Green Chemistry Blog

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 recognize chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use. The 2014 submissions were formally judged by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute.

The winners include:

• Academic: Professor Shannon S. Stahl, University of Madison for his work on developing aerobic oxidation methods for Pharmaceutical Synthesis.
• Small Business: Amyris, for engineering a yeast to make a renewable fuel replacement for petroleum diesel.
• Designing Greener Chemicals: The Solberg Company, for developing a new safer firefighting foam which is free from persistent toxic chemicals.
• Greener Reaction Conditions: QD Vision, Inc., for the production of new LED lighting material that can bring massive energy savings.
• Greener Synthetic Pathways: Solazyme, Inc., for making soaps, laundry detergents, food products and fuels while reducing energy and water use, waste and impacts on forests.

For further information on the award winning research and how to enter for the 2015 awards take a look at the EPA website.

Paper cannot be recycled into new paper indefinitely

A process for generating aluminium–aluminium bonding adhesives from waste office paper could give a purpose to paper than can no longer be recycled into more paper. 

Paper can typically only be recycled as a new paper product 3–4 times, after this the fibres become too short to be used in new paper or cardboard. Finding alternative ways of reusing this readily available resource is crucial.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

Low-temperature microwave-assisted pyrolysis of waste office paper and the application of bio-oil as an Al adhesive
Zhanrong Zhang, Duncan J. Macquarrie, Mario De bruyn, Vitaliy L. Budarin, Andrew J. Hunt, Mark J. Gronnow, Jiajun Fan, Peter S. Shuttleworth, James H. Clark and Avtar S. Matharu  
Green Chem., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00768A, Paper

The first systematic environmental assessment of an industrial plant that produces polyols from carbon dioxide has revealed that they significantly reduce both carbon dioxide emissions and the demand on fossil fuel reserves.

Polyols are the major component of polyurethanes, which make up foams or thermoplastic urethanes in a wide range of applications from mattresses to ski boots. Most polymers are made from fossil fuel-based feedstocks.

To read more on this article please visit Chemistry World.

Life cycle assessment of polyols for polyurethane production using CO2 as feedstock: insights from an industrial case study
Niklas von der Assen and André Bardow  
Green Chem., 2014,16, 3272-3280
DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00513A

A biocatalytic cascade using mashed-up cells has overcome extraction and solubility problems associated with using enzymes in chemical syntheses.

Enzymes are excellent catalysts for making chiral molecules. One-pot reactions under mild conditions are often possible with more than one catalyst, allowing multi-step syntheses in one go. But if enzymes are used as catalysts, they have to be extracted and purified, and expensive co-factors often need to be added. There are also solubility issues: enzymes are usually most active in buffers, but many of their substrates are hydrophobic, limiting the productivity of the biotransformation because the substrate won’t dissolve in aqueous buffers.

It is thought that the cell envelope helps to stabilise the enzymes in organic solvent

 To read more on this article please visit Chemistry World.

A two-step biocatalytic cascade in micro-aqueous medium: using whole cells to obtain high concentrations of a vicinal diol
Andre Jakoblinnerta and Dörte Rother  
Green Chem., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00010B

The 10 most-accessed Green Chemistry articles between April and June 2013 were as follows:

Vegetables as biocatalysts in stereoselective hydrolysis of labile organic compounds
Björn Bohman, L. R. Cavonius and C. Rikard Unelius  
Green Chem., 2009, 11, 1900-1905
DOI: 10.1039/B913936B, Paper

Hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose by solid acid catalysts
Yao-Bing Huang and Yao Fu  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1095-1111
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40136G, Tutorial Review

Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids
Agnieszka Brandt, John Gräsvik, Jason P. Hallett and Tom Welton  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 550-583
DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36364J, Critical Review

FeIII–TAML-catalyzed green oxidative degradation of the azo dye Orange II by H2O2 and organic peroxides: products, toxicity, kinetics, and mechanisms
Naima Chahbane, Delia-Laura Popescu, Douglas A. Mitchell, Arani Chanda, Dieter Lenoir, Alexander D. Ryabov, Karl-Werner Schramm and Terrence J. Collins  
Green Chem., 2007, 9, 49-57
DOI: 10.1039/B604990G, Paper

