Themed collection 2025 Green Chemistry Covers

Molecular magnetism and computational chemistry examples of frugal modelling as a tool to prioritize energy-efficient algorithms to minimize resource intensive operations.

We discuss whether pursuing selective electrochemical depolymerization of lignin toward aromatics is a justifiable endeavour or if re-evaluation is necessary.

This perspective explores seawater electrolysis and electrodeionization, focusing on challenges and opportunities in production of green X.

The review “Tracking the hydrogen spillover of heterogeneous catalysts in hydrogenation: from formation and fate to regulation” discusses the challenges in structure optimization and offers strategies to enhance hydrogen spillover efficiency.

Analysis of key factors that affect electrocatalytic oxidation and separation and purification processes for the conversion of biomass-derived furans into 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA).

Transforming waste—biomass, plastics, and CO₂—into renewable aromatics via pyrolysis and chemocatalysis: advancing sustainable catalysts and technologies for a circular economy and environmental mitigation.

Green amine synthesis is assessed using the CHEM21 green metrics toolkit, offering a step-by-step guide for sustainability evaluation and promoting environmentally conscious transformations.

This review focuses on advances in bioplastics built on a D-xylose core, and points the way for their current challenges and future opportunities.

SWOT analysis of MOFs through the lens of safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) framework, highlighting their potential, challenges, and future directions (Prepared using Biorender Software).

Chitin is a sustainable source of naturally-fixed nitrogen. This review explores advances in converting chitin into nitrogen-containing compounds, emphasizing progress in synthesizing benzenoid aromatics and highlighting future prospects.

Recent advancements in IL-based functional polymers, with particular focus on their applications in separation, energy storage, fire resistance, recycling, and biomedicine are highlighted.

A Pickering emulsion, stabilized by amphiphilic solid particles, is a highly functional and stable system that has attracted significant research interest.

In this review, we provide a comprehensive assessment of recent advances in ionic liquid recycling technologies.

A comprehensive review of mechanochemical recycling and upcycling of waste polymers by ball milling is critically assessed, highlighting its efficiency and potential for the depolymerization or degradation of waste plastics.

In the context of the defossilization of the chemical industry, integrating solar-powered chemical transformation into biorefinery plants unlocks novel strategies and synergies for future plant designs.

This review focuses on various activation strategies for cleaving the lignin C–C/C–O bonds while forming new C–C/C–N bonds in the presence of transition metal and metal-free catalysts.

Mining activities generate significant waste that poses serious environmental challenges, emphasizing the urgent need for effective waste management strategies.

This review first provides a comprehensive overview of NaDES theory and subsequently explores all potential applications of NaDES in the pharmaceutical industry, highlighting overlooked issues such as toxicity and process limitations.

This review reports the applications of commercially available and custom-made organic carbonates as green media from laboratory to industrial scale applications.

This article presents a novel strategy for co-pyrolyzing biomass and plastic waste to produce advanced carbon materials. It systematically evaluates the reaction mechanisms, process dynamics, environmental benefits, and sustainable materials.

Green solvents enhance the sustainability of hydroformylation and other carbonylation reactions by reducing environmental impact, improving safety, and enabling more efficient, eco-friendly catalytic processes.

The synergistic interaction between acid and metal sites in the hydrodeoxygenation of biocrude oil model compounds.

We review in situ and post-synthetic methods for controlling the orientation of metal–organic frameworks. This review highlights recent achievements in post-synthetic approaches and their implications for sustainability in green technologies.

A green and sustainable enantioselective electrosynthesis strategy using a drop of naturally derived chiral ionic liquid, harnessed within a polypyrrole tube microreactor acting as an efficient wireless pump.

The reductive depolymerization of polycarbonate using affordable, heterogeneous and non-noble Ni catalysts was achieved, efficiently breaking down PC back to its monomer, bisphenol-A, in high yields.

Under light irradiation, CDs act as electron reservoirs for Ru NPs, thereby enhancing their hydrogenation activity.

Gallic acid and tannins originate from underutilized renewable bark which can be directly converted to 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid by oxidation with perborate.

Chemical recycling of aerospace grade composites using NaOH–KOH eutectic as both the reagent and solvent enables recovery of monomers at high yields and clean fibers, which were characterized and manufactured into second generation composites.

Methyl viologen is used as a catalytic accepter for EDA-complex formations for photochemical cyclization reactions. The catalytic turnover of the methyl viologen is facilitated by the presence of molecular oxygen.

The development of environmentally benign photocatalytic methodologies for [2 + 2] cycloadditions is of significant interest, given their utility in accessing cyclobutane motifs found in natural products and pharmaceuticals.

A transition from conventional linear plastic lifecycle to clean circular economy: minimize chemical footprint, accelerate plastic circularity, and promote low-carbon process.

This study demonstrates selective adhesive aminolysis enabling delamination and deinking of multilayer packaging without compromising the integrity of the primary polymer substrates.

Herein, we report the development of machine learning models for predicting the properties of ionic liquids using Mol2vec featurization technique and this approach enables accelerated development of ILs with optimal properties.

Nafion was recognized as not only a binder component but also a transporter for CO₂ on the surface of a metal catalyst.

This work focuses on the development of a strategy for electrochemical reconstruction coupled with electronegativity to synergistically induce electron redistribution for the activation of sulfur atoms in MoO_xS_y-based materials toward efficient HER.

Carbonates enable PET deconstruction to valuable terephthalate products with high selectivity and low solvent demand.

Conceptual diagrams illustrating molecular insights into labile and stable interaction domains.

