Green Chemistry Blog

Green Chemistry Issue 2 now online!

29 Jan 2013

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

Green Chemistry, issue 2, 2013 - front cover 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

Green Chemistry, issue 2, 2013 - inside front cover 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

Read these articles for free for 6 weeks!

Keep up-to-date with the latest content in Green Chemistry by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

Comments Off on Green Chemistry Issue 2 now online!

Environmentally friendly alternative to toxic heavy metals in paint

24 Jan 2013

By Bethany Johnson.

Austrian scientists have shown that an environmentally friendly enzyme, laccase, can be used to replace toxic drying agents in paint.

Currently, water-based paints contain heavy metals that dry the alkyd (polyester) resin films that are used as binding agents by catalysing the oxidative cross-linking of unsaturated fatty acid moieties in the films. Heavy metals are often toxic, and the commonly used cobalt-based catalysts have recently proved to be carcinogenic, and so alternative materials are being sought.

An enzyme system could be an environmentally friendly alternative to toxic heavy metal drying agents in paints

Enrique Herrero Acero at the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Graz, and colleagues, decided to replace the heavy metal catalysts with a laccase enzyme–mediator-based, non-toxic biocatalyst. Laccases, found in fungi, bacteria and plants, can catalyse the oxidation of mainly phenolic substances, and are already used in other fields, including the food, pulp and paper, and textile industries.

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Read the original article online:
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, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36666E

Comments Off on Environmentally friendly alternative to toxic heavy metals in paint

Meet our Authors: Cinzia Chiappe

15 Jan 2013

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Cinzia Chiappe is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Pisa, Italy. Her research interests primarily focus on ionic liquids and their biological and physic chemical properties. The ultimate goal of her research is to design optimised ionic liquids as solvents and/or catalysts for sustainable chemical reactions. Cinzia took a few moments to chat to Green Chemistry…

Who or what initially inspired you to become a chemist?

During my studies I was at first attracted by mathematics and biology and I thought I would become a “biologist”. Subsequently, in the last years of high school, my interest moved towards the single mechanisms that determine and govern the life on this planet. I discovered my interest for “molecules” and their interaction ability and so I decided to study chemistry. I therefore became an Organic Chemist.

What has been the motivation behind your recent research?

As an organic chemist, I studied reactivity and reaction mechanisms. At the beginning of this century (1999-2000), I discovered the fascinating world of ionic liquids and immediately I was attracted by these compounds for the copious challenges and potentialities that they offer to a researcher involved in “organic reactivity”. The subsequent step, from ionic liquids to “green chemistry”, was only a short step.

What do you see as the main challenges facing research in this area?

The main challenges are related to the possibility of resolving some strategic problems for this society, i.e. the depletion of our principal source of energy and organic compounds (fossil fuels) as well as the depletion of other important primary materials (some metals and metal salts).

Where do you see the field of green chemistry being in 5 or 10 years time?

I think that green chemistry and the application of its principles in different areas (energy, material sciences, waste disposal and so on) can become a strategic approach (probably, the only one) to overcome the problems characterizing this “small” planet with “many” inhabitants and “few” resources. Of course, small, many and few are strictly related quantities.

If you could not be a scientist, but could be anything else, what would you be?

I don’t know, but probably an “archistar” – a superstar architect.

Take a look at a few of Cinzia’s recent Green Chemistry articles below – all free to access:

A dramatic effect of the ionic liquid structure in esterification reactions in protic ionic media, Cinzia Chiappe, Sunita Rajamani and Felicia D’Andrea, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 137-143

Synthesis and properties of trialkyl(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)phosphonium salts, a new class of hydrophilic and hydrophobic glyceryl-functionalized ILs, Fabio Bellina, Cinzia Chiappe and Marco Lessi, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 148-155

Styrene oxidation by hydrogen peroxide in ionic liquids: the role of the solvent on the competition between two Pd-catalyzed processes, oxidation and dimerization, Cinzia Chiappe, Angelo Sanzone and Paul J. Dyson, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 1437-1441*

Keep up-to-date with the latest content in Green Chemistry by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

*Article free to access until the 13th February 2013.

Comments Off on Meet our Authors: Cinzia Chiappe

1st International Conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass”

08 Jan 2013

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

On the 18th-20th June 2013, the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass (TMFB)” at RWTH Aachen University will organize it’s 6^th International Workshop which for the first time will be held as an International Conference.

