. Walter Leitner of RWTH Aachen University, was awarded two distinguished lectureships in China for his contribution to green chemistry science and application.

On 5th March in Beijing, Prof. Leitner delivered the “Molecular Forum Lecture” awarded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Chemical Society during a visit at the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Science. In addition to this, on 6th March he received  the Nankai Lectureship in Organic Chemistry, awarded by the State Key Laboratory of Elemento-organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry at Nankai University in Tianjiin. His lectures focused on the challenges and opportunities associated with the use of biomass or carbon dioxide as renewable carbon sources. The presentations highlighted the importance of catalysis research at the interface of molecular and engineering sciences for green and sustainable chemistry.

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New Green Chemistry Board Members: Motomu Kanai and Helen Sneddon

We are delighted to welcome Professor Motomu Kanai and Dr Helen Sneddon as new Editorial Board members for Green Chemistry.

Motomu Kanai

Motomu Kanai

Professor Motomu Kanai was born in 1967 in Tokyo, Japan, and received his bachelor degree from The University of Tokyo (UTokyo) in 1989 under the direction of late Professor Kenji Koga. In the middle of his PhD course in UTokyo (in 1992), he obtained an assistant professor position in Osaka University under the direction of Professor Kiyoshi Tomioka. He obtained his PhD from Osaka University in 1995. Then, he moved to University of Wisconsin, USA, for postdoctoral studies with Professor Laura L. Kiessling. In 1997 he returned to Japan and joined Professor Masakatsu Shibasaki’s group in UTokyo as an assistant professor. After doing lecturer (2000~2003) and associate professor (2003~2010), he is currently a professor in UTokyo (since 2010). He is also the PI of ERATO Kanai Life Science Project (since 2011). He has received The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan Award for Young Scientists (2001), Thieme Journals Award (2003), Merck-Banyu Lectureship Award (MBLA: 2005), and Asian Core Program Lectureship Award (2008 and 2010, from Thailand, Malaysia, and China). His research interests entail design and synthesis of functional molecules, such as catalysts and drug lead molecules.

Helen Sneddon

Dr Helen Sneddon read Natural Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge University, and stayed at Cambridge to complete her PhD in organic chemistry, on b-keto-dithianes and their application to the synthesis of natural products, with Professor Steven V. Ley.  After postdoctoral work on the asymmetric catalytic chemistry of Palladium (II) with Professor Larry Overman at the University of California, Irvine, she joined GlaxoSmithKline at Stevenage, UK in 2007 as a medicinal chemist, working on respiratory medicines.  In late 2011 she founded GSK’s Green Chemistry Performance Unit, a team she continues to lead, looking at improving the environmental sustainability of research and development, and the routes arising from it. She was made Honorary Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham in August 2014.  She has particular interests in solvent and reagent selection and the development of more efficient transformations.

Take a look at some of their recent contributions to Royal Society of Chemistry journals:

Reaction mediated artificial cell termination: control of vesicle viability using Rh(I)-catalyzed hydrogenation
Hirokazu Komatsu, Yuki Daimon, Kohsaku Kawakami, Motomu Kanai, Jonathan P. Hill and Katsuhiko Ariga
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4CP02255F, Paper

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)indole scaffolds via consecutive intramolecular amido-cupration of allenes and asymmetric addition of carbonyl compounds
Prasanna Kumara Chikkade, Yohei Shimizu and Motomu Kanai
Chem. Sci., 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C3SC52803K, Edge Article

Sustainable chromatography (an oxymoron?)
Emily A. Peterson, Barry Dillon, Izzat Raheem, Paul Richardson, Daniel Richter, Rachel Schmidt and Helen F. Sneddon 
Green Chem., 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00615A, Perspective

Development of GSK’s reagent guides – embedding sustainability into reagent selection
Joseph P. Adams, Catherine M. Alder, Ian Andrews, Ann M. Bullion, Matthew Campbell-Crawford, Michael G. Darcy, John D. Hayler, Richard K. Henderson, Catriona A. Oare, Israil Pendrak, Anikó M. Redman, Leanna E. Shuster, Helen F. Sneddon and Matthew D. Walker
Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40225H, Paper

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Professor Martyn Poliakoff knighted in the New Year’s Honours list

Professor Martyn Poliakoff

Green Chemistry is delighted to announce that Professor Martyn Poliakoff has been awarded a Knighthood in the New Year’s Honours list.

Professor Poliakoff is closely associated with Green Chemistry and was Chair of the Editorial Board from 2006–2012. He says, “I have been associated with Green Chemistry almost from the outset, and I continue to regard it as the leading journal in the field. Long may it continue!”

Professor Poliakoff is an inorganic chemist, whose work has been taken up by industry, notably in the construction of the world’s first multi-reaction supercritical fluid plant. He is a global leader in the field of green and sustainable chemistry and his work in engaging the public with chemistry has been recognised internationally, including through the Periodic Table of Videos on YouTube. Make sure to take a look at the special video made recently to announce the knighthood for Professor Polaikoff online here. Shortly before Christmas he was also elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Professor Poliakoff said “I feel both honoured and somewhat overwhelmed.  I see the award very much as recognition of all the work being done in green and sustainable chemistry in the School of Chemistry by my colleagues, by my research team and by our technical staff whose efforts underpin so much of our research.”

Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Nottingham, said: “What a richly deserved accolade. Sir Martyn contributes so much as a research leader, educator and communicator of science to the wider public. He will receive this honour with his customary modesty, but will be surprised at how widely applauded it is. We are very proud to have him as a colleague.”

Professor Kenneth Seddon

Professor Kenneth Seddon, Green Chemistry Advisory Board member, has also been honoured in the New Year’s Honours list with an OBE for services to Chemistry.

In addition to his ground-breaking research into ionic liquids Professor Seddon has also been very busy recently, having been involved with a featured exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition, presenting the Inaugural Lecture of the “Frontiers of Knowledge Lecture Series”, House of Commons, receiving four IChemE awards, the Nicklin medal, and the RSC Teamwork award.

The New Year Honours lists recognise the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the UK, you can read more about them here.

Take a look at some recent contributions to Green Chemistry from Martyn Poliakoff and Kenneth Seddon. These are all free to access until the end of February.

15 years of Green Chemistry
James Clark, Roger Sheldon, Colin Raston, Martyn Poliakoff and Walter Leitner
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC90047A, Editorial

Synthesis of metal–organic frameworks by continuous flow
Peter A. Bayliss, Ilich A. Ibarra, Eduardo Pérez, Sihai Yang, Chiu C. Tang, Martyn Poliakoff and Martin Schröder
DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00313F, Paper

Synthesis of antimalarial trioxanes via continuous photo-oxidation with 1O2 in supercritical CO2
Jessica F. B. Hall, Richard A. Bourne, Xue Han, James H. Earley, Martyn Poliakoff and Michael W. George
DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36711D, Paper

Enhanced laccase stability through mediator partitioning into hydrophobic ionic liquids
Lars Rehmann, Ekaterina Ivanova, H. Q. Nimal Gunaratne, Kenneth R. Seddon and Gill Stephens
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC42189A, Paper

Tailoring ionic liquid catalysts: structure, acidity and catalytic activity of protonic ionic liquids based on anionic clusters, [(HSO4)(H2SO4)x] (x = 0, 1, or 2)
Karolina Matuszek, Anna Chrobok, Fergal Coleman, Kenneth R. Seddon and Małgorzata Swadźba-Kwaśny
DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00415A, Paper

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