Green Chemistry Blog

Green Chemistry issue 4 is now online and you can read it here.

The cover features work by François Jérôme and co-workers from France.  Their Paper, ‘Pretreatment of microcrystalline cellulose by ultrasounds: effect of particle size in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose’ demonstrates that activity of a sulfonated carbon in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose was greatly improved by assistance of ultrasound. The paper demonstrates that the sonication method was as effective as conventional pre-treatments such as ball-milling or ionic liquids.

Pretreatment of microcrystalline cellulose by ultrasounds: effect of particle size in the heterogeneously-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose to glucose
Qinghua Zhang, Maud Benoit, Karine De Oliveira Vigier, Joël Barrault, Gwenaëlle Jégou, Michel Philippe and François Jérôme, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 963-969

The inside front cover highlights a review article entitled ‘Green chemistry and the ocean-based biorefinery’ by Fran Kerton and co-workers at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada.  This review highlights that competition for land use could be minimized if marine sourced feedstocks were used for chemicals and materials production rather than crops grown on fertile land. It focuses on achievements and potential opportunities surrounding the use of algae and waste from shellfish and finfish processing.

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

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Work by scientists from Queen’s University Belfast on ionic liquid chemistry is in the running to be named the most important British innovation of the 21^st Century. 

The work of staff in the Queen’s University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre is up against 11 other innovations from across the United Kingdom battling it out in a public vote to find the one that will have the greatest impact in the coming century. The vote is part of the Science Museum’s Initiative on Great British past and future Innovations. 

Ionic liquids are salts which can remain liquid at room temperature and do not form vapours, and so can be used as non-polluting alternatives to conventional solvents.  At QUILL, a team of nearly 100 scientists are exploring the potential of these green solvents and Fortune 100 energy giant Petronas is already using the technology in its plants.  The mercury removal unit, using 15 tons of supported ionic liquid, was developed by a team led by Professor Ken Seddon, Co-Director of QUILL at Queen’s, and Dr John Holbrey also from QUILL, who were listed last year as the number one and two chemists in the UK based on citations of their work.Professor Ken Seddon said: “Being shortlisted for the most important British innovation of the 21^st century is recognition of the high calibre of research being undertaken at QUILL and throughout the University.  We would encourage people to take a moment to vote for our research as its application will eventually have a bearing on most of our lives.”

Other notable British innovations in the hunt for the prize are Quantum Dots, Graphene, Raspberry Pi and the discovery of the Higgs-Boson – you can vote for your favourite here.  Update Monday 25th March – Ionic Liquid Chemistry was voted the recent innovation that is most likely to shape the coming century.

Why not take a look at a collection of high quality research in this area from across RSC Journals – Increadible ionic liquids: an article collection.

The latest issue of Green Chemistry is now available to read online.

The front cover of this issue highlights a Critical Review by Tom Welton and colleagues from Imperial College London (UK) and Umeå University (Sweden) on the deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids.  The review begins by providing background information on ionic liquids and lignocellulosic biomass before going on to explore the solubility of lignocellulosic biomass in ionic liquids.  The also describes the destruction effects brought about by the use of ionic liquids as a solvent, before finally looking at the practical considerations for design of ionic liquid based deconstruction processes.

Deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids, Agnieszka Brandt, John Gräsvik, Jason P. Hallett and Tom Welton, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 550-583

The inside front cover features work by Robert Brown and Kaige Wang from Iowa State University, USA, who report the catalytic pyrolysis of microalgae for production of valuable petrochemicals and ammonia.  This promising microalgae biorefinery pathway (both from an economical and environmental point-of-view) used the HZSM-5 catalyst for pyrolysis to convert whole microalgae into aromatic hydrocarbons.  The ammonia produced in the process can be recycled as a fertilizer for microalgae cultivation.

Catalytic pyrolysis of microalgae for production of aromatics and ammonia, Kaige Wang and Robert C. Brown, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 675-681

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Green Chemistry issue 2, 2013, is now available to read online.

This issue features work by Enrique Herrero Acero, Georg Guebitz and co-workers from Austria who report the replacement of heavy-metal catalysts from paints.  Alkyd resins are polyesters containing unsaturated fatty acids which are used as binding agents in paints and coatings.  The chemical drying of these resins is based on crossing-linking the unsaturated fatty acid moieties using heavy-metal catalysts.  However, these catalysts have been proven to be carcinogenic and so research has been focused on finding less toxic and environmentally friendly alternatives.  The team here have developed a laccase-mediator system which not only performs well in aqueous media, but also in solid film.

Banning toxic heavy-metal catalysts from paints: enzymatic cross-linking of alkyd resins, Katrin J. Greimel, Veronika Perz, Klaus Koren, Roland Feola, Armin Temel, Christian Sohar, Enrique Herrero Acero, Ingo Klimant and Georg M. Guebitz, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 381-388

The inside front cover features work by Michael Meier and Maulidan Firdaus who have derived renewable polyamides and polyurethanes from limonene.  Addition of cysteamine hydrochloride to (R)-(+)- and (S)-(+)-limonene presented a versatile method to produce functionalised renewable monomers for polyamide and polyurethane synthesis.  Through various combinations, fatty acid, limonene and Nylon 6,6 copolymers were prepared. Diamines derived from limonene were efficiently transformed into dicarbamates viaa phosgene-free route, and linear renewable polyurethanes, with molecular weights of up to 12.6 kDa, were obtained through an isocyanate-free route.  The structure-thermal property relationships of these compounds were also studied.

Renewable polyamides and polyurethanes derived from limonene, Maulidan Firdaus and Michael A. R. Meier, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 370-380

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