RSC Sustainability Blog

We are delighted to welcome Professor David Cole-Hamilton, University of St Andrews, UK as an Editorial Board Member for RSC Sustainability, a new open access journal publishing solution-focused research to solve sustainability challenges.

Learn more about our new Editorial Board Member

Following degrees (BSc and PhD) at Edinburgh University, David Cole-Hamilton worked with Nobel Laureate, Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson at Imperial College, where he developed a strong interest in organometallic chemistry and especially homogeneous catalysis. His independent career started at Liverpool University (Lecturer and Senior Lecturer) before moving to be Professor of Chemistry at the University of St. Andrews in 1985. He became Emeritus in 2014.

The majority of his work has been on the applications of organometallic chemistry to solving problems in homogeneous catalysis and materials chemistry including nanomaterials. His most recent work has been concerned with making commodity and fine chemicals including plastics and pharmaceuticals from bio-derived waste oils that are by-products of other processes such as food production or paper manufacturing. In this way desirable effect chemicals can be made from biomass without using land that would otherwise be used for food production.

David has published more than 400 articles and patents with an h-index of 50.  Particularly relevant to the scope of RSC Sustainability is The Role of Chemists and Chemical Engineers in a Sustainable World, in which he shows how chemistry can be used to tackle all of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He has won a number of prizes from the Royal Society of Chemistry as well as 5 prizes for teaching. In 2017 he was awarded the Alwin Mittasch Prize of the German Catalysis Society.

David is a past President of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS) having been President from 2013-7. This gave him extensive contact with chemical societies and policy makers throughout Europe. On behalf of EuChemS he led a team celebrating the International Year of the Periodic Table, which developed a new version of the Periodic Table highlighting element availability and vulnerability as well as which elements can come from conflict resources and which appear in smart phones.

Read some of his recent contributions below:

Synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs from cardanol derived from cashew nut shell liquid

Yiping Shi, Paul C.J. Kramer and David J. Cole-Hamilton

Green Chemistry, 2019, 21, 1043-1053

Insight into the mechanism of decarbonylation of methanol by ruthenium complexes; a deuterium labelling study

Patrizia Lorusso, Graham R. Eastham and David J. Cole-Hamilton

Dalton Transactions, 2018, 47, 9411-9417

Read out first articles here. Find out more about RSC Sustainability on the journal webpage and submit your manuscript now.

Please join us in welcoming Professor David Cole-Hamilton to RSC Sustainability.

We are delighted to announce our new annual essay competition

The International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD), in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), is launching an annual essay competition on the role of the chemical sciences in sustainability. The competition is open globally to entrants under 35 years of age, and the theme for the 2023 competition is:

How can the chemical sciences lead the stewardship of the Earth’s element resources?

Essays will be grouped into seven regions for shortlisting and selection of winners, with each regional winner receiving a prize of $500 (USD). The winning entries will also be published in RSC Sustainability. Shortlisted essays will be collected in an annual compendium, Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability, that will be published online and will be available on IOCD’s website.

Find out more about submitting your essay, the collection theme, and the prizes on offer by reading RSC Sustainability’s editorial about the competition:

‘Global essay competition: Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability’

RSC Sustain., 2023,1, 10-10, DOI: D2SU90002E

Read the first-ever issue of our gold open access journal

Our first issue is packed with full papers, communications, tutorial reviews and perspectives within the realm of sustainability and a better future. Plus, you can discover an editorial from our editor-in-chief, Tom Welton. Explore the full issue here.

Some of the articles included…

Introducing RSC Sustainability

Tom Welton

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 8-9, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU90001G

Global essay competition: Young Voices in the Chemical Sciences for Sustainability

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 10, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU90002E

From rocks to bioactive compounds: a journal through the global P(V) organophosphorus industry and its sustainability

Sosthène P M Ung, Chao-Jun Li

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 11-37, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00015F

Sustainability applications of rare earth elements from metallurgy, magnetism, catalysis, luminescence to future electrochemical pseudocapacitance energy storage

Shan-Shan Chai, Wei-Bin Zhang, Jin-Lei Yang, Lun Zhang, Myat Myintzu Theint, Xian-Li Zhang, Shao-Bo Guo, Xia Zhou, Xue-Jing Ma

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 38-71, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00054G

Surfactant-free synthesis of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles: a perspective

Siavash Iravani

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 72-82, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00088A

Recycling post-consumer PLA into acrylic acid or lactide using phosphonium ionic liquids

Kwinten Janssens, Wouter Stuyck, Kirsten Stiers, Jens Wéry, Mario Smit, Dirk E de Vos

