Sustainable Chemistry

Addressing current and future global problems requires sustainable practices in chemistry. We discuss ways to incorporate sustainability in laboratory practice, processes and beyond.

Bayesian optimization is a promising approach towards a more environmentally friendly chemical synthesis, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. It can aid chemists to explore vast chemical spaces and find green reaction conditions with few experiments, decreasing resource consumption and waste generation while reducing discovery timelines and costs.

To ensure a sustainable future and combat food scarcity, we must boost agricultural productivity, improve climate resilience and optimize resource usage. There is untapped potential for dense wireless sensor networks in agriculture that can increase yields and support resilient production when linked to smart decision and control systems.

To combat worsening environmental crises, chemistry needs a redesign. We see the need for a triple focus on efficiency, safety and circularity as a prerequisite for chemistry to serve sustainability and ensure that essential chemical products and processes are waste-free, functional and safe for both humans and the environment.

New nanomaterials are being developed for efficient biomolecule delivery to plants. However, detection and quantification of plant cell entry are challenging and currently rely on subjective methods that lack proper controls. The necessary considerations of performing nanoparticle-mediated delivery in plants and how to accurately quantify delivery efficiency are discussed.

Data analysis relies heavily on computation, and algorithms have grown more demanding in terms of hardware and energy. Monitoring their environmental impacts is and will continue to be an essential part of sustainable research. Here, we provide guidance on how to do so accurately and with limited overheads.

Laboratories have a large environmental impact, with high levels of resource consumption and waste generation. In this article, the author discusses some of the actionable strategies that can bring real and impactful improvements, encompassing education, community engagement and the adoption of best practices by researchers. Building a global culture of sustainability in science will be crucial to reducing the carbon footprint of laboratories.

The scaling up of a chemical reaction is a complex process. Chemists should pay special attention to a number of key factors, including the choice of route, reagents and solvents; health and safety considerations; the isolation and purification of the desired product; and the development of robust supporting analytical methodology.

COVID-19 has resulted in long-term effects on science and research. The way in which we carry out research has had to rapidly adapt as a result of the pressures placed on scientists, leading to the development of innovative approaches to research.

Our remodelled research agenda suggests setting priorities that outline a clear framework for making decisions on current and future research activities. We propose collaborative and collective global approaches to maximize our joint efforts, especially among early career researchers (ECRs), to remodel research agendas for the ultimate benefit of humanity.

Climate change is a chemical problem and chemistry and chemical engineering can provide some of the solutions. What kind of chemistry should we be doing?

One of the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations General Assembly is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. This requires investment in water purification technologies. World Water Day offers an opportunity to discuss whether such investment will help achieve this laudable goal.

If chemistry is to contribute effectively to the development of a more sustainable world, it is essential that it is taught within a broader socioeconomic and ecological context.

It is time for chemistry learning to be reoriented through systems thinking, which offers opportunities to better understand and stimulate students’ learning of chemistry, such that they can address twenty-first century challenges.

Integrating systems thinking into chemistry education involves the contextualization of chemistry concepts. This will allow us to better understand how students learn, and will also equip them to tackle the many and varied challenges we face as a society.

Light can be used to power CO₂ conversion into value-added chemicals and fuels. In this Primer, Fang et al. provide a guide for the experimentation of photocatalytic CO₂ reduction, including catalyst synthesis and characterization, reactor construction, photocatalytic testing and exploration of mechanism.

This PrimeView highlights the key considerations for the practical application of photocatalytic CO2 reduction approaches.

The upcycling of chlorinated plastics into value-added products is an effective method to reduce plastic pollution. In this Primer, Xu et al. describe upcycling strategies for the conversion of chlorinated waste plastics into value-added products and potential applications for these upcycled plastics.

This PrimeView highlights the various applications of upcycled chlorinated plastics with added value and versatility.

Photocatalytic water splitting produces clean H₂ gas by converting light to chemical energy. In this Primer, Nishioka et al. describe reliable methods for conducting experiments and the proper characterization and evaluation techniques to improve reproducibility in this field.

This PrimeView highlights the experimental considerations for water splitting by heterogeneous photocatalysts under visible and UV light.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) convert mechanical energy into electric power by combining contact electrification and electrostatic induction. This Primer introduces the theoretical background of TENGs, gives an overview of fabrication methods and discusses how they can be applied as energy harvesting devices and self-powered systems.

