RSC Sustainability Blog

We are delighted to welcome Professor Francesca Kerton, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, 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

Francesca Kerton is a professor of Chemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland and has a global reputation for her innovative research on sustainable chemistry related to the oceans. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry and is a member of many scientific panels and committees worldwide. She currently chairs IUPAC’s standing committee on Chemical Research Applied to World Needs, and is chair of the 27^th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference.  She is an Advisory Board member for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering.

She obtained her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Sussex and was a postdoctoral research associate at the University of British Columbia. In addition to authoring over 70 journal articles, she has contributed several books and book chapters on aspects of green chemistry including “Alternative Solvents for Green Chemistry”. Her current research group is focused on developing environmentally friendly ways to process bio-sourced molecules and materials, catalysis, and sustainable polymers. She also performs research in the area of carbon dioxide utilization and is part of an NSERC-funded training network “Centre for Innovation and Research on Carbon Dioxide Utilization in Industrial Technologies”. She received the Canadian Green Chemistry and Engineering Award in 2019.

Read some of her recent contributions below:

Borane catalyzed polymerization and depolymerization reactions controlled by Lewis acidic strength

Kori A. Andrea, Mikhailey D. Wheeler and Francesca M. Kerton

Chemical Communications, 2021, 57, 7320-7322

Enzymatic processing of mussel shells to produce biorenewable calcium carbonate in seawater

Jennifer N. Murphy, Kelly Hawboldt and Francesca M. Kerton

Green Chemistry, 2018, 20, 2913-2920

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. Kerton to RSC Sustainability.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Martin Prechtl, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 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

Martin Prechtl works at the Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE) at the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon (IST-UL, Portugal). There he completed the examination for the Portuguese Habilitation in 2021 and received the “Agregação” for Chemistry (Título do Agregado). Previously he has been already an Associated Researcher at the CQE-IST-UL since 2017. Moreover, he acted as a Professor of Chemistry at Roskilde University (2018-2020, Denmark). And he has been working as Independent Group Leader at the University of Cologne (Germany) from 2010 to 2020, where he obtained the German Habilitation in 2015 and he holds the Venia Legendi in Inorganic Chemistry (“Privatdozent”).

He works on the development of molecular and nanoscale catalyst materials for the application the in organic synthesis and hydrogen/energy storage, with a focus on selective hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions. This includes reactions in water, ionic liquids and multi-phase solvent systems. He gave numerous oral presentations (~140) at major (inter)national conferences and at prestigious research institutes, and published >70 articles and book chapters. He received several awards and titles, among those the NRW Scientist Returnee Award 2009, the Ernst-Haage-Prize 2014 (Max-Planck Society), FRSC (2016) and Humboldtian (2007). He acted previously as Associate Editor for RSC Advances from 2016 to 2020.

Read some of his recent contributions below:

Biometallic RuPd nanoparticles in ionic liquids: selective catalysts for the hydrogenation of aromatic compounds

Gabriel Abarca, Wellington D.G. Gonçalves, Brunno L. Albuquerque, Jairton Dupont, Martin H.G. Prechtl and Jackson D. Scholten

New Journal of Chemistry, 2021, 45, 98-103

Nitrile hydrogenation using nickel nanocatalysts in ionic liquids

Hannelore Konnerth and Martin H.G. Prechtl

New Journal of Chemistry, 2017, 41, 9594-9597

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 Prechtl to RSC Sustainability.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Tom Welton, Imperial College London, UK, as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of RSC Sustainability, a new open access journal publishing solution-focused research to solve sustainability challenges.

“With UNEP’s decision to create a Science-Policy Interface for Chemicals and Waste in March 2022, the time is ripe for the creation of RSC Sustainability. I believe this new journal has the potential to become the first choice for the publication of solutions-focussed research that informs this SPI, and, beyond this, welcome all chemical science contributions to enable any of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Learn more about our new Editor-in-Chief

Tom Welton is Professor of Sustainable Chemistry at Imperial College London. He has published over 150 papers and has received several awards, including various lectureships, was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2007) and Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE, 2017). From 2020 to 2022 he served as president of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a vocal champion of inclusion and diversity in the chemical sciences.

His research focusses on Sustainable and Green Chemistry, aiming to make related industries more environmentally and economically sustainable. Throughout his career his work has focussed on the use of ionic liquids with uses in organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. He is interested in the fundamental properties of ionic liquids and how they can be used as alternative solvents or electrolytes. Tom also works on the clean synthesis and processing of biomass-derived polymers to replace petrochemical-based plastics and understanding how ionic liquids can play a role in making these processes more sustainable.

Read some of his recent contributions below:

A review on machine learning algorithms for the ionic liquid chemical space

Spyridon Koutsoukos, Frederik Philippi, Francisco Malaret and Tom Welton

Chemical Science, 2021, 12, 6820-6843

Investigation of the influence of natural deep eutectic solvents (NaDES) in the properties of chitosan-stabilised films

Antonella Rozaria Nefeli Pontillo, Spyridon Koutsoukos, Tom Welton and Anastasia Detsi

Materials Advances, 2021, 2, 3954-3964

Themed issue on Non-traditional solvent effects in organic reactions

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics and Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2021

Guest Editors: Jason Harper, Barbara Kirchner, Paulina Pavez and Tom Welton

RSC Sustainability will open for submissions in August 2022 so make sure to sign up to receive the latest updates.

Please join us in welcoming Professor Welton to RSC Sustainability.

Committed to sustainability, created for you.

The Royal Society of Chemistry is committed to supporting the chemical science community in solving global sustainability challenges. As a signatory of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Publishers Compact, we are dedicated to helping achieve the UN’s SDG goals by 2023 as well as helping you and your discoveries make the world a better place. Therefore, as part of our ongoing commitment to addressing global challenges, we are announcing three new Gold Open Access journals, each with a sustainability focus.

EES Catalysis publishes high quality research on energy and environmental catalysis, and delivers the same impact and influence that researchers associate with our Energy & Environmental Science brand. As a multidisciplinary platform, it will cover catalysis across chemistry, materials science, engineering and beyond. Find out more and sign up to e-Alerts here.

RSC Sustainability welcomes research from all subject areas that are dedicated to solving sustainability challenges for a better, greener future. It also complements the Royal Society of Chemistry’s premier sustainability journal, Green Chemistry. Find out more and sign up to e-Alerts here.

Sustainable Food Technology, a companion journal to Food & Function, publishes high quality sustainable research on food engineering and technologies. Key topics include food preservation methods, shelf life and the creation of greener packaging. Find out more and sign up to e-Alerts here.

Dr Emma Wilson, Royal Society of Chemistry Director of Publishing, said: “While the scale and seriousness of these many sustainability challenges is undoubtedly urgent, we know that scientists from around the globe are already working on innovative, ground-breaking solutions, working together and sharing ideas. I’m enthusiastic about our Royal Society of Chemistry journals taking this important step to enable them to further their work.”

Professor Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “As a global society we are facing urgent and pressing challenges, from rising sea levels to impacts on food production. There is increasing pressure on scarce resources such as the precious elements required for medicine, technology, and sustainable energy, and we’re facing unprecedented levels of pollution in the natural environment and in our air. That’s why I’m proud that the Royal Society of Chemistry is leading the way by expanding their sustainability journals portfolio with these three new journals – providing a home for even more cutting-edge research to help tackle the urgent issues facing us all.”

All three new journals will be Gold Open Access from launch, offering readers no barriers to reading the published work, ensuring research can reach a global readership. Additionally, all article processing charges (APCs) are waived until-2025. All journals will open for submissions in summer 2022.