As scientists, "Plant For" chemistry.

In the effort of scientists who are fighting for "greening" of chemistry, and are reflected 12 of the guidelines developed by chemists Paul Anastas and John Warner, who in the mid-1990s founded the movement for clean chemistry. Among those rules is this: it is better to prevent waste generation, than to remove them later. But if the waste can not be avoided, they must be non-toxic or minimally toxic, just as are the chemical products. Chemical reactions have to be energy efficient, for example, passing at room temperature without additional heating. And ideally, chemists need to use renewable energy sources.

Chemistry, of course, is hardly ecologically pure science, but researchers are working to make it safer for the planet. Here are a few examples of how chemists improve the level of environmental responsibility by improving the chemical processes used in the manufacture of drugs, plastics and other products.

Water, water everywhere

When the two chemicals react, they usually need the liquid medium. She speaks frequently toxic solvents. When the reaction is over, chemists have to either pour it, or try to recycle. Environmentally friendly alternative is the use of safe solvent - water.

Bruce Lipschutz University of California developed a tiny bubble-shaped particles (nanoparticles) that allow to carry out the reaction in water. Chemicals get into the particles, where the environment is great for interaction, and the result is a product. Due to the high concentration of the reaction, they can proceed at room temperature. Scientists do not have to activate the reaction heat, and it saves time and energy.

Call to the aid of microbes

Another way to make the reaction take place in a water-based, not solvent, is the use of microbes. Scientists are working on micro-organisms to produce useful molecules, as a rule, enzymes whose job is to carry out chemical reactions in solutions of water-based. Chemists can use microbes or simply their enzymes to accelerate chemical reactions in aqueous solution.

For example, Jay Kizling University of California, is developing microorganisms for the production of certain molecules. Several years ago, he placed more than a dozen genes in normal bacterium Escherichia coli and yeast fungus, which allowed the body to produce an antimalarial drug which is very expensive to produce by other means. A scientist examines a method for the production of drugs for HIV and environmentally friendly biofuels that can replace fuel-based minerals, such as gasoline.

A short synthesis of

Other scientists modify existing chemical compounds to make them environmentally friendly. For example, the laboratory synthesis of drug heparin, which prevents the formation of blood clots in people with heart disease usually takes 50 steps, and each of them generate waste.

Last year, Robert Lienhard from the Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York, USA, shortened the process to 12 steps. In the course of its implementation produce less waste, increases the yield of drugs that reduce the cost of production.

One common way to accelerate the chemical reaction is the use of a catalyst, usually metal, which facilitates the passage of the reaction. Shannon became the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a way to use the catalytic metal palladium and copper for the separation of hydrogen from a number of chemicals. When hydrogen combines with oxygen, the resulting product is water.

As a rule, chemists, carrying out large-scale reactions, limiting the access of oxygen, because it can cause explosions. The scientist also proposed a way to minimize this risk by conducting the reaction in the liquid flowing through the pipes instead of one large tank.