This PrimeView highlights how triboelectric nanogenerators can be used to harvest energy from the natural environment.

Integrated catalysis can streamline multi-step syntheses in a single reaction vessel to achieve a high degree of control and reduce the waste and cost of chemical processes. In this Primer, Deng et al. discuss the underlying mechanisms of common approaches to integrated catalysis, highlighting recent advances in the field.

This PrimeView highlights ways to achieve spatial and temporal control in integrated catalysis.

Plasmon-mediated chemical reactions use nanostructure-based surface plasmons as mediators to drive chemical reactions. Zhan et al. outline the primary considerations and techniques for designing and constructing plasmonic catalysts and describe the typical methods used to characterize plasmonic catalysts and their reaction mechanisms.

This PrimeView highlights chemical reactions that can be improved by using nanostructure-based surface plasmons to create milder conditions.

Electrochemical water splitting using renewable electricity is a promising method for the sustainable production of hydrogen. This Primer overviews considerations, techniques and methods for water electrolysis and describes methods to improve rigour and reproducibility when analysing electrochemical data.

This PrimeView highlights how hydrogen produced from water electrolysis can be utilized for fuel and chemical feedstock.

Electrochemical methods of CO₂ separation offer potentially cheap, low-energy, scalable carbon capture technologies. In this Primer, Diederichsen et al. provide an overview of the experimentation and analysis needed for the study of electrochemical methods for CO₂ separation.

This PrimeView highlights electrochemical carbon capture techniques for application in point source capture, direct air capture and direct ocean capture.

Trace quantities of metal cations, inorganic anions, organic compounds and biomolecules can be measured using electrochemical stripping analysis (ESA). This Primer describes the principles of ESA, including methods of performing the pre-concentration and stripping steps, instrumentation and technique optimization.

This PrimeView highlights the pre-concentration and stripping steps in electrochemical stripping analysis.

Ionic liquids (ILs) can be formed from a combination of anions and cations, each with very distinct properties. However, there is no standard methodology for their synthesis. In this Primer, Koutsoukos et al. outline the considerations, advantages and disadvantages of various synthetic routes for ILs.

This PrimeView highlights the best practices for synthesizing ionic liquids. The sensitivity of certain applications of ionic liquids to impurities are outlined.

Sustainable polymers are materials derived from renewable, recycle and waste sources that are themselves able to be recycled, biodegraded or composted. Mohanty et al. discuss the synthetic strategies for creating sustainable polymers and assessing their utility and end-of-life potential.

This PrimeView highlights the life cycle analysis and end-of-life considerations necessary for designing sustainable polymers.

The combined process of biomass pyrolysis and in-line catalytic steam reforming is a promising alternative for the selective production of hydrogen from renewable sources. In this Primer, Lopez et al. outline the main factors influencing hydrogen production, from reactor configurations and operating conditions to product analysis and catalyst development.

This PrimeView highlights the hydrogen production potential of the combined process of biomass pyrolysis and in-line catalytic steam reforming.

This Primer highlights the range of new strategies for sustainable N₂ activation and the step by step protocol necessary for evaluating genuine activity. The required metrics and how to interpret data alongside the best practices to improve reproducibility and enable the development of practical technologies are discussed.

This PrimeView describes a strategic workflow for studying N₂ activation methods, emphasizing the importance of verifying genuine product formation.

In this Primer, Flitsch and colleagues describe how biocatalysis is facilitating synthetic chemistry in both academia and industry. Detailed considerations required to find, select and optimize a biocatalyst are described, followed by an analysis of the performance metrics used to define a good industrial catalyst.

This PrimeView describes the factors that need to be considered when developing a biocatalyst and how they impact the utility of these enzymes in real-world applications.

This Primer provides an overview of the best practices for C–H activation as well as key advances in asymmetric, photoinduced and electrocatalytic-mediated catalysis for this synthetic platform. An overview of how C–H activation facilitates the synthesis of molecules such as structurally complex (bio)polymers and drugs is provided along with the current challenges and priorities for the next decade.

This PrimeView highlights the underlying mechanisms of C–H activation and the utility of this synthetic manifold across applications such as polymers synthesis and drug discovery.

This Primer summarizes the most relevant aspects of chemical synthesis in this information age for those looking to understand the software, hardware and data and how these are used to enable retrosynthetic logic, reaction prediction and automation.

