Themed collection Green Chemistry Reviews

Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) presents a great opportunity. CO₂ can be electrocatalytically converted to formate. The subsequent formate to oxalate coupling reaction (FOCR), which has been studied for two centuries, is critically discussed.

Chemical industry needs and gaps regarding its transformation to fossil-free production to meet the targets for net-zero emissions by the year 2050 are presented.

Bio-based 1,4-butanediol and tetrahydrofuran synthesis.

Herein, we consider the possibility and future prospects of using waste plastic feedstock as an overlooked resource to develop polymeric adsorbents, metal–organic frameworks and porous carbon materials for CO₂ capture and utilization.

A two-year collective effort towards the reduction by 50% of the usage of 7 hazardous solvents (Green Chemistry Principle #5) within a large-scale industrial R&D organization.

Solid-phase extraction offers numerous advantages for critical materials recovery, and research in the field would benefit from increased focus on environmental impact, techno-economic assessments, and process scalability with real-world resources.

The innovational strategies to design P-containing catalysts with enhanced photo-/electro-catalytic water splitting activity are reviewed with respect to phase modifying, foreign elements introducing, morphology tailoring and interface engineering.

Plant alkaloids are natural secondary metabolites that have attracted great interest in the development of drugs for therapeutic applications due to their diverse bioactivities.

We herein present a detailed overview of recycling techniques for common bioplastics including a detailed evaluation by life cycle assessment.

The review provides information on the latest methods for the synthesis of MOFs in line with green chemistry principles on an industrial scale.

This review highlights the recent progress of photocatalysts and electrocatalysts for the synthesis of NH₃ from N₂. It is expected to provide a reference for the development of new processes that can produce high value-added chemicals.

This paper reviewed the entire life cycle of plastics and options for the management of plastic waste to address barriers to industrial chemical recycling and further provide perceptions on possible opportunities with such materials.

Different short-process synthetic strategies, the influential factors for polymerization efficiency and the key catalytic systems of isohexide-based polyesters are discussed.

Thermokinetics of Biochar production.

The electrocatalytic upgrade of biomass-derived platform molecules (alcohols, furans and carboxylic acids) into high-value-added chemicals and fuels is expected to compensate for traditional organic synthesis based on nonrenewable fossil resources.

Chitin forms an intricate and exceptionally stable 3D network in crustacean cuticles. Dissolution of purified chitin without derivatization or damage to its native structure is challenging and recent advances are presented in this review.

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) as an important versatile compound derived from renewable biomass has gained great significance in both industry and academia.

This review highlights the use of Cyrene as an alternative green solvent in organic synthesis.

Nanocellulose has become a hotspot in the field of green and sustainable materials. The research status of nanocellulose in cleaner production and its environmental assessments were reviewed.

This review summarizes the structure, properties, synthesis, and characterization of graphdiyne and outlines the applications of graphdiyne-based photocatalysts for solar fuel production, including H₂ evolution, CO₂ reduction, and N₂ fixation.

The increasing demand for sustainable bioproducts as alternatives to fossil-based resources requires unremitting endeavor for the advancement of lignocellulose valorization.

Supramolecular Deep Eutectic Solvent (SUPRADES) – another milestone towards Green Chemistry.

Circular economy approach for various agrowaste-based bioplastic and biocomposite systems with potential applications in the protection of food products and extension of their shelf life.

The latest progress in 2D ultrathin nanomaterials used for photocatalysis has been summarized from a sustainable synthesis perspective. Various synthetic strategies and approaches have been discussed and compared.

Pyrolysis oil from lignocellulosic biomass can be fractionated into a lignin and sugar fraction. We here provide a review on the structure, properties, depolymerisation strategies and applications for pyrolytic lignin in the framework of a biorefinery.

This review covers continuous preferential crystallization, membrane separation, chromatography, and other techniques identifying the environmental impact and highlighting what should be considered in future development.

Application of natural waste materials as sustainable catalysts in multicomponent reactions.

Thermosets have many advantages such as excellent mechanical properties, dimensional stability and environmental resistance, but suffer from unsustainability because they are difficult to recycle and overdependent on petroleum chemicals.

This review is dedicated to investigating the catalytic properties and mechanism of single and multi-metals in biomass pyrolysis.

This paper strives to summarize the recent advances and current highlights of photoprotective polyphenolic sunscreens including structural and functional relationships, design principle, UV-protection mechanism and evaluation system.

Heterogeneous catalytic technology facilitates the production of sustainable aviation fuels from biomass via fermentation-derived oxygenates.

Porous poly(ionic liquid)s, combining the features of porous polymers and ionic moieties resembling the structures and functions of ionic liquids, have exhibited promising potential in CO₂ fixation via cycloadditions with epoxides.

This review has summarized the recent advances about rules and strategies in the preparation and applications of crystalline elemental phosphorus in several highly concerned sustainable processes.

The utilization of spinel-based heterogeneous catalysts to valorize renewable lignocellulosic biomass to value-added chemicals/fuels is an efficient strategy from green and sustainable chemistry perspectives.

A comprehensive review of the synthesis and applications of Cu and Cu-based nanomaterials. A variety of applications including organic reactions, photocatalysis, environmental remediation, and sensors have been included.

Developing more efficient and greener catalytic strategies for upgrading biomass to value-added chemicals and fuels is crucial for a more sustainable future. Recently, single-atom catalysts have played an important role in this mission.

