Themed collection 2017 Green Chemistry Hot Articles

Bioprivileged molecules generated from biomass can be converted to both novel molecules and drop-in replacements.

The global impact of green chemistry and sustainability and the pivotal role of the E factor concept, over the last twenty five years, is reviewed.

Recent progress in the synthesis and modification of green oxidizers and their application in solid rocket propellant formulations during these last few decades are reviewed.

This review highlights Diels–Alder heterogeneous catalysis for the production of biomass-derived aromatic compounds.

Inspired by recent commercialisation of metal–organic frameworks, this review highlights challenges and recent advances in developing scalable and sustainable metal–organic synthesis.

In addition to high levels of activity and selectivity, promising heterogeneous catalysts must also possess sufficient levels of stability. This tutorial review covers the topic of heterogeneous catalyst deactivation during liquid phase operation.

To enhance solubility using greener chemistry we should harness sound principles of molecular-based thermodynamics.

Bio-derived epoxides and impure sources of carbon dioxide offer exciting resources for renewable polycarbonate production.

We provide a critical review of green processes enabling the fractionation and/or depolymerization of lignin towards value-added products.

Recent advances in the application of microwave-assisted heterogeneous catalytic synthesis approaches are reviewed with additional inputs on the energy efficiency and scale-up of microwave-assisted synthesis.

Developing recyclable polymers provides a solution to materials' end-of-life issues and also an approach to establish a circular materials economy.

Sustainable energy storage may be achieved by using advanced lithium-ion battery configurations with high energy, low cost and environmental compatibility.

The opportunities and challenges for exploiting the production of syngas from the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ are critically reviewed and analysed.

Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are indispensable tools in molecular syntheses with numerous applications in academia and for the practitioners in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Transaminase biocatalysis shows immense potential in industrial applications, and optimizations of both proteins and processes are of great importance.

An efficient cascade strategy was developed for the synthesis of 2,3-quaternary fused indolines from alkynyl tethered oximes and diaryliodonium salts.

The first visible-light driven aerobic oxidation for the direct selenation of (hetero)arenes has been developed at room temperature, providing an eco-friendly, atom-economical protocol to prepare unsymmetrical selenides from easily accessible diselenides.

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with varied morphologies and pore structures were synthesized on the kilogram scale using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and an anionic surfactant as co-templates.

A method to efficiently immobilize enzymes on 3D printed continuous-flow devices is presented.

γ-Valerolactone could exfoliate bulk g-C₃N₄ to form a super-stable dispersion of few-layer g-C₃N₄ nanosheets with a high concentration of 0.8 mg mL⁻¹, showing enhanced activity for non-photocatalytic reactions.

A base-free nickel-catalyzed hydroboration of unreactive simple alkenes with bis(pinacolato)diboron using methanol as the hydride source under mild conditions has been developed.

A quick and efficient method for the reduction of azides to amines in water using D-glucose and KOH as green reagents is reported.

A tandem deprotection/coupling sequence is reported for solution-phase peptide synthesis in water under micellar catalysis conditions using the designer surfactant TPGS-750-M.

The design of the thermal behaviour – from an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) to a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) – of aqueous biphasic systems composed of water-soluble ammonium-based zwitterions.

Zwitterionic salts: highly hydrophilic materials, incorporating some characteristics of zwitterions, ionic liquids, and inorganic salts with potential applications in the biomedical field and separation technology.

The increasing employment of palladium-catalyzed reactions in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) has created a pressing need for ultra-efficient palladium removal of the resulting metal contaminants.

A simple and efficient electrochemical method for the synthesis of asymmetrical bi(het)aryls through direct functionalization of the C(sp²)–H bond in azaaromatics with fragments of (hetero)aromatic nucleophiles has been developed.

A polydimethylsiloxane organic sponge photocatalyst: high efficiency and reusability for visible light mediated cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions. Through an easy-to-build continuous flow reactor, the sponge photocatalytic reaction can be facilely scaled up.

The synthesis of a wide range of phthalides was achieved through a copper-catalyzed carboxylation reaction of benzoxasiloles.

A new method for the synthesis of AMF based on the acetolysis of cellulose acetate is reported. Cellulose acetate prepared by wood acetylation can be applied as a precursor, offering possibilities for integrated biomass processing.

NHC-catalysis enables the successful functionalisation of glycerol through a telescoped reaction strategy involving carbonation and the subsequent oxidative esterification.

A metal-free amino-acyloxylation of 2-aminostyrene was developed for the synthesis of 3-acyloxyl indolines.

Ionic-liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems allow an efficient and selective separation of aliphatic and aromatic amino acid mixtures usually present in protein hydrolysates or fermentation broths.

A Cu-catalyzed oxidative coupling reaction of arylboronic acids, amines and carbon dioxide is described, providing a route to O-aryl carbamates.

Ring-closing metathesis, realized in continuous flow using dimethyl carbonate as a solvent, allowed us to convert up to 10 g of dienes into important building blocks.

An aqueous phase hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with remarkable selectivity for the CC double bond under mild conditions.