This PrimeView highlights the most relevant aspects of information theory that facilitate automation and prediction for chemical synthesis. This summary provides an overview of the software, hardware and data and how these are used to enable retrosynthetic logic, reaction prediction and automation.

This Review focuses on the inherent advantages of natural resources for room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials, mechanisms and strategies for activating and enhancing the RTP properties of natural resources, as well as the potential applications of these RTP materials.

Defect passivation is a key concept for optimizing the performance of perovskite solar cells. This Review summarizes our understanding of defects in perovskites and highlights the most promising strategies and materials used for their passivation.

Solar energy can supply the global energy demand. This Review describes how photoelectrochemistry principles in natural photosynthesis can be exploited in advanced solar utilization technologies, and discusses related developments, challenges and opportunities.

Molecularly thin water films host carbon mineralization reactions with anomalously high reaction rates and unique pathways. We examine the underlying reaction mechanisms that operate in water-limited environments relevant to permanent carbon storage and quasi-2D interfacial chemistry.

Biomass and plastic share structural similarities in their composition and types of bond linkage between their monomeric units. Reviewing their catalytic conversion technologies in a unified angle provides new insights and opportunities for future advances.

Developing aqueous batteries with high voltages is possible with the use of pH-decoupling electrolytes with an acidic catholyte and an alkaline anolyte.

Adoption of renewable energy sources will need to be accompanied by methods for energy storage. Lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate for portable electronic applications but other technologies are required for long-term and larger-scale storage. Redox flow batteries, the focus of this Review, represent one such technology.

Reactions that form C–N bonds are key in the synthesis of molecules used in fertilizers, synthetic materials, pharmaceuticals and more. This Review examines the emerging area of heterogeneous electrocatalytic C–N bond formation using abundant starting materials, with the eventual goal of electrifying chemical manufacturing.

This Review summarizes advanced photocatalytic systems for value-added chemical production from renewable biomass, with specific attention on the efficient strategies for controlling the generation of key radical intermediates and their subsequent conversion towards desired chemicals.

The hole-mediated oxidation reaction controls the rate of hydrogen production from water. Currently, associated challenges of wasted holes and the consequential chemical effects have placed the greatest bottleneck in photocatalytic hydrogen production. This Review provides a critical assessment of the hole and its related phenomena in solar hydrogen production.

This Review describes bioinspired biomimetic polymers that recapitulate macro-scale to atomic-scale features of naturally occurring materials. Particular attention is paid to biobased concepts, with an eye to having renewable supplies of self-healing, stimuli-responsive and/or antimicrobial materials.

Deconstructing plant-derived polymers into small molecules is necessary for biomass valorization but gives intermediates that undergo undesirable reactions. This Review describes how the intermediates can be converted into stable derivatives as renewable-platform chemicals.

Organic materials can serve as sustainable electrodes in lithium batteries. This Review describes the desirable characteristics of organic electrodes and the corresponding batteries and how we should evaluate them in terms of performance, cost and sustainability.

Many present and emerging electronic devices make use of organic semiconductors in view of their readily tuneable molecular and electronic structures. This Review describes the importance of analytical and computational tools in studying the molecules as well as their hierarchical self-assemblies, in which the motion of charges and excited states govern device properties.

Electrosynthesis is a practical and green route to hydrogen peroxide, and could reduce our dependence on less environmentally friendly oxidants. This Review describes catalyst and reactor designs for highly selective hydrogen peroxide electrosynthesis.

Ethanol has emerged as a potential alternative feedstock for the synthesis of middle-distillate transportation fuels. This Review describes the chemistry of ethanol-to-distillate processes and challenges associated with improving current technologies and implementing new ones.

A move away from fossil fuels as an energy source will also require a move to new sources for important chemical feedstocks. This Review considers the use of homogeneous catalysis to convert cellulosics into low-volume, high-value chemicals that are currently derived from crude oil.

Many methods exist for the recycling of plastic solid waste. Chemical recycling, which can take many forms from high-temperature pyrolysis to mild, solution-based catalytic depolymerization, can afford enormous economic and environmental benefits. This Review covers the state of the art in chemical recycling and the design of high-performance polymers amenable to such processes.

A review of Dan Egan’s book The Devil’s Element, where he explores the element that both makes plants grow and toxifies our water — phosphorus.

A review of Paul McKendrick’s book Scrubbing the Sky: Inside the Race to Cool the Planet, which looks at the chemistry, engineering and economics behind direct air capture.