Green Chemistry Blog

Soaking of pine wood chips with ionic liquids for reduced energy input during grinding

13 Mar 2012

Scientists have developed a new strategy for grinding wood chips which leads to significant energy savings.

Wood is a source of biomass that can be converted into renewable fuels and chemicals. However, it has been noticed that in pretreatment processes, the size of the wood chips or particles used affects their rates of dissolution. Therefore most studies to-date have used pre-ground biomass, but the energy consumption for grinding untreated wood to powder is high and could be a process-limiting cost for the production of renewable chemicals and fuels.

Tom Welton and colleagues from Imperial College London, UK, and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, have developed a new process where an ionic liquid is used to soak the wood chips in prior to grinding. This step gave significant energy savings which was shown to be due to the lubricating properties of the ionic liquid rather than any physico-chemical modifications of the biomass.

This article is free to access until the 10th April 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Soaking of pine wood chips with ionic liquids for reduced energy input during grinding, Agnieszka Brandt, James K. Erickson, Jason P. Hallett, Richard J. Murphy, Antje Potthast, Michael J. Ray, Thomas Rosenau, Michael Schrems and Tom Welton, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC15663F

You may also be interested in these related articles which are also free to access for 2 weeks:

Ionic liquid pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquid–water mixtures, Agnieszka Brandt, Michael J. Ray, Trang Q. To, David J. Leak, Richard J. Murphy and Tom Welton, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 2489-2499

The effect of the ionic liquid anion in the pretreatment of pine wood chips, Agnieszka Brandt, Jason P. Hallett, David J. Leak, Richard J. Murphy and Tom Welton, Green Chem., 2010, 12, 672-679

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Innovation for Sustainable Production 2012

09 Mar 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

VITO has organised the third edition of the international conference Innovation for Sustainable Production (i-SUP2012) from 6-9^th May 2012.

We invite you to participate together with scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, etc. in this unique sustainability conference at the site of the Old St-John’s Hospital in Bruges, Belgium. Meet the challenge to engage in discussion with renowned national and international speakers and specialists in the following themes: Urban Development, Rural Development, Transport & Mobility, Energy, Materials, Chemistry and Products. An indispensable and inspiring experience for all those who believe that sustainable production and clean technology is THE solution to save both our earth and our economy.

Envision the roles you and your company can fulfill to transform our planet into a sustainable world.

You can find the programme and all details for participating via:

https://www.i-sup2012.org/home/Pages/home.aspx

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Critical review: Modeling and predicting aquatic aerobic biodegradation – a review from a user’s perspective

06 Mar 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

This review article by Christoph Rücker and Klaus Kümmerer critically evaluate various approaches to predict aquatic aerobic biodegradation from a user’s point of view.

The ‘benign by design’ concept is an emerging tool for developing green and sustainable chemistry. However, in order for this approach to work information on a compound’s biodegradability needs to be available at an early stage, even before synthesis. In view of this, computer models for predicting biodegradation are increasingly important.

In this critical review, the authors discuss and evaluate some of the fundamental problems in modeling biodegradation, as well as more general issues in modeling compound properties by quantitative structure-property/activity relationships.

This article has been made free to access until the 4th April 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Modeling and predicting aquatic aerobic biodegradation – a review from a user’s perspective, Christoph Rücker and Klaus Kümmerer, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16267A

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Green Chemistry issue 3 now online

03 Mar 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

The latest issue of Green Chemistry is now online!

The front cover of this issue highlights work by Yong Huang (Peking University, China) and Hong Shen (Merck Research Laboratories, New Jersey, USA) and colleagues who report the synthesis of medicinally useful heterocycles such as pyridazinones and dihydropyrimidinones through a mild and highly efficient one-pot triple cascade procedure. The cascade involves a Claisen-decarboxylation, an electrophilic reaction and subsequent heterocyclisation. Indazoles and benzofurans could also be constructed through a double cascade reaction.

