Chemistry, sustainable development

Granhohn, J.M. (2006) Promotion of Green Chemistry for Sustainable Economic Development and Protection of Public Health. Executive Directive 2006-6. State of Michigan. 

Within the broad framework of sustainable development, we should strive to maximize resource efficiency through activities such as energy and nonrenewable resource conservation, risk minimization, pollution prevention, minimization of waste at all stages of a product life-cycle, and the development of products that are durable and can be re-used and recycled. Sustainable chemistry strives to accomplish these ends through the design, manufacture and use of efficient and effective, more environmentally benign chemical products and processes". 

Sustainability, environmental impact assessment and, 10 245 Sustainable chemistry, 24 162 Sustainable development, 24 197 chemistry and, 24 162-205 economic-ecological efficiency and, 24 188-189... 

During the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the U S. National Academies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the American Chemistry Council announced a new initiative to facilitate better communication among scientists, policymakers, and other decisionmakers so that scientific knowledge more effectively informs public policy and private sector decisions relating to sustainability in developing countries. More specifically, the goals of the initiative are ... 

Simultaneous to the understanding of some basics of hydrothermal carbonization using pure carbohydrate models, the synthesis of hydrothermal carbon materials using raw biomass was continued. It has been analyzed whether complex biomass - hy-drothermally carbonized - can also be directed to complex structural motifs with distinct surface polarities. Ideally, for this purpose one can use the structures and functionalization components already included in the biomass. We specifically selected waste biomass for material synthesis, starting products which are known to be hard to use otherwise, rich in ternary components, and applied different HTC conditions [29]. That way, one can avoid the food-raw materials competition, a prerequisite we regard as crucial for the development of a fully sustainable chemistry. 

Quill was founded in April 1999 as an industrial consortium, with members from all sectors of the chemical industry. It is based on the well-proven industry/uni-versity cooperative research center (lUCRC) concept developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation and is only the second lUCRC in Europe. There were 17 founding industrial members of the Quill consortium, and the current membership includes (listed alphabetically) bp. Chevron, Cytec, DuPont, Eastman Chemicals, ICI, Invista, Merck, Novartis, Procter and Gamble, SACHEM, SASOL, Shell, Strata, and UOP. Research carried out between QUB and individual companies, or by QUILL itself, has generated more than 20 patent applications, many of which have now been published, from as diverse a range of industries as BNFL, BP Chemicals, Cytec, ICI, Quest International, and Uni-chema Chemie BV. In a recent report in Nature, the need for collaboration between government, industry, and academic institutions to form sustainable chemistry centers was stressed as vital in order to rethink traditional chemistry processes to be not only beneficial to the environment but also to make economic sense for industry. Quill, under the codirection of Professors Kenneth R. Seddon and Jim Swindall OBE, is one of these chemistry centers, and is the first (and... 

Oxidation as a process to transform biomass into value-added chemicals is a key one. Here, we focus on oxidations using molecular oxygen as the oxidant, with the aim of illustrating selected interesting reactions that could be important in the efforts to develop sustainable chemistry since they only require abundant bio-resources as reactants and have water as the only, or at least the main, byproduct. 

The fixation of C02 by amines or, more generally, by N-nucleophiles opens an entry into a large variety of N-carbonyl organic compounds through the synthesis of a new N-C bond. The relevant processes may play key roles in the development of a new sustainable chemistry, as in these reactions C02 acts as a green carbonyl source in place of phosgene. 

This volume should be helpful to researchers, teachers and students interested in innovative and sustainable chemistry. We are grateful to the experts who have contributed by writing a chapter and we dedicate this volume to all chemists and students who have been the actors in the first steps of this fast developing field. 

Fukuoka, S., Tojo, M., Hachiya, H., Aminaka, M., and Hasegawa, K. 2007. Green and sustainable chemistry in practice Development and industrialization of a novel process for polycarbonate production from CO2 without using phosgene. Polymer Journal, 39 91-114. 

For the development of a sustainable chemistry based on clean technologies, the best solvent would be no solvent at all. For this reason, considerable efforts have recently been made to design reactions that proceed under solvent-free conditions, using modern techniques such as reactions on solid mineral supports (alumina, silica, clays), solid-state reactions without any solvent, support, or catalyst between neat reactants, solid-liquid phase-transfer catalysed and microwave-activated reactions, as well as gas-phase reactions [37-42]. However, not all organic reactions can be carried out in the absence of a solvent some organic reactions even proceed explosively in the solid state Therefore, solvents will still be useful in mediating and moderating chemical reactions and this book on solvent effects will certainly not become superfluous in the foreseeable future. 

Today, there is barely an aspect of our lives that is not touched fundamentally by Chemistry. We know that Chemistry is in us, because our body is composed of atoms and molecules, and functions through the extremely intricate patterns of their interactions. However, Chemistry is also around us, in natural phenomena such as photosynthesis, and in the artificial products and materials that sustain the development of our civilization medicines, fertilizers, plastics, semiconductors, etc. Moreover, the most important global problems—those relating to food, human health, energy and the environment—cannot be solved without the aid of Chemistry. 

To sustain the development of new green chemistry curriculum and tools, a network of faculty has been formed to promote a collaborative approach to preparation of new materials. The Green Chemistry Education Network (GCEdNet) (35) began in 2004 with five ambassador faculty members located... 

In order to help insure that we develop a sustainable world, it is imperative that we bring the tenets of sustainability to the people of the planet. As chemists, we can have a considerable influence on the progress that we make toward this goal by both what we practice and what we preach . We must view all chemistry with the goal to make it greener. In order to implant this view in a student s psyche, it is necessary to infuse green chemistry across the curriculum. Educators need to look at all the materials (particularly textbooks) they use, and consider how they can infuse sustainable chemistry into the discussion. 

OECD work on facilitating the development of environmentally benign chemicals includes several elements. To start with, effective techniques and approaches in the field of sustainable chemistry were identified. This includes such aspects as... 

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