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 83-89, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00078D

Phosphate-induced enhancement of fumarate production from a CO₂ and pyruvate with the system of malate dehydrogenase and fumarase

Mika Takeuchi, Yutaka Amao

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 90-96, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00031H

Birch fractionation in γ-valerolactone with the emphasis on pulp properties: prehydrolysis, acid-catalyzed, and alkaline-catalyzed concept

Marianna Granatier, Huy Quang Lê, Eva Carmona González, Herbert Sixta

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 97-106, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00046F

Tailoring lixiviant properties to optimise selectivity in E-waste recycling

Jennifer M Hartley, Sean Scott, Rodolfo Marin Rivera, Phil Hunt, Anthony J Lucio, Philip Bird, Robert Harris, Gawen R T Jenkin, Andrew P Abbott

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 107-116, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00038E

Biologically bound nickel accelerated depolymerization of polyethylene to high value hydrocarbons and hydrogen

Parul Johar, Elizabeth L Rylott, C Robert McElroy, Avtar S Matharu, James H Clark

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 117-127, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00001F

Novel polymeric cobalt tetrabenzimidazole phthalocyanine for nanomolar detection of hydrogen peroxide

Keshavananda Prabhu C P, Kenkera Rayappa Naveen, Shambhulinga Aralekallu, Shivalingayya, Lokesh Koodlur Sannegowda

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 128-138, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00035K

Tailoring the antibacterial and antioxidant properties activities of iron nanoparticles with amino benzoic acid

Shah Faisal, Saima Sadiq, Muhammad Mustafa, Muhammad Hayat Khan, Muhammad Sadiq, Zaffer Iqbal, Maham Khan

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 139-146, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00044J

Triazaphosphaadamantane-functionalized terpyridine metal complexes: cyclohexane oxidation in homogeneous and carbon-supported catalysis

Ivy L Librando, Anup Paul, Abdallah G Mahmoud, Atash V Gurbanov, Sónia A C Carabineiro, M Fátima C Guedes da Silva, Carlos F G C Geraldes, Armando J L Pombeiro

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 147-158, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00017B

Color stability of blue aluminates obtained from recycling and applied as pigments

Dienifer F L Horsth, Julia de O Primo, Nayara Balaba, Fauze J Anaissi, Carla Bittencourt

RSC Sustain. 2023, 1, 159-166, DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00057A

RSC Sustainability is one of the latest additions to our gold open access journal portfolio. Every article in this issue, and future ones, is free to read and access by anyone. Publish your next paper in RSC Sustainability to be included in one of our issues. We are covering all article processing charges until mid-2025, so until then, you can publish with us for free.

All of our publications contribute to important conversations on sustainability, our planet and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We hope you feel inspired reading these.

Submit your manuscript to RSC Sustainability here!

One of the unique features of RSC Sustainability is that all manuscripts should include a Sustainability Spotlight statement (120 words maximum) that should categorically state the sustainable advance of the work and how it aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This statement should be different from the abstract and set the work in a broader context regarding sustainability. It should aim to answer the following questions.

• What is the situation and why is it important to address/understand this?
• What is the sustainable advancement of the work?
• Which UN SDG(s) does the work align with?

This statement will be seen by the reviewers and will help ascertain the relevance of the article for a broad but technical audience and authors should use it to show that they have given serious consideration to problems that are sustainable in nature. If the paper is accepted this statement will also be published. Manuscripts cannot be reviewed without this statement

Examples can be found in our recent publications. An excellent example of our Sustainable Spotlight statements can be found in James Clark’s work on depolymerising polyethylene. Read the article and its Sustainable Spotlight statement here (and below).

To celebrate the launch of our three new journals, RSC Sustainability, EES Catalysis, and Sustainable Food Technology,  earlier this year, we organised three satellite events that ran in parallel to this year’s COP27 meeting in Egypt.

Our new journals all address topics that align with several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Each journal hosted a webinar where the panels discussed some of the current challenges and opportunities in their respective fields through a mix of live speakers and pre-recorded contributions.

RSC Sustainability

Join RSC Sustainability board members Tom Welton and Fran Kerton, along with RSC’s Programme Manager for Net Zero John Broderick as they discuss the challenges and opportunities for sustainable chemistry.

Find out more about RSC Sustainability and read our first published articles.

EES Catalysis

Join the RSC’s Programme Manager for Net Zero John Broderick and Jonathan Oxley (CBI Humber Cluster project) as they share their thoughts about challenges and opportunities for hydrogen as a sustainable fuel source.

Find out more about EES Catalysis and read our first published articles.