One-pot synthesis of useful heterocycles in medicinal chemistry using a cascade strategy, Guiyong Wu, Weiyu Yin, Hong C. Shen and Yong Huang, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 580-585

The inside front cover features a Tutorial Review by Camilla Parmeggiani and Francesca Cardona from the University of Florence, Italy on transition metal based catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of alcohols. The review covers advances in this area over the last 15 years, looking at transition metal catalysts in their various forms, i.e.homogeneous, heterogeneous or nanoparticles.

Transition metal based catalysts in the aerobic oxidation of alcohols, Camilla Parmeggiani and Francesca Cardona, Green Chem., 2012, 14, 547-564

These articles have been made free to access for 6 weeks!

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Catalyst-free approach for solvent-dependent selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone

01 Mar 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Chinese scientists report the selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone to give either sulfoxides or sulfones.

Sulfoxides and sulfones are important synthetic reagents widely used in the preparation of biologically active compounds. However, their selective synthesis from sulfides is still a challenge, and although methods for achieving this are available they tend to still a require catalyst or promoter.

In this work, researchers led by Liang-Nian He from Nankai University, China, report a catalyst-free approach to the selective synthesis of sulfoxides and sulfones from sulfides using oxone. The authors found that when the reaction was performed in water, the sulfone was formed almost exclusively; whereas when it was performed in ethanol the reaction gave the sulfoxide instead in excellent yields.

This article is free to access until the 30th March 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Catalyst-free approach for solvent-dependent selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone, Bing Yu, An-Hua Liu, Liang-Nian He, Bin Li, Zhen-Feng Diao and Yu-Nong Li, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC00027J

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Industrial commitment to green and sustainable chemistry: using renewable materials & developing eco-friendly processes and ingredients in cosmetics

24 Feb 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Scientists from L’Oréal show how green chemistry principles have been integrated into the development of new processes and ingredients at the company, illustrating the company’s commitment to sustainable chemistry.

The group led by Michel Philippe based at the L’Oréal Research & Innovation centre in Aulnay-sous-Bois, France, provide detailed examples of how green chemistry principles have been used in the development of key processes such as C-glycosylation in water, and ceramide synthesis from renewable materials. Philippe and colleagues also discuss a list of green indicators which have been set up to advance the eco-design of ingredients in the future. These are:

An ‘atom economy’ calculation
The E-factor – with the aim of lowering this during scale-up and industrialisation
The level of renewable carbon in the final ingredient
The environmental risk of the final compound (according to European guidelines for PBT assessment)

This article will be free to access until the 23rd March 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Industrial commitment to green and sustainable chemistry: using renewable materials & developing eco-friendly processes and ingredients in cosmetics, Michel Philippe , Blaise Didillon and Laurent Gilbert, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16341A

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Patterned growth of nanocrystalline silicon thin films through magnesiothermic reduction of soda lime glass

21 Feb 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Scientists from Taiwan have developed a cheap and green method for producing nanocrystalline silicon thin films.

Silicon-based thin films have widespread applications including microelectronics, optoelectronics and photovoltaics. Although there are several methods for producing these films, they can suffer from drawbacks such as high production costs or the resultant films possessing poor electronic properties.

In this work Kuei-Hsien Chen, Li-Choyong Chen and colleagues from National Taiwan University and Academia Sinica, Taipei, used a magnesiothermic reduction process to successfully convert the surface of soda lime glass into a silicon thin film. This involves using thermal evaporation to deposit a thin layer of magnesium onto the glass, followed by heating to produce the silicon. The film thickness can easily be controlled by varying the reaction time, and the band gaps of the resulting films were within the range of 2.3-2.5 eV.

This article is free to access until the 21st March 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Patterned growth of nanocrystalline silicon thin films through magnesiothermic reduction of soda lime glass, Deniz P. Wong, Hsiang-Ting Lien, Yit-Tsong Chen, Kuei-Hsien Chen and Li-Chyong Chen, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16459K

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Design, synthesis, and solution behaviour of small polyamines as switchable water additives

15 Feb 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Canadian scientists report using polyamine derivatives as switchable water additives to salt out water-miscible organic compounds.