Cu(I)-CQDs with zigzag-shaped edges were prepared and used for a highly efficient catalysis of the Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition that was made possible owing to their rapid release of Cu(I).

An air-induced double addition of diphenyl phosphine oxide to various alkynes is reported.

Iron catalysed efficient single-pot adipic acid synthesis by cyclohexane oxidation with ozone in a solvent-, heating-, radiation- and N₂O-free protocol.

Product precipitation as well as a smart reaction design was applied for the synthesis of chiral hydroxyketones on preparative scale.

Fist synthesis of ureido cross-linked chitosans employing the CO₂–chitosan–ionic liquid three component system as a way to prepare new biomaterials.

The chemoselective reduction of a broad variety of functional groups by a Pd/C–Al–H₂O system is described.

A novel chlorohydrination process of allyl chloride with HCl and H₂O₂ catalyzed by hollow titanium silicate zeolite has been developed, overcoming the significant drawbacks of traditional Cl₂-based route.

We developed a simple and facile one-pot hydrothermal methods for synthesis of GO-dots without the need to use strong concentrated acid and the entire synthetic process only took 90 min.

Ionic liquids bearing an activated carbonyl group in the cation are shown to form adducts with alcohols without the aid of any catalysts. How these functionalised ionic liquids could be used in altering vapour phase compositions of alcohols and in alcohol separations are demonstrated.

Bifunctional transaminases enable a strategy for the production of chiral amines using small excesses of diamine donors.

A catalyst-free 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of C,N-cyclic azomethine imines and 3-nitroindoles has been reported under mild conditions.

We herein report a new strategy of directly converting amines and CO to formamides with 100% atom utilization efficiency.

The extraction of lignin from lignocellulosic pretreatments regards the transfer of lignin from the fractionation solvent to a different medium for valorization.

Aiming at high-efficiency biomimetic CO₂ reduction, a photoelectrocatalyst with excellent CO₂ catalytic activity was designed and prepared by self-assembly immobilizing CoTPP onto g-C₃N₄ based on π–π interaction.

The highly efficient OER performance of the ultrathin cobalt hydroxides nanosheets is due to the elongated Co–O_OH bonds generated from crystal lattice distortion, which can serve as the efficiently catalytic active sites.

An efficient process of PEGylation and purification of different site-specific Cyt-c PEGylated forms was developed with high efficiency using polymer-based aqueous biphasic systems.

Novel hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface micro-environment modified phosphoric acid-functionalized PANFs are prepared for one-pot C–C and C–N bond formation reactions with high efficiencies and preeminent reusability.

Wax esters were produced from fatty acid methyl esters using a catalytic one-pot, two-step sequence under solvent- and base-free conditions.

The superior propylene yield of the In₂O₃-beta composite (ca. 50%) for the conversion of ethanol to propylene compared to In₂O₃ (ca. 32%) is due to the fact that zeolite beta in the composite enhances the conversion of the intermediate of acetone to propylene via an additional pathway.

Hydrodeoxygenation of bio-derived phenols under mild conditions with platinum nanoparticles in situ synthesized in an ionic liquid.

A hydrothermally stable Ru/LaCO₃OH catalyst consisting of Ru nanoparticles partially encapsulated by the support with a strong metal–support interaction is developed.

A highly efficient way for the direct (trans)esterification of acyl acids (esters) and alcohols in a strict 1 : 1 ratio using a zirconocene complex (1, 1 mol%), a strong Lewis acid of good water tolerance, as a catalyst under solvent-free conditions has been developed.

Phloretic acid: a sustainable building block to promote the solvent-free elaboration of benzoxazine and its polymerization into fully bio-based thermosets.

An extremely selective and effective delignification approach using enzymatically driven ozonation catalyzed by α-Keggin-type heteropolyoxometalates in solvent medium was developed.

Versatile tannin nano- and microstructures have been created via ultrasound treatment and thoroughly characterized for the stimuli responsive delivery of active molecules.

An ionic liquid catalyzed probase method for unsaturated ester synthesis under mild conditions was reported.

The selective production of aromatics from bio-based sources is an area of interest to expand the potential for greener alternatives to petroleum-derived chemicals.

Efficient one-pot synthesis of tricyclic compounds from biobased 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is described using a [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction.

The highly efficient eco-friendly synthesis of methanol directly from carbon dioxide and H₂ catalysed by the iron(II) scorpionate catalyst [FeCl₂{κ³-HC(pz)₃}] is reported.

Humic acid (HA) mixtures from lignite could be directly used to construct Zr-HAs catalysts for MPV reaction of carboxyl compounds.

A new and effective unique two-phase reaction system for the high yield production of tri(furyl)methane from furfural and furan.

A recyclable Ru-based hydrogenation catalyst for the two-step conversion of lignocellulosic substrates into isosorbide.

The environmental assessment of the lab-scale preparation of a new lactose derivative-based degreasing formulation, for the leather manufacturing cycle, was performed by using EATOS and LCA methodologies.

(Poly)saccharides crosslink silicone boronic acid polymers and stabilize the silicone oil/water interface.