Sustainable Food Technology

Join Sustainable Food Technology board members Jorge Barros Velázquez, Rekha Singhal, Umezuruike Linus Opara, and Indrawati Oey as they discuss the challenges and opportunities to make food production more sustainable for the future.

Find out more about Sustainable Food Technology and read our first published articles.

We hope you enjoy these webinars and reading the first articles in our new journals!

RSC Sustainability champions chemical science discoveries. We want the research we publish to enable the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and we are delighted to share our very first papers with you. Read our first articles here for free!

From rocks to bioactive compounds: a journey through the global P(V) organophosphorus industry and its sustainability

Sosthène Ung and Chao-Jun Li

RSC Sustainability, 2022, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00015F

Biologically bound nickel accelerated de-polymerization of polyethylene to high value hydrocarbons and hydrogen

Parul Johar, Elizabeth L. Rylott, C. Robert McElroy, Avtar S. Matharu and James H. Clark

RSC Sustainability, 2022, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00001F

Tailoring lixiviant properties to optimise selectivity in E-waste recycling

Jennifer M. Hartley, Sean Scott, Rodolfo Marin Rivera, Philip Hunt, Anthony J. Lucio, Philip Bird, Robert Harris, Gawen R.T. Jenkin and Andrew P. Abbott

RSC Sustainability, 2022, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00038E

Birch fractionation in γ-valerolactone with the emphasis on pulp properties: prehydrolysis, acid-catalyzed, and alkaline-catalyzed concept

Marianna Granatier, Huy Quang Lê, Eva Carmona González and Herbert Sixta

RSC Sustainability, 2022, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00046F

Phosphate-induced enhancement of fumarate production from a CO2 and pyruvate with the system of malate dehydrogenase and fumarase

Mika Takeuchi and Yutaka Amao

RSC Sustainability, 2022, Advance Article. DOI: 10.1039/D2SU00031H

Professor Tom Welton: “As the Editor-in-Chief of RSC Sustainability, I am pleased to see these first articles that contribute toward circular economy through the use of renewables and efficient use of nature’s resources, and look forward to our sharing our future papers with you too.”

RSC Sustainability is a gold open access journal. We welcome solutions-focused research that is dedicated to solving sustainability challenges. Interested in publishing your research? Submit your manuscript.

Best wishes,

Tom Welton

Editor-in-Chief, RSC Sustainability

Imperial College London, UK

P.S. Keep up with the latest news from RSC Sustainability and sign up for email alerts.

Our sustainable laboratories programme helps scientists adopt environmentally sustainable lab practices. Read highlights and discover more.

Meet the RSC Sustainability team

Join our board members Tom Welton, Haichao Liu and Fran Kerton for our COP27 satellite event on 11 November 2022. Find out more here.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo, Deakin University, Australia, as an Associate Editor for RSC Sustainability, a new open access journal publishing solution-focused research to solve sustainability challenges.

Learn more about our new Associate Editor

Dr. Pozo-Gonzalo works as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Deakin University in Melbourne (Australia). She attained her Bachelor of Science and honours at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). After graduating, she received her PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) on the electrochemical synthesis of Conducting Polymers. In 2004, she joined the Centre for Electrochemical Technologies in San Sebastian (Spain) as the Head of Electrooptical unit where she stayed for 7 years, managing a total of 23 projects. After moving to Australia, she has been working with Prof. Alan Bond at Monash University and in 2012 she joined Deakin University where she has been working in reversible metal-air battery with advanced electrolytes, ionic liquids funded by ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).

Currently, she leads research activities in sustainable energy storage technologies covering the circular economy (CE) model from materials redesign up to critical metals recovery using solvometallurgy and electrochemistry with important benefits for the environment. She has led IFM’s development of an energy research node on circular economy (CE) for energy storage and generation and designed the Institute’s CE road map. She is a board member for the journal Sustainable Chemistry, Review editor of Frontiers in Chemistry in the electrochemistry division and Associate Editor for RSC Sustainability. During her research career, she has published 97 publications, including 4 patents and 3 book chapters and managed 33 projects as chief investigator.

Read some of her recent contributions below:

Tunable multi-doped carbon nanofiber air cathodes based on a poly(ionic liquid) for sodium oxygen batteries with diglyme/ionic liquid-based hybrid electrolytes

Han Li, The An Ha, Nagore Ortiz-Vitoriano, Xungai Wang, Jian Fang, Patrick C. Howlett and Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo

Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2022, 10, 11742-11754

Fluorine-free ionic liquid electrolytes for sustainable neodymium recovery using an electrochemical approach

Kalani Periyapperuma, Jennifer M. Pringle, Laura Sanchez-Cupido, Maria Forsyth and Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo

Green Chemistry, 2021, 23, 3410-3419

RSC Sustainability is now open for submissions. Find out more on the journal webpage, sign up to e-Alerts or submit your manuscript now.

