Tribute to Daedalus: Fertile mind that led to unexpected places

Tribute to Daedalus, David E.H. Jones

Valorisation of lignin by depolymerisation and fractionation using supercritical fluids and conventional solvents

A procedure for Lignosulphonate valorisation is investigated. An attempt has been made to obtain diverse value-added products maximizing the atom economy. This procedure is carried in sequential steps starting with an oxidative depolymerization in supercritical water. Next, the reaction mixture is fractionated according to its solubility in water and in ethyl acetate. Several analytical methods - CHN elemental analysis, aqueous GPC and 31P-NMR - were used to determine the composition of these fractions and to assess their suitability for different applications. Water-insoluble fractions were converted to a lignin-derived hydrochar for the synthesis of active carbon of superior quality. Monomers were recovered from bio-oil fraction by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction and the remaining oil is proposed as a potential starting material for the synthesis of polyurethane foams

UN sustainable development goals: How can sustainable/green chemistry contribute? By doing things differently

Until now, much Green and Sustainable Chemistry has been focused on how chemicals are made. Here we suggest that, if chemistry is to contribute effectively to achieving the SDGs, we need to change the way that things are done at both ends of the chemical supply chain. For chemical research at the start of the chain, we need to rethink how we build the laboratories in which we carry out the research so as to minimize the use of energy. At the other end of the chain, we advocate the adoption of a Moore's Law for Chemistry (MLFC), which we recently proposed that, wherever possible, the amount of chemical(s) used to achieve a given effect should be decreased by a factor of 2 every five years

"The periodic table of videos": an excellent bridge between university research and the high school chemistry classroom

Els professors saben que la motivació a classe i al laboratori és un factor clau per a la promoció de les vocacions científiques. Amb aquest article volem mostrar un interessant projecte desenvolupat a la Universitat de Nottingham amb aquest objectiu. «The periodic table of videos» (PTOV) s'ha convertit en un excel·lent pont entre la recerca universitària i l'aula de química a secundària. Aquesta proposta té com a objectiu fomentar vocacions científiques, així com millorar la visió de la química i incrementar la cultura científica en la societat.Teachers and professors know that excitement within the class and school lab is a key factor for promoting vocations. With this article we want to show an interesting project developed from the University of Nottingham that has this objective. «The periodic table of videos» (PTOV) has become an excellent bridge between university research and the high school chemistry classroom. This proposal aims to increase scientific vocations in students and give a better view of chemistry and scientific culture in society

Turning the periodic table upside down

The periodic table is immensely powerful for rationalizing many different properties of the chemical elements, but would turning it on its head make some important aspects easier to understand and give everyone a new perspective on chemistry

Continuous N-alkylation reactions of amino alcohols using γ-Al2O3 and supercritical CO2: unexpected formation of cyclic ureas and urethanes by reaction with CO2

The use of γ-Al2O3 as a heterogeneous catalyst in scCO2, has be successfully applied to the amination of alcohols for the synthesis of N-alkylated heterocycles. The optimal reaction conditions (temperature and substrate flow rate) were determined using an automated self-optimising reactor, resulting in moderate to high yields of the target products. Carrying out the reaction in scCO2 was shown to be beneficial, as higher yields were obtained in the presence of CO2 than in its absence. A surprising discovery is that, in addition to cyclic amines, cyclic ureas and urethanes could be synthesised by incorporation of CO2 from the supercritical solvent into the product

Photooxidation of Fulvenes in a Continuous Flow Photoreactor using Carbon Dioxide as a Solvent

A range of 3‐substituted oxepinones have been synthesised by the photooxidation of fulvenes with photochemically generated singlet oxygen (1O2) using carbon dioxide (CO2) as a solvent and a CO2‐soluble porphyrin photosensitizer. The reactive intermediates generated in this reaction decompose to yield a range of useful and underutilized building blocks that are not easily accessible using more traditional reaction setups. Fulvenes containing an exocyclic allylic hydrogen are shown to form three products through potentially competing intramolecular pathways, which can be tuned to some extent by adjusting the conditions in the flow reactor. A range of substrates containing a variety of functional groups was examined; this led to lower yields of the desired lactones being observed in the case of compounds containing polar electron‐donating groups. We also demonstrate that one of the lactones can be further hydrogenated over a Pd/C catalyst to the unsaturated 7‐membered ring in high yield

Continuous niobium phosphate catalysed Skraup reaction for quinoline synthesis from solketal

Solketal is derived from the reaction of acetone with glycerol, a by-product product of the biodiesel industry. We report here the continuous reaction of solketal with anilines over a solid acid niobium phosphate (NbP), for the continuous generation of quinolines in the the well-established Skraup reaction. This study shows that NbP can catalyse all stages of this multistep reaction at 250 °C and 10 MPa pressure, with a selectivity for quinoline of up to 60%. We found that the catalyst eventually deactivates, most probably via a combination of coking and reduction processes but nevertheless we show the promise of this approach. We demonstrated here the application of our approach to synthesize both mono- and bis-quinolines from the commodity chemical, 4,4’-methylenedianiline

Construir ponts entre la universitat, l'ensenyament no universitari i la societat. Innovació en la didàctica i en la comunicació de la recerca a l'aula de química a secundària

El present article explica el projecte de col·laboració entre els grups de recerca i divulgació química de la Universitat de Girona (UdG) i la Universitat de Nottingham (UoN). Aquest projecte neix de l'estada de recerca de l'autor principal de l'article a la universitat britànica durant la realització de la seva tesi doctoral. La col·laboració entre la Càtedra de Cultura Científica de la UdG i el grup de recerca i comunicació que porta el projecte «The periodic table of videos» de la UoN té l'objectiu d'innovar en l'establiment de ponts entre el grup de recerca universitari i l'aula de química a l'educació secundària.In this paper we present a collaboration project carried out between research groups on communication in chemistry at the University of Girona (UdG) and the University of Nottingham (UoN). This project has its origin in a research stay by the principal author of the paper at the University of Nottingham during his PhD work. The collaboration between the Chair of Scientific Culture and Digital Communication of the UdG and “The periodic table of videos” team of the UoN, aims to innovate in building bridges between university research groups and high school chemistry classrooms