Research and develop 'green chemistry'

The Chemical Industry will be researched and developed in a "green" trend, which means more friendly, environmentally and human, providing more durable, less toxic and absolutely marketable products. recycling capacity.

Previously, the increase in the number of products was supposed to be " green " like: household appliances, office equipment, packaging and other equipment. However, the actual situation is not so, because there are currently more than 80,000 chemicals present in these products, which are believed to have a negative impact on human health and pollute the environment, and It is recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency, and a range of other toxic chemicals are being found every day.

" Speaking of" green chemistry "refers to the discovery, discovery and full and strict implementation of chemical reaction sequences to ultimately produce products according to criteria: safer, cleaner. more and more effective, "said John Arnold, professor of chemistry, working at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and director of the Center for Green Chemistry, UC University, Berkeley, USA (BCGC), the first place to hold a national conference on Green Chemistry in early March 2011.

" The Green Chemistry Center of the University of UC, Berkeley, USA, has created a versatile group that addresses all aspects of chemistry, from research and development to product offerings. more friendly to consumers and the environment , "he added. " Through education, research and practical application. We make it easy to use products that are more and more friendly to consumers and the environment, by integrating principles of green chemistry into policies: scientific research, market and public administration . "

The Green Chemistry Center of UC, Berkeley, USA, has begun to redesign the " Green Chemistry " education program for students and graduate students by having them practice experiments in rooms. The " Green " experiment is more environmentally and human-friendly, and organizes a Green Chemistry-related postgraduate course sponsored by the California Environmental Protection Agency, California. But the main purpose of the center (BCGC) is to create a wider impact on public policy as well as for the Chemical Industry.

The National Conference on Green Chemistry, which took place on March 24, 2011, was a major event for the first time held at BCGC, and sponsored by the Philomathia Foundation, which will highlight the special nature of many face of BCGC center.

" We are trying to promote activities that will certainly touch the aspects of Green Chemistry, such as: economics, business, law, toxicology or health care. healthy community , "Arnold said. The immediate objective of this new BCGC center is: raising money to support graduate students and doctoral practitioners to continue to pursue interdisciplinary research.

Green chemistry is related to many other areas outside of Chemistry: In fact, the Blue Chemistry program is not new in universities or in research laboratories of chemical companies, but In the past, most had focused on innovations in chemistry, such as developing safer catalysts or solvents, according to Alastair Iles, associate professor of environmental management, working. at UC Berkeley and a member of the BCGC center.

" These technical innovations play a very important role in achieving sustainability, but they will not be effective or widely used when these technical innovations are not integrated with innovations that bring Socialism in government policy: law, health and business environment, . "Iles noted. " In contrast, the BCGC center has a vision that integrates many areas of treatment including chemistry that enable chemists to work with: poison experts, businessmen, and managers. and economic experts aim to develop technology and create sustainable products, not toxic to humans and the environment . "

Ibuprofen (Advil) pain reliever is an example of a legal and business problem that may affect the way a chemical product is produced, Arnold said. While still on patents, Advil has been synthesized in a 6-step chemical process, while still creating a significant amount of hazardous substances, and wasteful by-products, he said. After the expiration of the patent, by the creation and quality improvement a competitor has produced a drug with the same effect, only in 3 chemical process steps and almost no waste. .

" Green chemistry provides friendly chemicals that are easy to produce on an industrial scale because the cost is cheaper, you don't need to worry much about waste, you use less energy, and you are producing products. products are safer, so you don't have to worry about what will happen at the end of a product's life , "said Marty Mulvihill, CEO of BCGC center. " It needs to be put on an industrial scale, and should provide" clean "product information transparently to businesses and consumers, giving them the information they need, so they can choose for themselves. choose . "

Mulvihill, who received a doctorate in 2009 from the chemistry department, Berkeley, USA, was one of the first graduate students to mention the idea of ​​a UC Berkeley center for green chemistry.

"Our team of graduate students, organized a symposium on green chemistry and sustainable design, to help chemists see that they can have a positive impact on the world of birth. objects by creating sustainable and human-friendly chemicals and the environment, "Mulvihill said. The seminar motivated the campus of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment (BIE) to sponsor a series of subsequent roundtable discussions, which attracted a large number of researchers from UC Berkeley, USA. With the strong support of Richard Dean Mathies College of Chemistry and Dean Steven Shortell School of Public Health, the BCGC center was formally established in October 2009, under the auspices of BIE.