Please join us in welcoming Dr Pozo-Gonzalo to RSC Sustainability.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Haichao Liu, Peking University, China, as an Associate Editor for RSC Sustainability, a new open access journal publishing solution-focused research to solve sustainability challenges.

Learn more about our new Associate Editor

Haichao Liu is the Changjiang Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Peking University, China. He received his B.S. degree in 1990 and M.S. degree from Sichuan University in 1993, and his Ph.D degree from Beijing Research Institute of Petroleum Processing in 1996. From 1997 to 2003, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tokyo and the University of California at Berkeley. He then joined the faculty of Peking University. His research group works in the area of molecular catalysis and sustainable energy chemistry, focusing on the fundamental studies of the catalyst structures and reaction mechanisms, towards the design of heterogeneous catalysts and control of reaction pathways for selective conversion of biomass and its derivatives to bulk and fine chemicals, as well as other reactions important in renewable energy conversion and utilization.

Read some of his recent contributions below:

Efficient conversion of bio-renewable citric acid to high-value carboxylic acids on stable solid catalysts

Zhaowei Li, Xin Wen and Haichao Liu

Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 1650-1658

Sustainable synthesis of vinyl methyl ether from biomass-derived ethylene glycol dimethyl ether over solid base catalysts

Xin He, Xin Wen, Ke Wu and Haichao Liu

Green Chemistry, 2021, 23, 6625-6631

RSC Sustainability is now open for submissions. Find out more on the journal webpage, sign up to e-Alerts or submit your manuscript now.

Please join us in welcoming Prof. Liu to RSC Sustainability.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Vincent Nyamori, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as an Associate Editor for RSC Sustainability, a new open access journal publishing solution-focused research to solve sustainability challenges.

Learn more about our new Associate Editor

Vincent Nyamori is a Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. He is the Coordinator of the UKZN Nanotechnology Platform, an Executive and Council member of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI), and a former SACI President. He is a Fellow of SACI and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is South Africa’s representative to the Federation of the Commonwealth Chemical Sciences Societies.

Prof. Nyamori received his PhD from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research interests include Green and Sustainable Chemistry, particularly ionic liquids and renewable materials. He has extended his interest to Nanotechnology and Materials Science to develop advanced nanomaterials for water remediation, catalysis and solar energy devices.

Prof. Nyamori has presented his work at numerous conferences and published at least 150 journal articles, three book chapters, and one patent. In 2020, he was the SACI Merck Medal awardee for a paper published in the South African Journal of Chemistry, adjudged then to have made the most significant contribution to the discipline. He has received the UKZN Top 30 Published Researchers’ Award and the Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award, recognising his exceptional research activities.

Read some of his recent contributions below:

Synthesis and characterisation of heteroatom-doped reduced graphene oxide/bismuth oxide nanocomposites and their application as photoanodes in DSSCs

Nonjabulo P.D. Ngidi, Edigar Muchuweni and Vincent O. Nyamori

RSC Advances, 2022, 12, 2462-2472

Tuning the properties of boron-doped reduced graphene oxide by altering the boron content

Nonjabulo P.D. Ngidi, Moses A. Ollengo and Vincent O. Nyamori

New Journal of Chemistry, 2020, 44, 16864-16876

RSC Sustainability is now open for submissions. Find out more on the journal webpage, sign up to e-Alerts or submit your manuscript now.

Please join us in welcoming Prof. Nyamori to RSC Sustainability.

We are coordinating the nomination of five Early Career Chemists (ECCs) from the UK to attend the 2nd Commonwealth Chemistry Congress on behalf of Commonwealth Chemistry. Successful candidates will receive funding to attend the Congress in Trinidad and Tobago next May and present a poster on their research, related to one of the three scientific themes.

A fundamental principle of the Congress is the equal representation for all Commonwealth countries – therefore each Commonwealth country may select up to five Early Career Chemists to attend and present a poster on their research, related to one of the three scientific themes.

A key aspect that differentiates the Commonwealth Chemistry Congress from other scientific meetings is the underlying principle of equal representation for all Commonwealth countries and a unique focus on creating an enabling environment for early career chemists. As such, each Commonwealth country may select up to three Early Career Chemists to attend the Congress and present a poster on their research, related to one of the three scientific themes.

Complete and submit your application by 23 October