Philip Jessop and colleagues from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and Concordia University, Montréal, Quebec, have developed an efficient system for the removal of water-miscible organic compounds using a recyclable “switchable water” system. The system can be changed from low to high ionic strength by the simple introduction of CO2, and removal of CO2 afterwards restored the solvent system for reuse again.

The team found that alkylammonium bicarbonate salts derived from polyamines were particularly additives as they could provide solutions of greater ionic strength at lower loadings in water, and have developed a set of principles for the design of future switchable water additives.

This article is free to access until the 14th March 2012! Click on the link below to read more…

Design, synthesis, and solution behaviour of small polyamines as switchable water additives, Sean M. Mercer, Tobias Robert, Daniel V. Dixon, Chien-Shun Chen, Zahra Ghoshouni, Jitendra R. Harjani, Soran Jahangiri, Gilles H. Peslherbe and Philip G. Jessop, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16240G

You may also be interested in these related articles, free to access for 2 weeks…

Tertiary amine solvents having switchable hydrophilicity, Philip G. Jessop, Lisa Kozycz, Zahra Ghoshouni Rahami, Dylan Schoenmakers, Alaina R. Boyd, Dominik Wechsler and Amy M. Holland, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 619-623

A solvent having switchable hydrophilicity, Philip G. Jessop, Lam Phan, Andrew Carrier, Shona Robinson, Christoph J. Dürr and Jitendra R. Harjani, Green Chem., 2010, 12, 809-814

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Sn-Beta catalysed conversion of hemicellulosic sugars

11 Feb 2012

By Mary Badcock, Deputy Editor.

Scientists from Denmark and the USA report the conversions of various pentoses and hexoses into methyl lactate and related products by using a Sn-Beta catalyst.

Esben Taarning and colleagues show that this Lewis Acidic zeotype material can convert hemicellulosic sugars into methyl lactate, glycoaldehyde dimethylacetal and methyl vinylglycolate. The fact that this catalyst is able to convert both hexoses and pentoses to methyl lactate opens up the possibility of employing it in reactions with crude sugar mixtures. This has major advantages over microorganism-catalysed reactions of sugars, as many microorganisms will often only use specific sugars as substrates.

This article will be free to access until the 12th March 2012! Click on the link below to find out more…

Sn-Beta catalysed conversion of hemicellulosic sugars, Martin S. Holm, Yomaira J. Pagán-Torres, Shunmugavel Saravanamurugan, Anders Riisager, James A. Dumesic and Esben Taarning, Green Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2GC16202D

You may also be interested to read these articles by the same authors – free to access for 2 weeks!

Production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels by catalytic conversion of biomass-derived levulinic acid, Drew J. Braden, Carlos A. Henao, Jacob Heltzel, Christos C. Maravelias and James A. Dumesic, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 1755-1765

Dependency of the hydrogen bonding capacity of the solvent anion on the thermal stability of feruloyl esterases in ionic liquid systems, Birgitte Zeuner, Tim Ståhlberg, Olivier Nguyen van Buu, Andreas Jonas Kunov-Kruse, Anders Riisager and Anne S. Meyer, Green Chem., 2011, 13, 1550-1557

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Green Chemistry Blog

Soaking of pine wood chips with ionic liquids for reduced energy input during grinding

Innovation for Sustainable Production 2012

Critical review: Modeling and predicting aquatic aerobic biodegradation – a review from a user’s perspective

Green Chemistry issue 3 now online

Catalyst-free approach for solvent-dependent selective oxidation of organic sulfides with oxone

Industrial commitment to green and sustainable chemistry: using renewable materials & developing eco-friendly processes and ingredients in cosmetics

Top ten most accessed articles in January

Patterned growth of nanocrystalline silicon thin films through magnesiothermic reduction of soda lime glass

Design, synthesis, and solution behaviour of small polyamines as switchable water additives

Sn-Beta catalysed conversion of hemicellulosic sugars

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