With this conferences, the researchers from Aachen, Germany would like to invite colleagues from all over the world for an inner- and interdisciplinary exchange on the topics addressed in the Cluster of Excellence, which incorporate the production as well as the application of modern biofuels. The creative forum that could be established with the International Workshop over the last years shall now be opened to every interested researcher and industry representative with the 1^st International Conference of the Cluster of Excellence.

The following topics will be addressed in separate sessions during the conference:

Biomass Fractionation and Pre-treatment
Enzymatic and Catalytic Biomass Processing
Catalytic Synthesis and Conversion of Biomass-based Streams to Platform Molecules and Fuels
(Bio-)refinery Process Optimization
Injection, Ignition and Combustion of Biofuels
Combustion Process and Exhaust Gas After treatment Optimization of Biofuels

Call for Papers: If you would like to contribute to this conference with a presentation of your work in one of the above fields, please send in a one-page summary of your topic – click here for full details on how to submit. The deadline for submission is the 31st January 2013.

Confirmed key-note speakers include:

Tom Welton (Imperial College London)
Philip de Goey (University of Eindhoven)
Ion Marius Sivebæk (Technical University of Denmark)
Jens Nielsen (Chalmers University of Technology)
Charles Westbrook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories)
Ulrich Kramer (Ford GmbH)

Visit the conference website for more information.

Comments Off on 1st International Conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass”

Food waste biomass: a resource for high-value chemicals

03 Jan 2013

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Today’s society currently faces two big challenges in the form of resource depletion and waste accumulation. The result of this is increased cost of raw resources and increasingly restrictive and expensive waste disposal.

In this perspective article, James Clark and colleagues evaluate the potential of food waste biomass as a resource for high-value chemicals. The team begin at looking at food supply chain waste (FSCW) as a renewable resource more generally, focusing on the practicalities of using such resources and their availability. In the latter half of the perspective, Clark looks at a biorefinery concept using citrus fruit waste and shows that this is a potentially cost-effective alternative to produce valuable chemicals.

Clark emphasises throughout the article that it is important to go beyond first generation waste valorisation and so we must try to make use of all the valuable components of the waste. You can see Professor Clark’s recent lecture on this topic on The Reaction website, given at the Chemistry Centre in October.

Read the full article for free until the 4th February 2013!

Food waste biomass: a resource for high-value chemicals, Lucie A. Pfaltzgraff, Mario De bruyn, Emma C. Cooper, Vitaly Budarin and James H. Clark, Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36978H

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and content in Green Chemistry by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

Comments Off on Food waste biomass: a resource for high-value chemicals

Green Solvent for Synthesis: Conference Report 2012

27 Dec 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Conference report from the 2012 Green Solvents for Synthesis meeting by Jennifer Julis and Kylie Luska

2012 Green Solvents for Synthesis The latest addition of the “Green Solvents for Synthesis” conference took place in the picturesque Rhein Valley in Boppard, Germany from October 8-10, 2012. This biennial Dechema conference brings together world renowned chemists and engineers from both academia and industry to discuss their recent developments and future insights into the field of alternative solvents, solution phase chemistry, and processes. It is always held in a unique part of Germany, in which previous conferences have been held in the lower Rhein Valley (Bruchsal), Lake Constance (Friedrichshafen) and the Bavarian Alps (Berchtesgaden), and this time in the middle Rhein Valley. The beauty of Boppard and its surrounds (including the Loreley), a UNESCO Heritage site, was an excellent backdrop for the conference and emphasized the importance of sustainable development, an underlying theme of Green Chemistry.

This year’s conference covered various topics in the field of Green Chemistry and showcased the use of green solvents and their increasing implementation, not only in academia but also in industrial applications. Click here to read more…

Comments Off on Green Solvent for Synthesis: Conference Report 2012

Green Chemistry issue 1, 2013 – now online!

19 Dec 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

The first issue of Green Chemistry for 2013 is now available to read online. Click here to read the Editorial by the Chair of the Editorial Board, Professor Walter Leitner, and Editor, Sarah Ruthven.

