Green chemistry: Catalysis, alternative reaction media and renewable feedstocks

人造化学物质在生物圈和我们体内的持续存在正在成为我们这个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是由耗尽的(不可再生)原料制成的。化学家和更重要的是，化学公司已经开始积极寻找更绿色的替代品，以取代他们目前的制造实践。这包括从可持续资源中制备新材料，并可导致生产可生物降解、毒性较低的产品。绿色化学技术的最新进展意味着有了一个新的工具箱来操纵分子，从而使化学品来源的环境友好性质在加工过程中不会显著减少。因此，最终提供给公众的产品在许多方面对环境的负担会更小。应当指出，化学原料不需要与食物来源竞争，可以使用副产品或废物作为饲料。我们课题组正在进行这一领域的蓝天研究。一种方法是通过使用催化剂来减少化工生产中所需的能源和产生的废物。特别令人感兴趣的反应包括可再生原料的催化转化，例如甲壳素和木质素等生物聚合物的受控降解。除了催化剂的开发，我们还在研究基于更环保的替代溶剂(例如水和二氧化碳)和非传统活化方法(例如微波辅助合成)的合成方法。科顿集团的学生接受有机、无机和聚合物合成/表征方法的培训，并在快速增长的绿色化学领域获得良好的基础，该领域应该可以转移到许多化学和相关技术领域(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).