Green Chemistry Blog

Green Chemistry issue 3 now online

27 Feb 2013

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

Green Chemistry, issue 3, 2013, front cover 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

These articles are free to access for 6 weeks!

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Ohmic heating for efficient green synthesis

22 Feb 2013

By Bethany Johnson.

With environmental issues increasingly in the news, overcoming the challenges associated with greener chemistry has become a major focus of scientific research. To this aim, Portuguese scientists have developed a new ohmic-heating reactor for organic syntheses ‘on water,’ ie chemistry using an aqueous suspension of the reactants.

With ohmic heating the reaction medium itself serves as an electrical resistor, and is heated by passing electricity through it. Internal energy transformation occurs, from electrical to thermal energy, thanks to ion movement and friction within the reaction medium. Since the heating process depends on the resistivity of the medium, the exact conditions vary from reaction to reaction.

Lightning bolts hitting water, to illustrate ohmic heating

Read the full article in Chemistry World

Read the original journal article in Green Chemistry:
Ohmic heating as a new efficient process for organic synthesis in water
Joana Pinto, Vera L. M. Silva, Ana M. G. Silva, Artur M. S. Silva, José C. S. Costa, Luís M. N. B. F. Santos, Roger Enes, José A. S. Cavaleiro, António A. M. O. S. Vicente and José A. C. Teixeira
Green Chem., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36881E

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HOT articles of the week

08 Feb 2013

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Read some of the latest ‘HOT’ research to be published in Green Chemistry! These articles are all free to access until the 11th March 2013:

Resolving the dilemma of gaining conductivity but losing environmental friendliness in producing polystyrene/graphene composites via optimizing the matrix-filler structure, Gucheng Long, Changyu Tang, Ka-wai Wong, Changzhen Man, Meikun Fan, Woon-ming Lau, Tao Xu and Bin Wang, Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3GC37042A

Application of a recyclable fluorous oxime in the convenient synthesis of 3-amino-1,2-benzisoxazoles and 4-amino-1H-2,3-benzoxazines, Wei Jie Ang, Chi-Yuan Chu, Tzyy-Chao Chou, Lee-Chiang Lo and Yulin Lam, Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36966H

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, DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36844K

One-step acrylation of soybean oil (SO) for the preparation of SO-based macromonomers, Pei Zhang and Jinwen Zhang, Green Chem., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3GC36961G

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

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Green Chemistry Issue 2 now online!

29 Jan 2013

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

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!

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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…

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Green Chemistry Blog

Top 10 most accessed articles in 2012

Green Chemistry issue 3 now online

Ohmic heating for efficient green synthesis

HOT articles of the week

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

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