The greening of university labs: The first milestone was the $ 250,000 grant in 2010, awarded by California's toxic control agency (DTSC) to Redesign lab experiments for the chemistry classes introduced above, with the number of students participating accounting for nearly half of UC Berkeley students participating in the practice, and to support a specialist Research topic of PhD student on green chemistry.

Making natural ink from oak leaves: Currently, Chem 1A Area on the UC Berkeley campus consists of a series of laboratories that help conduct investigations of chemical, toxicity and content tests. energy of biofuel. Next is the experiment to examine the effects of ocean acidification. The third experiment, designed to understand how chemicals change color, or chemical reactions replace chromium salts with a safer chemical containing copper.

"Our goal is to use less and less smelly chemicals to make you feel uncomfortable, while teaching students how chemistry can be used to solve problems ," Mulvihill said. .

The California State Agency for Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has awarded the BCGC Center an additional $ 250,000 to complete Chem 1A project, adding new labs for Chem 4A and 4B - to support support Green chemistry courses to introduce science majors - and develop three new applications in the field of green chemistry for advanced classes for students.

The key to the success of the BCGC is its connection to other schools and disciplines across the school, including public health schools. Michael Wilson, deputy director of the BCGC Center for Integrated Science and is a health and environmental scientist, works at the Center for Occupational Health and Environment, and is a leading author of a The 2006 study was commissioned by the California legislature to assess in detail the role of Green Chemistry in addressing the problems associated with chemical pollution and direct exposure to chemicals. toxic in the state of California, and urged the California state government to take the initiative in developing a comprehensive policy for the production and use of chemicals.

A second report in 2008, commissioned by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other co-authors with Wilson: Megan Schwarzman, doctor and environmental health scientist, and colleagues at Dai Study UCLA, along with conclusions and signatures of 130 scientists from seven UC, USA.

Green Chemistry Initiative in California: Reports on the establishment of an early stage technology lay the foundation for the development of " Green Chemistry " in California and to support this process in a positive way. benefits, new laws drafted by Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) and Congressman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles). These new rules, and implementing regulations, can make it easy for the public to get information about trading state-of-the-art chemical products and reducing use. some toxic chemicals, Wilson said.

As a member of Green Ribbon Science Panel, Wilson and Schwarzman worked with the California Department of Hazardous Substance Control (DTSC) to shape the Green Chemistry initiative, in the hope that it will improve intelligence. transparency and responsibility in chemical markets. Wilson provided testimony at a professional assessment in Sacramento, California, USA, and pointed out that these measures are necessary to promote investment in the broad-based Green Chemical industry.

" The Green Chemistry Initiative in California and the University of UC Berkeley answered the basics: In the past, there was no requirement in the United States for chemical manufacturers to prove safety. of the chemicals they used to produce products and put them on the market, "Wilson said. " In the US, 33.3 billion tons of chemicals are bought and sold every day with little understanding of their impact on human health and the environmental impact of which proportion is appropriate and necessary. Here the government has officially put in its hands and ensured that buyers of chemical materials, all of them will be provided with sufficient information about the hazardous properties of the chemical, and make sure the chemicals are bad. worst, the most dangerous chemicals for humans and the environment, will be excluded from the market "

" At UC University, Berkeley, USA, we realized that in order to change the system, we have to have all kinds of on-site experts, including not only chemists, engineers, scientists. learn environmental health, but also have lawyers, business leaders, policy makers and so on , "he added. " At UC University, Berkeley, USA, we look at the source structure of chemical pollution and how to interact with chemicals through all the prisms, and I think their proposed solution I will really be effective because they will reflect the opinions of the interdisciplinary experts involved in this work. "

" In the end, in society, what we want to see is the design of chemicals and products that are not harmful to human health or do not pollute the environment ," said Megan Schwarzman, deputy director. of health and environmental centers. "That means creating chemicals that usually exist in the short term and will degrade in the environment, so that they do not appear in breast milk 30 years after they have been banned, and the production process. Industrial production should use benign chemicals, I think. We have ingenuity and know-how to do it, and we have to prioritize it as a must-do problem. society. "

" Chemicals are present everywhere in our lives - from the air we breathe, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, and the drugs that we keep our health good, "Arnold said. " The Green Chemistry Center of UC, Berkeley, USA, will work hard to ensure that we not only meet our own chemical needs but also find ways to not harm health and living environment for our descendants in the future. '