Green chemistry: Catalysis, alternative reaction media and renewable feedstocks

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The persistence of man-made chemicals in the biosphere and in our bodies is becoming a major global health issue for our planet and for us. The vast majority of organic chemicals are made from depleting (non-renewable) feedstocks. Chemists and, importantly, chemical companies have begun actively searching for greener alternatives to their current manufacturing practices. This includes preparing new materials from sustainable resources and can lead to the production of biodegradable, less toxic products. Recent advances in green chemistry techniques mean there is a new toolbox available for the manipulation of molecules, whereby the environmentally benign nature of the chemicals' origin will not be significantly reduced in their processing. Thus, the products ultimately available to the public will have a lower burden on the environment in many respects. It should be noted that chemical feedstocks need not compete with food sources and can use by-products or waste materials as their feed. Our research group is performing 'blue skies' research in this area. One approach to this is to reduce the energy needed and the waste produced in chemical manufacture by using catalysts. Reactions of particular interest include the catalytic transformation of renewable feedstocks e.g. the controlled degradation of biopolymers such as chitin and lignin. In addition to catalyst development, we are also investigating synthetic methods based on 'greener' alternative solvents (e.g. water and carbon dioxide) and unconventional activation methods (e.g. microwave assisted syntheses). Students in the Kerton group receive training in organic, inorganic and polymer synthesis/characterization methods, and obtain an excellent grounding in the rapidly growing field of green chemistry, which should be transferable to many fields of chemistry and related technologies (e.g. materials and biotechnology).