Upcycling of Cereal Byproducts: A Sustainable Opportunity to Valorize Wasted Nutrients and Derive Bioactive Compounds for Humans and Animals Nutrition and Health

With the global population projected to reach close to 10 billion by 2050, the escalating demand for cereals such as wheat, rice, corn, oat, and barley places significant pressure on production systems. These systems are increasingly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, threatening global food security. This article emphasizes the critical need to address these challenges and explores strategies for sustainable foodproduction, focusing on the opportunities that the upcycling of cereal byproducts offers for human and animal nutrition and health

Potential of cycloaddition reactions to generate cytotoxic metal drugs in vitro

Severe general toxicity issues blight many chemotherapeutics utilized in the treatment of cancers, resulting in the need for more selective drugs able to exert their biological activity at only the required location(s). Toward this aim, we report the development of an organometallic ruthenium compound, functionalized through a η6-bound arene ligand with a bicyclononyne derivative, able to participate in strain-promoted cycloaddition reactions with tetrazines. We show that combination of the ruthenium compound with a ditetrazine in biological media results in the in situ formation of a dinuclear molecule that is more cytotoxic toward cancer cells than the starting mononuclear ruthenium compound and tetrazine components. Such an approach may be extended to in vivo applications to construct a cytotoxic metallodrug at a tumor site, providing a novel approach toward the turn-on cytotoxicity of metallodrugs in the treatment of cancer

Efficient cleavage of aryl ether C–O linkages by Rh–Ni and Ru–Ni nanoscale catalysts operating in water

Bimetallic Ru–Ni and Rh–Ni nanocatalysts coated with a phase transfer agent efficiently cleave aryl ether C–O linkages in water in the presence of hydrogen. For dimeric substrates with weaker C–O linkages, i.e. α-O-4 and β-O-4 bonds, low loadings of the precious metal (Rh or Ru) in the nanocatalysts quantitatively afford monomers, whereas for the stronger 4-O-5 linkage higher amounts of the precious metal are required to achieve complete conversion. Under the optimized, relatively mild operating conditions, the C–O bonds in a range of substituted ether compounds are efficiently cleaved, and mechanistic insights into the reaction pathways are provided. This work paves the way to sustainable approaches for the hydrogenolysis of C–O bonds

A Century's Breakthrough in Upcycling Lignocellulosic Biomass: Embion Technologies, Hard-tech Spin-off of the EPFL, Disrupts Nutrition Innovation with Sophisticated, Complex-prebiotics for Immunity

Embion Technologies SA is a hard-tech spin-off of the EPFL, with a disruptive and novel platform technology that aims to enable the global transition to zero waste via the circular bioeconomy. Embion's initial focus is on transforming low-value food and agricultural industry byproduct streams to affordable next-generation prebiotics – nutrition for human and animal microbiome. We demonstrate here that the company's proprietary technology is simple and flexible and can be applied to a wide variety of feedstocks to extract tailored products with specific fingerprints. Embion's technology unlocks the natural hidden value of fibers, fats, proteins, minerals, and polyphenols within these byproduct streams to bring different functional food ingredients to the food, feed, and beverage market

Ionic polymers and use thereof in processing of biomass

The invention provides ionic polymers (IP) consisting of anions and a polymeric backbone containing cations. The invention also provides the ionic polymers incorporated in membranes or attached to solid supports and use of the ionic polymers in processing of biomass

Application of Ionic Liquids in the Downstream Processing of Lignocellulosic Biomass

Chemical transformations of lignocellulosic substrates to valuable platform chemicals are challenging as lignin and cellulose have high thermal and chemical stabilities. However, certain ionic liquids are able to dissolve and deconstruct biomass and, in the presence of catalysts, convert the dissolved/deconstructed species into useful platform chemicals. Herein, we provide a concise overview of the role of ionic liquids in biomass processing. Using 5-hydroxymethylfurfural as an example of a renewable building block, available from cellulose, we show how ionic liquids can facilitate its production

Discovery of a Highly Active Catalyst for Hydrogenolysis of C-O Bonds via Systematic, Multi-metallic Catalyst Screening

Hydrogenolysis of C-O bonds is a highly challenging reaction with the most efficient catalysts based on bimetallic assemblies. Systematic studies to identify the optimum metal combination have not been performed and, therefore, we designed a method to screen multi-metallic catalysts, including all water stable transition metals, using diphenyl ether as a model substrate. Bimetallic Pd-Pt (70 : 30) nanoparticles were the most efficient, catalyzing the hydrogenolysis of the C-O bond in diphenyl ether at 95 degrees C and 1 atm of hydrogen in quantitative yield. This research provides insights into the activity of multi-metallic catalysts in hydrogenolysis reactions. The catalyst was successfully applied in the reductive fractionation of bio-mass affording key products in near-quantitative yields

Rational development of an electron-rich platinum nanocatalyst for the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural into 2,5-furandicarboxilic acid under mild conditions

Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of commodity chemicals using various chemical methods continues to attract considerable attention. A wide and diverse range of different chemicals can be obtained from biomass and many different downstream pathways are currently under development. The conversion of various cellulosic derivatives such as glucose and fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) has been identified as a key route. However, since HMF is intrinsically unstable, its transformation to other compounds is required. In this context, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is a leading candidate, as it has the potential to replace terephthalic acid – the main component of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Based on the broad usage of FDCA as platform chemical, it was listed as one of the 12 key sugar-based platform chemicals for the production of bio-based chemicals and materials. Herein we present the catalytic oxidation of HMF into FDCA using Pt nanoparticles with molecular oxygen. A mechanistic investigation involving kinetic modeling and a correlation of the nanoparticle size with the different step was undertaken. Based on this analysis we hypothesized that a highly electron rich nanoparticle surface would enhance catalytic activity. Subsequent manipulation of the nanoparticle surface by the introduction of an ionic polymer stabilizer afforded surface electron-rich Pt nanoparticles that catalyze the transformation of HMF to FDCA under mild conditions in the absence of additives. The catalytic system is reasonably benign as molecular oxygen is employed as the oxidant and the process operates in water

Aqueous-phase hydrogenation of alkenes and arenes: The growing role of nanoscale catalysts

10.1016/j.cattod.2014.09.002Catalysis Today24796-10

Enhanced Conversion of Carbohydrates to the Platform Chemical 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Using Designer Ionic Liquids

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a key platform chemical that may be obtained from various cellulosic (biomass) derivatives. Previously, it has been shown that ionic liquids (ILs) facilitate the catalytic conversion of glucose into HMF. Herein, we demonstrate that the careful design of the IL cation leads to new ionic solvents that enhance the transformation of glucose and more complex carbohydrates into HMF significantly. InSitu NMR spectroscopy and computational modeling pinpoint the key interactions between the IL, catalyst, and substrate that account for the enhanced reactivities observed