The front cover of this month’s issue highlights the work of Bruce Lipshutz and colleagues from the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. The team reported the use of a nonionic amphiphile which efficiently enabled Stille couplings in water. TPGS-750-M is a commercially available ‘designer’ surfactant which self-assembles to form nano-micelles in water. Within each of these micelles, several coupling reactions can take place. This procedure, which in most cases could be performed at room temperature, could be applied to a wide variety of substrates and leads to minimal waste generation.

Stille couplings in water at room temperature, Guo-ping Lu, Chun Cai and Bruce H. Lipshutz, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 105-109

The inside front cover features the work by Robert Davis and colleagues from the University of Virginia, USA. In this Critical Review, the team evaluate the literature surrounding the use of supported metal nanoparticle catalysts for the selective oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes. They compare the performances of the catalysts studied in this review by categorising reaction rates based on the turnover frequency as a common, consistent denominator. The authors also look at factors that can affect the evaluation of reaction kinetics, such as catalyst deactivation, and give suggestions regarding how to obtain the best data.

Selective oxidation of alcohols and aldehydes over supported metal nanoparticles, Sara E. Davis, Matthew S. Ide and Robert J. Davis, Green Chem., 2012, 15, 17-45.

Read both of these article for free!

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and content in Green Chemistry by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

Comments Off on Green Chemistry issue 1, 2013 – now online!

Green Chemistry 15 years on…

12 Dec 2012

By Anna Simpson, Executive Editor.

In January 1999 the first issue of Green Chemistry was published with an Editorial written by James Clark, setting out his vision for the Journal.

1999: First cover of Green Chemistry

Green Chemistry, 2013, Vol. 15, issue 1 front cover

GC, Vol. 15, issue 1 front cover

To mark the occasion of the Journal entering it’s fifteenth year of publication in 2013 we will be having a number of interesting articles asking those scientists who have contributed to the Journal strategy to reflect on how the subject has changed over the last 15 years and asking them for their vision on the subject in the future.

We will also be highlighting those papers that have been most cited over the years – the papers that you as readers have been citing the most.

Details about all of these activities will be posted on the Green Chemistry blog throughout 2013.

Comments Off on Green Chemistry 15 years on…

Synthesis of antimalarial trioxanes via continuous photo-oxidation

11 Dec 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

UK scientists have developed a continuous photo-oxidation procedure of an allylic alcohol in supercritical carbon dioxide.

Malaria is one of the most infectious diseases in the world. Some strains of malaria are becoming resistant to the traditionally used quinine based antimalarials, and so there is a need to develop new antimalarial drugs. A common feature of some newly developed antimalarial compounds is the trioxane moiety, and a convenient way to introduce this group is via photochemically generated singlet oxygen species (¹O₂). However the highlight reactive nature of this species can introduce problems when trying to scale-up the synthesis of these groups for industrial production, particularly in terms of identifying acceptable solvents (non-flammable and in-efficient ¹O₂ quenchers).

In this work, Martyn Poliakoff, Michael George and colleagues from the University of Nottingham, UK, have developed a continuous process for the sustainable synthesis of trioxones with ¹O₂in supercritical CO₂. The team also examined the remaining two steps in the synthesis of antimalarial trioxanes from readily available starting materials, and hope that this approach could lead to the exploration of libraries of different trioxanes as potential antimalarial agents.

Read the full article for free until the 9th January 2013!

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, Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC36711D

You may also be interested in this article which is also free to access for a limited time:

Could the energy cost of using supercritical fluids be mitigated by using CO2 from carbon capture and storage (CCS)? James G. Stevens, Pilar Gómez, Richard A. Bourne, Trevor C. Drage, Michael W. George and Martyn Poliakoff, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 2727-2733

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and content in Green Chemistry by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

Comments Off on Synthesis of antimalarial trioxanes via continuous photo-oxidation

Green Chemistry Blog

Green Chemistry Issue 2 now online!

Environmentally friendly alternative to toxic heavy metals in paint

Meet our Authors: Cinzia Chiappe

1st International Conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass”

Food waste biomass: a resource for high-value chemicals

Green Solvent for Synthesis: Conference Report 2012

Top 10 cited review articles in 2012

Green Chemistry issue 1, 2013 – now online!

Green Chemistry 15 years on…

Synthesis of antimalarial trioxanes via continuous photo-oxidation

Links

Categories

Archives

Meta