Green Chemistry Blog

Editorial Board Member Helen Sneddon has selected some outstanding research to share with you from Green Chemistry. Read them now for free until the end of January 2021!

Helen F. Sneddon studied Natural Sciences at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Steven V. Ley. Following postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Irvine, with Professor Larry Overman, she joined GSK in Stevenage, UK in 2007. While at GSK, she has developed a particular interest in Green Chemistry as applied to the Pharmaceutical Industry, including solvent and reagent selection, metrics, and the development of more efficient transformations. She is currently on the editorial board of the journal Green Chemistry and on the editorial advisory board of the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. She is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a visiting professor of Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham.

Submit your research to Helen here

Read Helen’s choices for free now:

Critical Review
Review of recent advances in the biodegradability of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastics and their composites
Kjeld W. Meereboer, Manjusri Misra and Amar K. Mohanty
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5519-5558. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01647K

Paper
Mechanochemical synthesis of Cu₂S bonded 2D-sulfonated organic polymers: continuous production of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) via preheating of reactants
Subodh Kumar, Manoj B. Gawande, Ivo Medřík, Martin Petr, Ondřej Tomanec, Vojtěch Kupka, Rajender S. Varma and Radek Zbořil
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5619-5627. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01030H

Paper
Mechanisms and modelling of phosphorus solid–liquid transformation during the hydrothermal processing of swine manure
Yaxin Deng, Tao Zhang, James Clark, Tejraj Aminabhavi, Andrea Kruse, Daniel C. W. Tsang, Brajendra K. Sharma, Fusuo Zhang and Hongqiang Ren
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5628-5638. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01281E

Paper
Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of ammonia production from renewable resources and industrial by-products
Xinyu Liu, Amgad Elgowainy and Michael Wang
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5751-5761. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC02301A

Paper
Optimization and sustainability assessment of a continuous flow Ru-catalyzed ester hydrogenation for an important precursor of a β2-adrenergic receptor agonist
Michael Prieschl, Jorge García-Lacuna, Rachel Munday, Kevin Leslie, Anne O’Kearney-McMullan, Christopher A. Hone and C. Oliver Kappe
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5762-5770. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC02225J

Critical Review
Sustainable flow approaches to active pharmaceutical ingredients
Francesco Ferlin, Daniela Lanari and Luigi Vaccaro
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5937-5955. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC02404J

Paper
Environmentally responsible, safe, and chemoselective catalytic hydrogenation of olefins: ppm level Pd catalysis in recyclable water at room temperature
Balaram S. Takale, Ruchita R. Thakore, Eugene S. Gao, Fabrice Gallou and Bruce H. Lipshutz
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 6055-6061. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC02087G

We hope you enjoy reading the articles.

Board Chair Philip Jessop has selected some outstanding research to share with you from Green Chemistry. Read them now for free until the end of December 2020!

Dr. Philip Jessop, FRSC, is the Canada Research Chair of Green Chemistry at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada and the Technical Director of GreenCentre Canada. As a professor at the University of California-Davis (1996-2003) and since then at Queen’s, he has studied green solvents and the chemistry of CO2 and H2. He invented the concept of switchable solvents and has developed many other CO2-switchable materials. Distinctions include the Eni Award for New Frontiers for Hydrocarbons (2013), Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada (2013), the Canadian Green Chemistry & Engineering Award (2012), and the NSERC Polanyi Award (2008). He has chaired three international conferences and helped create GreenCentre Canada, a National Centre of Excellence for the commercialization of green chemistry technologies.

Submit your research to Philip here

Read Philip’s choices for free now:

Paper
The effect of pH and hydrogen bond donor on the dissolution of metal oxides in deep eutectic solvents
Ioanna M. Pateli, Dana Thompson, Sahar S. M. Alabdullah, Andrew P. Abbott, Gawen R. T. Jenkin and Jennifer M. Hartley
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5476-5486. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC02023K

Paper
Design of a combined ionosolv-organosolv biomass fractionation process for biofuel production and high value-added lignin valorisation
Meng Chen, Francisco Malaret, Anton E. J. Firth, Pedro Verdía, Aida R. Abouelela, Yiyan Chen and Jason P. Hallett
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5161-5178. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01143F

Communication
Introducing the reversible chemistry of CO₂ with diols mediated by organic superbases into polycarbonate synthesis
Yang Chai, Qin Chen, Caijuan Huang, Qiang Zheng, Michael North and Haibo Xie
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 4871-4877. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01197E

Paper
Electrohydrodimerization of biomass-derived furfural generates a jet fuel precursor
Xiao Shang, Yang Yang and Yujie Sun
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5395-5401. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01720E

We hope you enjoy reading the articles.

Editorial Board Member Tao Zhang has selected some outstanding research to share with you from Green Chemistry. Read them now for free until the end of November 2020!

