Themed collection 2025 Green Chemistry Reviews

This study focuses on MSOEs as electrocatalysts for seawater oxygen evolution reaction (OER), summarizes strategies for improving the OER activity and durability, and discusses OER in seawater its improvement strategies based on sustainability.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have proven to be a potential medium for the extraction and separation of essential oils (EOs) from the most varied sources.

Plastics have transformed society but generate waste; integrating membrane technologies into recycling supports pretreatment, impurity separation, valuable-component purification, and waste treatment for higher-quality, lower-energy circularity.

This perspective proposes 12 principles for the LCA of chemicals, a list of issues that should be addressed by LCA practitioners, in a procedural way, in order to apply correctly the life cycle perspective within the green chemistry discipline.

This study focuses on TMPs as H₂-production catalysts for seawater electrolysis, and asummarize Ca²⁺/Mg²⁺ issues, Cl⁻ poisoning, and strategies to enhance TMPs’ HER activity in seawater.

To address challenges from petroleum-based polluting polymers, we propose partial substitution of polymer carbon with oxygen (or sulfur) and biomass carbon to construct low-carbon polymers.

Chlorine is an essential feedstock for polymers and pharmaceuticals, with annual production exceeding 100 Mt.

Green fairytales. We may not like it, but the reality is that green hydrogen is too expensive and its manufacturing on a large global scale in the 21^st century is untenable.

Proposal of a general set of universal rules allowing an increase in the scientific value provided by the evaluation of greenness and other “colours”.

The conversion and utilization of greenhouse gases and other polluting gases in an environmentally friendly way represents a crucial strategy for developing C₁ chemistry and mitigating the dual crises of energy scarcity and the greenhouse effect.

An indirect hotspot is a process step that may cause little harm on its own but has a strong influence on a very harmful tstep (the direct hotspot) and thereby the total harm of the process.

Co-production of lime and soda ash through the anion exchange process is economically sustainable and can immediately reduce global CO₂ emissions by 37 Mt.

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

Modification of lignin and its application in specialty and green adhesives gives excellent properties to the adhesive.

The synthesis and application of hydrothermal humic acids represent a carbon-negative pathway, analogous to the significance of basketball as a vital form of exercise.

This review systematically summarizes recent advances in chalcogenide-based catalysts for OER in seawater, focusing on strategies for enhancing their activity and chloride inhibition capabilities.

This review summarizes advances in plastic photoreforming for hydrogen production, aiming to promote the development of sustainable and efficient technologies for plastic waste degradation and green energy recovery.

Vanadium-based NASICON cathodes stand out in sodium-ion batteries via three-electron transfer.

This review describes degradable, silicon-based polymers, emphasizing their synthesis, degradation, recyclability, and green chemistry strategies for sustainable material innovation.

By alloying multiple metals with Pt and proposing various synthesis strategies, combined with the basic principles of Pt-based alloy catalysts, high-performance catalysts are designed for various biomass hydrogenation applications.

This review highlights recent advances in using nitrogen-containing carbohydrates (NCCs) as renewable feedstocks, chiral ligands, and organocatalysts, showcasing their potential to drive sustainable, stereocontrolled organic synthesis.

Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology is a promising hydrogen storage method. This review outlines recent progress in catalytic (de)hydrogenation of aromatic and N-heteroarene LOHCs, highlighting feasibility and challenges.

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.

This review presents recent advancements in the catalytic reductive recycling and upcycling of PET into fuels, valuable chemicals and degradable polymers.

The review highlights plasmon materials' advancements in CO₂ photoreduction. These materials enhance both light utilization and reaction kinetics via localized electromagnetic fields, hot electron injection, and photothermal synergy.

This review summarizes the recent research progress in vanadium/manganese-based composite materials, focusing on green synthesis strategies employing the composite support materials CNTs, GO, MOF-derived carbon, MXenes and other hybrid carriers.

Biosensor-aided metabolic engineering is advancing the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass by enabling regulation and optimization of microbial production pathways.

As a renewable green energy source, the catalytic upgrading of ethanol to higher alcohols (C₄₊) represents a critical pathway to overcome its inherent fuel limitations.

Organic electrochemical synthesis has become a practical and environmentally friendly synthesis method and is widely used in oxidation, reduction, and redox-neutral reactions.

Electrolytic olefin epoxidation is a sustainable alternative to the thermocatalytic epoxidation. This article provides a state of the art overview in this field, focusing on the formation strategy of the reactive oxygen species.

This work comprehensively reviewed the recent advances in biomass-based molecularly imprinted polymers (bio-based MIPs), including classification, design strategies, and diverse applications.

