Themed collection Green Chemistry and the Environment

The many food processes used in the food and drink industry globally generate food supply chain waste on a multi-tonne scale every year. Such resides include wheat straw surpluses, spent coffee grounds and citrus peels, all of which represent a resource for an integrated, product-focused biorefinery. Orange peel is particularly interesting, producing pectin and D-limonene using low-temperature microwave treatment and the running costs for a large scale have been estimated.

Gamma-valerolactone is a promising platform molecule derived from biomass that can be upgraded to both chemicals and fuels. Gamma-valerolactone production is closely linked to levulinic acid, which can be obtained from C₆ and C₅ sugars derived from lignocellulosic biomass.

In this paper, bakery waste, including cakes and pastries from Starbucks Hong Kong, was evaluated for the potential of succinic acid (SA) production.

Silica immobilized lipases have been prepared and utilized in the valorization of fatty acid-derived food waste streams under continuous flow conditions.

Cu, Pd and Ru in nano form immobilized on magnetic ferrites enabled the development of sustainable procedures for azide–alkynes-cycloaddition (AAC) reactions, C–S coupling, O-allylation, Heck-type reactions and hydration of nitriles while glutathione bearing nano-ferrites serve as organocatalysts for the Paal–Knorr reaction and homocoupling of boronic acids.

We report a highly active and selective heterogeneous Pd catalyst for liquid phase aerobic oxidation of a large variety of alcohols even under ambient conditions in the absence of any base additives.

Cycloisomerisation reactions of γ-alkynoic acids into exocyclic enol-lactones can be conveniently performed in water using trans-[PdCl₂{μ²-N,S-(PTA)NP(S)(OEt)₂}]₂ as catalyst. One-pot tandem orthogonal cycloisomerisation/click chemistry reactions are for the first time reported under the principles of “Green Chemistry”, i.e. in water, at r.t., and under air.