A novel DBD reactor with continuous flowing water as the ground electrode is designed, which achieved a significant improvement in nitrogen fixation rate by optimizing the discharge parameters and integrating with photocatalyst.

A series of Co₃O₄ catalysts with unique oxygen vacancy-hydroxyl FLPs were developed. The FLPs breaks the trade-off between CO₂ adsorption and dissociation via forming a metastable d-HCO₃ species, enabling the efficient synthesis of cyclic carbonates.

We present a novel catalytic EDA pathway employing NIS as catalytic electron acceptor for the C(sp²)–H sulfoxidation, it circumvents the irreversible consumption of the leaving group by enabling regeneration of the electron acceptor catalyst.

Sustainability considerations are gaining prominence within the pharmaceutical industry, driven primarily by increased awareness of environmental impacts associated with pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

Self-cleaning catalysts convert polyol impurities in multilayered films to polyolefin compatible streams.

We developed a prototype continuous MSCA system using a modified-immersion ZnCl₂ molten salt process at 350 °C to convert common plastic waste (PP, PLA, and PET) into high-surface-area mesoporous carbon for energy storage applications.

A two-step microalgae pyrolysis with in situ CaO and ex situ Ni-ZSM-5/bentonite was developed to achieve efficient C and N emission control and enhanced aromatics production.

This work introduces a synergistic strategy that simultaneously converts PC and its hydrolysis by-product CO₂ into high-value products (BPA and PDO), achieving full carbon utilization with no CO₂ emissions.

A sustainable and scalable strategy for the glycolytic depolymerization of polyurethane foam (PUF) waste, based on the ionic liquid technology under mild conditions, provides a suitable starting material for re-synthesis of new flexible PUF.

We developed an innovative and green deep eutectic solvent (DES)–NaOH hybrid system for the highly efficient separation of polyester/cotton blends, providing a sustainable solution for textile recycling.

A continuous flow microreactor system with a helix wire-based biphasic separator achieves high-purity FAME with reduced waste and energy consumption, as confirmed by LCA, marking a significant advancement in sustainable biofuel processing.

Waste polyamide 66 has been successfully upcycled into a sustainable anhydride-linked material via a carboxyl–amide exchange process, and high-purity adipic acid is also effectively recovered, without the need for catalysts or solvents.

This study identifies low-cobalt blue pigments as sustainable alternatives to traditional CoAl₂O₄, combining a good colouring performance with significantly reduced environmental impacts through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

This article presents a comprehensive life cycle analysis of a photoelectrochemical water splitting system coupled with hydrogenation of feedstock into valorization chemicals.

The Mukaiyama-carbonic acid (MCA) adduct enables CO₂ transfer to sodium pyruvate under mild conditions, offering a promising in vitro route for biotin carboxylation.

Reclaimed ground tire rubber enables the additive manufacturing of sensors for carbendazim sensing in water.

Machine learning-guided engineering of chalcone synthase effectively overcomes substrate promiscuity, enabling highly selective biosynthesis of phloretin in yeast, and provides a framework for the microbial production of high-value natural products.

Photocatalytic depolymerization of sodium lignosulfonate in seawater using anthraquinone-2-sulfonate as a catalyst. The presence of salts in seawater stabilizes the catalyst, maintaining its catalytic activity over extended periods.

New urethane hydrolytic enzymes have been discovered from a drain metagenome and a novel colorimetric assay established for high-throughput applications.

A novel in-vial microextraction technique based on thermal resistant adhesive tapes is presented and its direct coupling to SICRIT-MS is evaluated.

Highly efficient and sustainable continuous production of FDCA was achieved using a cost-effective manganese-based catalyst, air as the oxidant, and heterogeneous tube-in-tube flow technology.

Harmless chemical recycling of polyurethane foams: depolymerization with diethyl carbonate allows deep recovery of both constituting monomers, i.e. polyols and diisocyanates, without requiring phosgene as toxic and wasteful reagent.

An efficient one-pot, in situ reductive method using a highly reusable PdNi/Nb₂O₅ nanocatalyst and hydrogen donors was developed for biomass-derived secondary amines under ambient conditions, providing potential solutions for sustainable biorefinery.

Hydrogen-free upcycling of polyolefins over zeolite catalysts yields up to 88.7% naphtha. A linear structure–function relationship reveals that Brønsted acid sites promote β-scission, while strong Lewis acid sites enhance hydride abstraction.

Engineered Pseudomonas putida monoculture efficiently converts caffeine to 7-methylexanthine (7-MX), a clinically proven safe drug for treating myopia.

An air-driven carrier for electrochemical system applications is developed as a novel approach to improve environmental sustainability in microfluidics devices.

Ethanol (EtOH)-based biodiesel, known as fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE), offers better fuel properties than methanol-based biodiesel.

Efficient and sustainable lignin extraction is essential for advancing green biorefinery processes.

Non-thermal plasma-liquid reaction converts carbon monoxide (CO) into organic acids at ambient conditions, bolstering the potential for a two-step CO₂ to organic acids conversion via CO to improve chemical yields.

This study explores the environmental and technoeconomical valorization of orange by-products for the production of neuroprotective fractions using three extraction methods: maceration, gas expanded liquid and pressurized liquid.

Dried urine spot (DUS) is demonstrated to be a useful microsampling technique for neopterin and creatinine analysis.

A viable roadmap for achieving high-performance, cost-competitive, and environmentally sustainable perovskite photovoltaics from a laboratory scale to a global scale, combined with the module lifetime of GVL/EA-based perovskite solar technology.

This work evaluates the techno-economic performance of biobased and conventional routes for producing acrylic acid, a key industrial chemical.