This review explores how two-dimensional materials uniquely respond to industrial-level current densities in seawater electrolysis, offering in-depth insights into structure-driven stability, selectivity, and green hydrogen production efficiency.

This review highlights the enzymatic advances in the synthesis of emerging prebiotics, focusing on improved control, biocatalyst enhancement, and bioprocess intensification.

This review summarizes aqueous liquid–liquid phase separation (AqLLPS) mechanisms, design strategies, and applications for biocatalysis, including enzymatic synthesis, biosensing, and therapeutics.

This review aims to elucidate the prospects of the selective chemical degradation of polyurethane and high-value recycling strategies based on the selective cleavage of C–O/C–N bonds.

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.

This review highlights emerging electrothermal strategies, including Joule, microwave, plasma, induction, and laser heating, for selectively upcycling plastic waste into hydrogen, olefins, aromatics, and carbon materials under renewable energy input.

Green chemistry approaches to digestate valorization support circular bioeconomy and advance UN sustainable development goals.

Barochemistry, the use of high hydrostatic pressure, is a powerful green activation method that enables effective, scalable, energy efficient and solvent-free synthesis—offering a distinct advantages over other non-traditional activation techniques.

Base-metal-catalyzed carbonylation utilizing CO surrogates.

Metallosilicates feature framework-incorporated metal sites, serve as efficient catalysts for green selective oxidation reactions, and act as effective supports for confining precious metals in the conversion of low-carbon resources.

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 homogeneous recyclable catalytic systems for direct C–H bond functionalization in organic synthesis, eliminating pre-functionalization. It explores recyclable catalysts with various metals and metal-free approaches.

Physical, chemical, and biological methods can prepare core-shell structured LMNPs. The cube in the figure symbolizes their diverse biomedical applications, with its height indicating the breadth of these applications.

The integration of nanostructured catalytic cavitation agents, microfluidic solutions, and computational molecular modelling forms a trilateral synergistic platform that unlocks new potential of sonocatalysis in green and sustainable chemistry.

Hydrogen spillover, involving active H species migration between high- and weak-affinity sites, gains attention for its unique mechanism and accelerated kinetics.

The research about photocatalytic, electrocatalytic, and thermocatalytic CO₂ reduction, with single-atom catalysts (SACs).

This review aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the specific mechanisms underlying the magnetic field effect, and amplifying the advantages of magnetic-field-assisted photocatalytic technology in elevating the CO₂ reduction efficiency.

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.

Waste polyolefins are efficiently upgraded into value-added products through hydrocracking, hydrolysis and tandem catalytic processes with non-noble metal catalysts.

We highlight the advancements toward electrophotochemical ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) catalysis, which has contributed to advancing sustainable radical chemistry by exploiting both visible light and electricity as clean energy inputs.

Humins are side-products derived from the acid-catalysed conversion of carbohydrate-containing biomass, including sugars (e.g. glucose, fructose, sucrose), oligo-, polysaccharides, and lignocellulosic feedstocks into HMF, furfural and levulinic acid.

The materials, preparation methods, properties, and applications of biodegradable microbeads in personal care products and cosmetics.

The based ex-ante techno-environmental-economic assessment based on process simulation can predict the performance based on the exiting laboratory- or pilot-scale experiment results and provide multidimensional quantified guidance.

This paper summarizes the recent advances in the biosynthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from organic waste-derived volatile fatty acids (VFAs).

This feature article provides a comprehensive summary of the valorization of substances in the chemical recycling of polyvinyl chloride.

This review compares biohydrogen and biomethane production via photo-fermentation, emphasizing their complementary roles as sustainable bioenergy sources.

This review discusses the recent advancements and challenges associated with the use of lignin in adhesive fabrication.

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.

The industrial potential of pilot-scale reductive depolymerization approaches is critically assessed from a technical, techno-economic, and application point of view.

Low temperatures limit the application of aqueous batteries. This review analyzes electrolyte modifications: concentration engineering, inorganic/organic additives, and gel electrolytes, integrating molecular mechanisms with macroscopic outcomes.

Green chemistry and engineering play a vital role in sustainable separation and technology developments.

Integrating biodegradable polymer blends, compatibilization strategies, and filler reinforcement to develop biodegradable composites for sustainable applications.

Rising CO₂ emissions intensify global warming, demanding innovative mitigation. Converting CO₂ into higher alcohols offers a renewable path to sustainable fuels and chemicals, addressing greenhouse gases while supporting energy and industrial needs.