The role of flow in green chemistry and engineering
Stephen G. Newman and Klavs F. Jensen  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1456-1472
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40374B, Critical Review

Characterization and comparison of hydrophilic and hydrophobic room temperature ionic liquids incorporating the imidazolium cation
Jonathan G. Huddleston, Ann E. Visser, W. Matthew Reichert, Heather D. Willauer, Grant A. Broker and Robin D. Rogers  
Green Chem., 2001, 3, 156-164
DOI: 10.1039/B103275P, Paper

Copper on chitosan: a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for azide–alkyne cycloaddition reactions in water
R. B. Nasir Baig and Rajender S. Varma  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1839-1843
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40401C, Communication

A general and practical oxidation of alcohols to primary amides under metal-free conditions
Xiao-Feng Wu, Muhammad Sharif, Jian-Bo Feng, Helfried Neumann, Anahit Pews-Davtyan, Peter Langer and Matthias Beller  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1956-1961
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40668G, Paper

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, 15, 1542-1549
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40225H, Paper

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, Critical Review

Take a look at the articles and then let us know your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting your own work to Green Chemistry? You can submit online today, or email us with your ideas and suggestions.

The 10 most-accessed articles in Green Chemistry for March 2013 were as follows:

Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids
Agnieszka Brandt, John Gräsvik, Jason P. Hallett and Tom Welton  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 550-583
DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36364J, Critical Review

Gamma-valerolactone, a sustainable platform molecule derived from lignocellulosic biomass
David Martin Alonso, Stephanie G. Wettstein and James A. Dumesic  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 584-595
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC37065H, Critical Review
From themed collection Green Chemistry and the Environment

Catalytic applications of a versatile magnetically separable Fe–Mo (Nanocat-Fe–Mo) nanocatalyst
Manoj B. Gawande, Paula S. Branco, Isabel D. Nogueira, C. Amjad A. Ghumman, Nenad Bundaleski, Adérito Santos, Orlando M. N. D. Teodoro and Rafael Luque  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 682-689
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36844K, Paper

Green chemistry and the ocean-based biorefinery
Francesca M. Kerton, Yi Liu, Khaled W. Omari and Kelly Hawboldt  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 860-871
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36994C, Perspective

Chemodivergent, multicomponent domino reactions in aqueous media: L-proline-catalyzed assembly of densely functionalized 4H-pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles and bispyrazolyl propanoates from simple, acyclic starting materials
Pitchaimani Prasanna, Subbu Perumal and J. Carlos Menéndez  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1292-1299
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC37128J, Paper

Aqueous oxidation of alcohols catalysed by recoverable iron oxide nanoparticles supported on aluminosilicates
Fatemeh Rajabi, Antonio Pineda, Sareh Naserian, Alina Mariana Balu, Rafael Luque and Antonio A. Romero  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1232-1237
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40110C, Paper

Reduction of aromatic and aliphatic nitro groups to anilines and amines with hypophosphites associated with Pd/C
Marc Baron, Estelle Métay, Marc Lemaire and Florence Popowycz  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1006-1015
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC37024K, Paper

Reduction of sulfoxides and pyridine-N-oxides over iron powder with water as hydrogen source promoted by carbon dioxide
Ran Ma, An-Hua Liu, Cheng-Bin Huang, Xue-Dong Li and Liang-Nian He  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1274-1279
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40243F, Paper

Efficient three-component coupling catalysed by mesoporous copper–aluminum based nanocomposites
Jana Dulle, K. Thirunavukkarasu, Marjo C. Mittelmeijer-Hazeleger, Daria V. Andreeva, N. Raveendran Shiju and Gadi Rothenberg  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 1238-1243
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36607C, Paper

Removal of transition metals from rare earths by solvent extraction with an undiluted phosphonium ionic liquid: separations relevant to rare-earth magnet recycling
Tom Vander Hoogerstraete, Sil Wellens, Katrien Verachtert and Koen Binnemans  
Green Chem., 2013, 15, 919-927
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC40198G, Paper

Take a look at the articles, and then let us know your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting your own work to Green Chemistry? You can submit online today, or email us with your ideas and suggestions.