A building block approach, using a variety of benign solvent compositions and additives, offers a continuously developing strategy to render solvent-based electrospinning increasingly sustainable for the generation of polymer nanofibers.

In this review, we aim to summarize strategies for achieving the polymerization–depolymerization cycle to access chemically recyclable polymers and highlight the current studies in this rapidly growing and promising area.

This tutorial review gathers landmark work on transition-metal mediated C–H activation reactions using more sustainable approaches. We endeavour to promote and propagate such lines of research, reducing the usage of hazardous synthetic routes in chemical synthesis.

The present review aims to discuss strategies that have been recently explored by researchers to improve the yield of DMC in its direct synthesis from CO₂ and methanol.

This review addresses advances and challenges in the chemical recovery of waste unsaturated polyester resins, presents a new strategy of reconstruction-oriented recovery, and gives promising prospects on the recovery of the wastes.

Lignin is a promising bio-polyphenol that can be used as a catalyst in various industrial and commercial processes. Its high catalytic activity and reusability can provide a sustainable alternative to conventional catalysts.

Mapping of the thermal, mechanical and (bio)degradation properties of fossil and bio-based polymers. When recycling fails, criteria and scenarios where (bio)degradable polymers are beneficial, for a sustainable development, were critically discussed.

This review covers the recent progress in electrochemically enabled radical-mediated aryl/alkenyl C(sp²)–C(sp³) cross-coupling reactions, including synthetic strategies, plausible mechanisms and further research outlook.

Recent strategies for the sustainable preparation of cellulose nanocrystals were comprehensively reviewed. Current challenges and future perspectives on this research topic were discussed as well.

Critical minerals have an irreplaceable role in the ongoing revolution in technology and using microfluidic continuous-flow technology for processing these minerals has potential solutions and benefits towards the ESG mining issues.

This review article effectively analyses the effect of multiple plasticizers, compatibilizers, and essential oils on plasticized starch in the preparation of thermoplastic starch-based biodegradable blends and composites.

Recent research progress on the electro-oxidative depolymerization of lignin for the production of value-added products has been reviewed, focusing on the catalysts, electrodes, processes, electrocatalytic system and additives.

Lignin in advanced energy applications: source, extraction methodolgy, structure/property relationships.

Lignin is a tricky and complex structure. The growing interest in its use requires a unanimous approach to its nature; so, misconceptions that have already been overcome and those perpetuated by those who are not familiar with its complexity do not spread.

The meaning of the term ‘life cycle’ in relation to chemical, material and product in Safe-by-Design (SbD) studies is discussed. We recommend including explicit definitions and graphical representations of life cycles in future SbD work.

The present paper reviews 47 Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) applied to chemical reactions.

Considering the increasing heavy energy demands and severe environmental issues, researchers have been searching for an alternative renewable source of energy, aiming to achieve carbon neutralization.

The recently developed strategies for the degradation and functionalization of lignin enable it to be converted into a wide variety of value-added -chemicals, -and advanced materials.

ChAAILs are often used in mixtures to lower cost and improve handling, but the effects of water and other molecular additives are poorly understood. This review describes structure at different dilution stages and design strategies for task-specific ChAAIL-based mixtures.

Benefiting from the confinement effect, the great potential of metal@zeolite for the cleavage of C–O/C–C bonds in sustainable biomass upgrading systems is highlighted.

This review summarizes Cu-based catalysts for sustainable hydro-deoxygenation of glycerol to 1,2-propanediol with and without external hydrogen including various mechanistic pathways for the reactions involved.

Technologies to enable Aqueous Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis (ASPPS).

This review summarizes the research progress in the one-pot catalytic amination of lignin oxygenated model compounds to cyclohexylamine, specifically from the catalyst nanostructure engineering and catalytic conditional strategy.

A critical review of the potential of fermentation processes for production of bulk chemicals in a future circular economy.

This review provides a sustainability perspective on existing seed coating research through comparing potential agricultural benefits with the associated energy, chemical and environmental footprints.

The precursor formulations, fabrications, properties, and various applications of lignin-based carbon fibers (LCFs) since 2017 are reviewed.

This review summarizes a variety of catalytic systems to achieve the selective hydrodeoxygenation of potent biomass-derived platform chemicals with a focus on features including catalytic performance, active sites, and mechanism.

This review provides an overview of the closed-loop recycling of thermosets via hydrolysis and dynamic exchange reactions.

Organic waste valorisation into biopolymers and nanofillers potentially lowers the pressure on non-renewable resources, avoids the generation of waste-streams and opens new opportunities to develop multifunctional bio-based products.

A neutral and potentially negative carbon cycle for methanol production and use.

This critical review delivers an in-depth description of advancements and challenges in the photocatalytic lignin-first biorefining via a bottom-up paradigm, ranging from models transformation mechanism to practical lignin tactics.

A critical point of view of recent developments in sun-driven water splitting reactors for green H₂ production, from materials optimization to device engineering, pointing out the limitations of large-scale application of these technologies.

This review of the metal- and organo-catalyzed coupling of CO₂ and epoxides (oxiranes) to provide selectively cyclic or polymeric carbonates is intended to highlight recent achievements in this area of research.

The review provides basic insight into organic redox polymers: efficient charge propagation and storage among the highly populated redox active/bistable sites, as well as their functions in environmentally-friendly applications.