Professor Tao Zhang received his PhD in 1989 from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). After one year in University of Birmingham as a post-doctoral fellow, he joined DICP again in 1990 where he was promoted to a full professor in 1995. He was the director-general of DICP from 2007 to 2016. His research interests are mainly focused on the catalytic conversion of biomass and single-atom catalysis. He has won many important awards, such as the National Invention Prize, Distinguished Award of CAS, Excellent Scientist Award of Chinese Catalysis Society, Zhou Guangzhao Award, and HLHL Prize. Prof Tao Zhang is the author or co-author of more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 110 patents. He was elected as an academician of Chinese academy of Sciences in 2013 and was appointed as the vice president of Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2016.

Submit your research to Tao here

Read Tao’s choices for free now:

Communication
Upgrading 1-butanol to unsaturated, carbonyl and aromatic compounds: a new synthesis approach to produce important organic building blocks
Jorge Mora Vargas, Luiz Henrique Tofaneli Morelato, Julieth Orduna Ortega, Mauricio Boscolo and Gustavo Metzker
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 2365-2369 . DOI: 10.1039/D0GC00254B

Communication
Conversion of furfural to tetrahydrofuran-derived secondary amines under mild conditions
Shi Jiang, Eric Muller, François Jerôme, Marc Pera-Titus and Karine De Oliveira Vigier
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 1832-1836. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC00119H

Paper
Unlocking biomass energy: continuous high-yield production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in water
Puxiang Yan, Ming Xia, Shanshuai Chen, Wanying Han, Hongliang Wang and Wanbin Zhu
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5274-5284. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01446J

Paper
Lignin-fueled photoelectrochemical platform for light-driven redox biotransformation
Ding Wang, Sahng Ha Lee, Seunghyun Han, Jinhyun Kim, Nguyen Vu Thien Trang, Kayoung Kim, Eun-Gyu Choi, Passarut Boonmongkolras, Yang Woo Lee, Byungha Shin, Yong Hwan Kim and Chan Beum Park
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 5151-5160. DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01521K

We hope you enjoy reading the articles.

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Green Chemistry in 2019, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Dr Tommaso Angelini, Aptuit Inc, ORCID: 0000-0001-7377-2966

Dr Evan Beach, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc, ORCID: 0000-0002-9413-8347

Professor Jin Deng, University of Science and Technology of China, ORCID: 0000-0003-0272-1031

Dr Joaquin Garcia-Alvarez, University of Oviedo, ORCID: 0000-0003-2266-744X

Professor Shinji Kudo, Kyushu University, ORCID: 0000-0003-0002-796X

Professor Marie-Christine Scherrmann, Université Paris Sud ICMMO, ORCID: 0000-0002-2087-6312

Dr Helen Sneddon, GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Research Centre, ORCID: 0000-0003-1042-7692

Professor Gyorgy Szekely, The University of Manchester, ORCID: 0000-0001-9658-2452

Professor Tommaso Tabanelli, University of Bologna, ORCID: 0000-0003-0616-8990

Professor Dan Tsang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ORCID: 0000-0002-6850-733X

We would also like to thank the Green Chemistry board and the green chemistry and sustainability community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

George Washington University students in the MS Program in Environmental and Green Chemistry present assessments on TSCA’s 20 low risk chemicals

 On May 8^th, undergraduate chemistry majors, doctoral chemistry students and master’s students taking Chemical Toxicology and Safer Chemical Design at The George Washington University, presented their final projects. They assessed hazards of 20 low-priority chemicals under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and recommended whether to support or challenge the low-risk claim to key stakeholders in the DC area: United States Environmental Protection Agency, American Chemistry Council, Natural Resources Defense Council and the ACS Green Chemistry Institute.

GWU’s new program in Environmental and Green Chemistry offers a unique curriculum, focusing on safer chemical and process design. It aims to train the next generation of chemists to make chemicals society needs but mitigate the potentially adverse effects on human and environmental health through better design.

The students’ projects offered a critical survey of all the publicly available information about the 20 chemicals in question, including identifying critical data gaps such as those for chronic health endpoints like cancer and developmental toxicity, safety considerations related to manufacturing, and potential metabolites. In cases with important data gaps or for experimental studies with low reliability, the students showcased their technical training with predictive toxicology tools and read-across approaches to make informed decisions. Understanding that chemicals cannot be assessed in isolation, the students’ decision also considered safety related to manufacturing processes and potential metabolites.

The presentations offered tremendous value to the community since the US EPA must have a defined minimum level of evidence to determine that a chemical is without risk of harm under the amended TSCA policy. Crucially, the assessments showed that a comprehensive assessment cannot be reliably conducted by non-experts nor by chemists or toxicologists alone; one must have solid training in both disciplines to tackle this challenge. In the subsequent Q&A session, the students gained a deeper and more realistic understanding of how chemical hazard information is used by lawmakers and regulatory agencies to make decisions that impact public health and environmental protection.

This project helped lift the veil for the students on the process of turning science into policy. By understanding this extremely complicated process, it will help them in their future work to conduct research and provide expert opinions that will be most useful for policy decisions, hopefully with the goal of advancing safer and more sustainable chemistry.