Green chemistry: Catalysis, alternative reaction media and renewable feedstocks

生物圈和我们体内持续存在的人造化学品正在成为我们的星球和我们自己的一个重大全球健康问题。绝大多数有机化学品都是由消耗（不可再生）的原料制成的。化学家，重要的是，化学公司已经开始积极寻找更环保的替代品来替代他们目前的生产实践。这包括从可持续资源中制备新材料，并可能导致生产可生物降解、毒性更低的产品。绿色化学技术的最新进展意味着有一个新的工具箱可用于操纵分子，因此化学物质来源的环境无害性质不会在其加工过程中显着减少。因此，最终向公众提供的产品将在许多方面减轻对环境的负担。应该指出的是，化学原料不需要与食物来源竞争，可以使用副产品或废料作为它们的饲料。我们的研究小组正在这个领域进行“蓝天”研究。其中一种方法是通过使用催化剂来减少化学生产过程中所需的能源和产生的废物。特别感兴趣的反应包括可再生原料的催化转化，例如生物聚合物如几丁质和木质素的受控降解。除了催化剂的开发，我们也在研究基于“绿色”替代溶剂（如水和二氧化碳）和非常规活化方法（如微波辅助合成）的合成方法。Kerton小组的学生接受有机，无机和聚合物合成/表征方法的培训，并在快速发展的绿色化学领域获得良好的基础，这应该可以转移到化学和相关技术的许多领域（例如材料和生物技术）。

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).